Adidas Adios Pro Evo 1 - $500 for 138g of shoe!

Adidas have swung for the fences. What do we know and what makes it so special?

Adidas Pro Evo 1

Today Adidas announces the launch of the Adidas Adios Pro Evo 1.

Just a few days ahead of the Berlin Marathon, Adidas announced a new marathon racing shoe. This new racing shoe will only be available a limited quantity of 521 pairs. Furthermore, Adidas will sell the shoe at a record price of $500. This will be the most expensive marathon racing shoe ever sold by any running company. But what makes this shoe so special?

Specs:

US size 9 – 138g!

39mm heel and 33mm forefoot for a 6mm drop.

Price: $500 (Limited to 521 pairs)

How have they hidden it?

For the geeky readers out there, you may have noticed from the World Athletics website that Adidas had two new shoes approved on September 8. These were the Adidas Adios Pro Evo 1 and the Adidas Adios Pro Evo v2. Interestingly, these two shoes never appeared on the WA list of approved shoes as development shoes. They appeared directly as approved. Recently, this is what companies do to keep their shoes as secret as possible, and Adidas definitely managed to keep the Adidas Adidas Pro Evo 1 secret until today.

What makes it so special?

So, what makes the shoe so special? The Adidas Adios Pro Evo 1 remains at 39 mm of stack height in the heel and 33 mm of stack height in the forefoot for that 6mm drop. Adidas aggressively redesigned the rocker, taking it from 70% of the length of the shoe down to 60% of the length of the shoe. That means that the rocker starts much earlier and will propel you forward with more force.

Not only is the price of the shoe crazy. It also has the most insane weight to price ratio in the realm of super shoes. Indeed, the Adidas Adios Pro Evo 1 comes at 138g in size US 9. This is about 60 g lighter than a shoe like the Nike Vaporfly and it’s even lighter than some racing spikes currently on the market. For a comparison, my Adidas Adios Pro 3 weighed 256 g in my size US 11. This is something like 220g for a size US 9. We are talking 82g difference for the same size between the previous Adidas marathon racing shoe and the new one, the Adidas Adios Pro Evo 1. This is very likely unprecedented in the whole running industry.

How did they make the weight dissapear?

How is this even possible? Adidas changed the formulation of their Lightstrike Pro foam and also changed the moulding process. Instead of a compression-based foam like it used to be, the Lightstrike Pro in the new Adidas Adios Pro Evo 1 is moulded with a non-compression process. This supposedly makes the foam much bouncier, but also lighter. Inside the midsole, Adidas has also changed the material of their energy rods. They’re now made from carbon and come with a slightly updated design to accommodate the new rocker.

Other major weight savings come from upper which has been stripped down to bare bones. Weight savings are also made with the new outsole. This time, Continental rubber has been replaced with an in-house rubber, which saves about 70g. Adidas claims that this new rubber is as durable, and as grippy as their well-proven Continental rubber.

How will it be used?

Now, when it comes to the actual use of the shoe, we will very probably see it on the feet of Adidas elite runners at the Berlin Marathon in only 10 days. Are they going to have one of the 521 numbered pairs? The early images shared by Adidas show shoes with numbers on the midsole, which makes me believe that even Adidas elite runners may have one of the 521 pairs on race day. Will of them be on the feet of a world record holder later that morning?

How can you get yours? First you have to make sure that you have $500 to spend on running shoes on your bank account. You can then register from September 14 to September 26 on the Adidas website or app. A draw will select 521 lucky people who will have the opportunity to purchase their shoe early in October. Another production batch is meant to be released in November but we do not know the quantity or selection process yet.

5% OFF with code META

Alex

28 years old

183cm (6′) – 68kg (148lbs)

Mid/Forefoot striker – Stride runner

Moderate pronator

@alexfilitti