I really want to try and buy different brands, but for the last 1 1/2 year only ASICS & Adidas have managed to capture my imagination. Nike is trying hard to rebound, but too many and confusing models and too much Air.
Youre the best communicator for running content!! Because of you I am excited for every run i am on. Because of you I always looks into how to better spend my money on shoes, you definitely not promote us to keep buying! But you makes us think and excited for the shoe even if you not like it, you always makes sure that your opinion is unique to you and that is what interesting. Keep these content coming!! Being in my current situation I had 8 weeks off from running due to injury and I would be excited to see how you kicked off your training plan.
Always enjoy your monthly shoe talk. Looking forward to the Evo SL when it releases, it might become my go to do it all trainer. Given the difficulty in finding Superblasts, and Evo SL is much cheaper, this may turn me away from finding a Superblast
The Evo SL should be readily available. I bet I’ll even be able to find it here in Taiwan easily. Thank you for watching the monthly. I enjoy just sitting down, unscripted/outlined and riffing on shoe stuff. 🤙🏻
Potential shoe topic: Companies subtly reducing the length (by 1/2 size or so) of an existing shoe model when developing the new version, so that they marketing department can say "it now weighs X grams less (or now has as stiffer plate but weighs the same) and has X mm more stack in the heel" etc. Yowana mentioned this in his Mach 6 review, and I have had to return both the Mach 6 and Takumi Sen 10 due to this. I have also heard the SL2 is potentially guilty of the same. You may know of other examples. It's obviously not the most unethical practice, intended or not, but it sure is annoying and a good way to lose customers from your brand - if the sizing becomes more of a gamble between models, I know I will tend to just look elsewhere. Yes everyone's foot is different etc but I would be amazed if the aforementioned examples had the same insole length at the very least.
I read that comment 🤷 The person must have had a bad day 🤔 No matter what you do, you can't please everyone. For me, you are the professor of running shoes on RUclips 💪🙂 I don't always agree with you. But I have huge respect for your channel and your knowledge 👍🥇💪. I also hadn't seen that the Evo C would turn out to be an SL. And not a shoe at all for that price. It also surprises me that they have chosen to use the Evo name on it. But a really exciting shoe
Adidas in Thailand (may be else where as well) accidentally put up the Adios Pro 4 online yesterday and people where placing orders like crazy. Then in a few hours they have to cancel all the orders made. It was suspicious when I first hear about that but people were rushing in to order them. A bit of a blunder by Adidas.
Same happened in Malaysia for Adidas. Oddly, earlier this summer something similar happened to Nike with the Peg Plus in Singapore (it’s how I had a pair weeks before anyone else). South East Asian CMS systems seem to have a mind of their own.
Agree. Though Berlin 25 seems even more likely. I was more defending the fact we may see leaks or an update to the world athletics approved shoes list with a new “dev” shoe or two for Adidas at some point this fall.
Thanks for all you content, it really helped me navigate the quite complex waters of running shoes (from a beginner POV). Today I finished my first marathon in Berlin (2:58:45) and your content helped me to choose the right shoe (Adios Pro 3). It was the right decision and the shoe suits me really well.
Interesting to see where Adidas positions it Pro4. I found the AMSP much faster in 10s and HM - but the Pro3 came very much alive during the last 10K of a full marathon and was catching up with the Asics during the last K's. But.....that meant that the use was pretty limited. Will the Pro4 fill the gap to be also great for HMs?
I watched the BitR interview with Patrick Nava. It was long, but very interesting (loved the "This too shall pass" easter egg). I'm left wondering what questions you would've asked him, with your background in product design. I think it would be quite valuable if you could have similar interviews on your channel. I was surprised when the BitR crew talked about the Evo SL as a lifestyle shoe and Patrick had to correct them that it was actually a running shoe. Marketing dropped the ball with that one. Fingers crossed it'll release here soon. I'm still waiting for the Peg 41 and Peg Plus.😆
I enjoyed this vids. Great callout on the marketing disconnect for Evo SL. I actually quite confuse if this model is an extension/next generation of SL2 from a consumer perspective. If Evo SL is similar to B12, definitely I don't need to consider that. Perhaps adidas' marcomm team hasn't aligned well with what the product team's intention of creating these new models. The disconnect def created some unnecessary misunderstanding on these shoes. That's said, I am still looking forward to the launch of Evo SL in Asia.
2:51 We do appreciate that, Sagasu. 🤟 Many runtubers don't bother to reply, I've seen even small ones with very few comments and they still don't engage with viewers. I don't know about everyone else, but not replying to comments when you don't have good excuse like being overwhelmed by thousands and thousands of comments, really gives me the vibes of somebody that thinks is above his/her subscribers. Like, "see man, I'm too cool to answer these peasants". LOL
Adidas doesn’t loose as much money from EVO1, I believe Patrick in the interview said that material & production costs are covered by the price. R&D is not, but there’s no R&D if Adidas were to release another batch of EVO 1s. Thus it makes no sense or so it seems to me, Adidas not cover all their elite runners with EVO 1s.
The comment is absurd and just the opposite of what is right. The reason why 30k people can run a given marathon like NY/Boston etc. is the advancement and protection from trainers. Have you seen people's feet? Most of them do not have the structure to withstand the mileage endurance running requires. I ran 33 marathons, I can't walk without trainers and orthotics, poor foot structure. I think this is also why adi and Nike are trying to wean people off the carbon plates in training shoes- injuries. Trainers are for training, and yes a good portion of the sales go to lifestyle, that's just the nature of the silhouette (let's be honest walking all day in a Peg is much nicer than a Jordan, any Jordan). When it comes to your channel, firstly you race and that puts you in an upper tier of requirements, secondly you are highly engaged and want to try everything in the marketplace (the old joke about cyclists or guitar players or any gear-based activity is the right amount is N+1). Can 99% of runners get by on one pair of Pegs? Absolutely, but your channel is targeted more to the 1% of sub-elite athletes. Are running companies way over sku'ed? Yes! They are creating niches within niches in the category, but they pay for that when they have to put shoes on sale and take a hit on the margin. Every shoe company wants the lifestyle crossover to lift sales, It is unfortunate that adidas was deliberately marketing to streetwear (the product manager said we can market to lifestyle and it won't hurt our true runners, they don't look at the marketing anyway and will still buy the shoe no matter). Salomon has greatly benefited from haute couture, are they any less performance? I no longer race and just run for fun but I enjoy your content and the research you do on the culture of the sport
I still have the adios 8 and there is such infinite forefoot outsole rubber that the outsole will never wear out. But I find myself reaching for the Takumi Sen 10 for workouts. I have only used the adios 8 in my recent memory for some sessions on the elliptical or extremely recovery pace just to feel the ground. The exposed shank that Adidas put into the Adios 7 and and the Takumi Sen 7 - I’m sure other shoes - I don’t love it. I will inevitably catch a price of gravel or a stone and make a horrible grinding scrape noise that I always find unnerving. The Nike Streak had a shank but it was maybe 10mm above the ground which was better. Granted the voids could trap a stone and scrape and that was annoying but nothing like the nails on chalkboard situation with the low adios shank.
i just thought the commenter was stoned. why didnt they just call it the torsion system 2.0. then the evo SL could just be the true boston. same with the adios, call it torsion system 2.0. Dont care how adidas markets its shoes, if it sells to non runners or not. Kind of like non runners wearing hoka or ON , adidas just trying to stay relevant. they need to. just ran a race yesterday in colorado. only one other adidas shoe at the front of starting line other than my ap3. some dude in takaumi 10 doing the half. mostly nike vf3/2 af3/2 random other brands no adidas. noone els in CO runs in adidas only tinman elite😅
I have a business and most of the reviews are very good. But we have got a few from people that didn’t even buy anything. Maybe some of them even just looked at the website or something. So now I just try to put these out of my mind. You can’t please everybody! Take care
Amazing content! You help me understand why I like certain shoes more than others, and this will in turn help me figure out on my own if I will enjoy the latest releases of these brands! By myself I would never have that "aha" moment "aha that's why I like this shoe so much!" as you spelling it out with the actual shoe in hand to demonstrate. 🤩
regarding the shoe rotation controversy i find the whole thing pretty silly to argue about. The narrative of the critics normally goes along the line, that we spend more money if we have more shoes in the rotation. This is pure nonsense. The amount of money we spend in shoes i purely depending on the price of the shoes and the durability. .....example: Lets say i run 250 miles per month and my shoes have all the same price of 150 $ and the same durability of 300 miles runner1 has a 1 shoe shoeroteation. He uses a total of 10 pairs, all one pair at a time during the year totalling the cost to 1500 $ runner2 buys 10 pairs on the first of january and spends also 1500 $. He has a 10 pair rotation and runs every 10th run in the same shoes result: to spend less money in shoes buy cheaper and more durable shoes......or run less...every things else is just mumbo jumbo looked over a longer timespan, you can do the same with a 100 shoe rotation, still no difference in total cost to a 1 shoe rotation
Agree regarding the Evo SL marketing. The entire Adizero line including clothing has always been about training and racing. For lifestyle+causal running, that is more the ultraboost line and others.
I’m surprised in the exploded AP4 that there is still a substantial sock liner. Having a smooth strobel board and no sock liner is an obvious step for weight savings. Maybe they could not do that kind of manufacturing process at scale in the cost range they wanted to hit.
I'm glad you brought up the 'lifestyle' marketing aspect of the EVO SL. I don't know if it's a result of a disconnect but more or a push to further normalize wearing 'performance' running shoes in a casual setting. I vaguely remember seeing someone speaking about this in relation to some Hollywood film star rocking some vaporflys with jeans, but also you can see Patrick Nava wearing Takumi Sen 10 with his non-running clothes in the Believe in the Run AP4 video, and just the other day I saw a man in his Sunday best going for a pub lunch in Alphafly 3s! Personally, I don't like wearing running shoes if I'm not running, but I can definitely see as a way for the big brands to sell more shoes
I think the Evo SL marketing is inspired by the hipster runners, and the growth of the urban running scene. There are crews like Barbes Runners from Paris, who are heavily associated with On Running, as well as Maurten. Their imagery at times includes kebabs, alcohol, coffee. A recent post from Adidas had the tagline "POV - your barista is a runner" and the guy had on the Evo SL, while the coffee making was the main focus. The ad campaign stands out, so they'll be happy, and casual runners (in particular) may wear them casually.
Interesting. I'm originally from NYC and we have alot of run crews/teams/groups (i.e. Black Roses, Orchard Street Runners, Bridge Runners, Brooklyn Track Club, et)...all of them have a social layer to them but they are all performance/running based as well. Not elitest, just about performance, the social layers are secondary. Same with the run crews I'm away of out of the EU, though the social layers are a bit more dynamic there. Maybe these EU run crews are evolving their own direction. Adidas Streetwear, especially in the EU, is a very dominant style. So it makes sense in that way.
Fantastic review. Maybe Adidas will send you all new Adidas shoes to give your channel a shot at top. Am bored with #BITR clickbait approach. QUERY 1: For okay runners like myself with slightly heel strike, can we buy Adios Pro 3 and use it as a daily trainer/temp trainer/long run shoes? Me thinks that Pro 3 might be a better option than SuperBlast 2 and Endorphin Speed 4. QUERY 2: How do you compare Takumi Sen 10 to other new Adidas shoes other than Pro 4? Can we use it as a half-marathon shoe that is lighter than Pro 3 and 4 (given that it is hard to get EVO 1). Thanks!!!!
On 1 my take is that I effectively use the Adios Pro 3 as a "super trainer" as I prefer to race in Vaporflys although I use the Speed 4 as well and "boring" shoes like the Peg 41 for easier runs. I can't use a Superblast as don't do my size. Ultimately I feel there are no "rules" - if a certain shoe works for you doing a certain thing then I say go for it but I would also say try different things to be sure of this. Based on my experience of the Sen 9 (not got 10) then sure you could race a HM in them but I would be very surprised if you could go faster in them than the Pro ones. I never saw any real difference even over 5K.
I am thinking either Adidas will continue with Evo 1 at a more affordable price or they will tweek the Sen 11 to be their other race shoe like Alphafly/Vaporfly, Edge/Sky, Elite/Pro4 duo in other brands. Boston 12 and Evo SL will be their tempo training and long run shoes. 2025 is going to be an exciting year for Adidas. Now about the guy who made the comment: Had you said one should use race shoes for daily training, that would have been shilling for shoe companies as race shoes are much more expensive and have half the life and durability of daily trainers. Training means you challenge your body coordination and muscles. You learn how to use a handsaw before a table saw so you learn how wood behaves. A hammer before a nail gun. You learn how to balance on one leg to help folks walk or perform better balancing on two legs. You train for running in daily trainers to train your muscles so racing in race shoes will not only be easier and more pleasant but also less impactful on your already trained muscles.
Again, the comments on this channel change my thinking. I was not thinking about he Takumi Sen becoming more like a Evo Vaporfly. I mean, in my 2nd video on this channel, which was a review of the TS9, I said Addias needed to make the Takumi Sen more like the Vaporfly....but I didn't actually think it would happen. I'm leaning towards that a bit now. This would also offer Adidas a platform for a much lighter weight shoe... hmmm, hmmm. The Evo SL is the "more affordable" Evo...and the AP4 is the racing tech from the Evo. So the Evo 1 is "replaced", for all but Elites. I agree... 2025 is going to be an exciting year for Adidas. So will 2026. Per the comment guy - I mean, "Hammer before nailgun" (love this analogy) and I'm fully on board with the reasons and benefits of training in a trainer, which I didn't even both to explan (as I already have plenty of content on it). I wasn't offended of bothered by his comment, I just thought it was an interesting discussion point. Comments like yours show that. Thank you! 🙏🏻
There were photos going around of a Kith collab with Adidas on a shoe that looks a lot like the Evo SL. Similarly, Adidas has been doing those ridiculously expensive Y-3 models of their race shoes. It does send some mixed messages.
Adidas is VERY good about their fashion collabs. I mean Noah Lyles won the 100 in Paris in Y3 spikes. I believe I saw Kith AP4s in leaks too. Definitely saw Evo 1s at one point (not sure they ever came out though). Adidas does do this stuff very well.
Omg, very few people could afford to go through a $250 racing shoe every month. It's actually more economical to buy multiple pairs of shoes and only race or do hard workouts in racing shoes. I just cannot wrap my head around that comment. I guess if you only run like 10 miles a week it may make more sense, but then you probably aren't going to care about getting real racing shoes.
I mean, taking cost out of it (which I do) it's not that outrageous...given the prevalence of plated performance trainers and people doing easy runs in shoes like the Boston 12. I will often pair a worn out super shoe with a fresher one, same as I do with trainers...having options. Still though, the argument of it all was just non sensical.
On paper the only two shoes I think compare to the Evo SL are the Nike Peg Plus and Saucony Endorphin Speed 4, thats it. We will see a few other in 2025 from other brands though. The B12 is something else due to the stiffness of it. More like the Evo SL and B12 are complimentary to each other. I'm going to have an update on the ES4 in Oct and I'll talk a bit more about this.
I'm curious about one thing. In one of previous videos you mentioned that you like to run most of the runs in non plated shoes besides few key workouts. As a cyclist who recently started dabling into running this seems odd in this day and age from cycling perspective. For example most amateur cyclists will use one bike in identical setup for easy and hard training and maybe swap tires to faster ones more prone to puncutures for racing. What is motivation for not using plated shoes for regular daily workouts?
I'm a former cyclist (road and fixed road crits)... and the bike parallel to shoe has no bearing. Most cyclists stick to one all rounder bike due to cost. Those of us who raced, even at the amateur level, would AT LEAST have a race bike (often a aluminum frame and non carbon parts for crit racing due to crashes). I I also knew many people who had "aero" bikes as yet another option. Multi bike setups, even at the amateur lvel happen. As far as why not to train in plated shoes 100% of the time.... I'll be making content on this specifically in oct/Nov. But it comes down to foot/leg strength. If your foot isn't naturally moving in training, in a non plated shoe, you are loosing alot of training effect. Much more coming in this. Stay tuned. 🤙🏻
Adidas do something called the Y3 S-Gendo Run which is a lifestyle shoe but it has Lightstrike Pro and a Pebax plate (it’s £350 and does look cool). They are using their racing line to create an aesthetic in the same way as Ferrari use F1 to give their road cars more technology and street cred. The general training shoe market is big business and companies want their products to appeal to the cool kids so the rest copy them.
Ya, brands do this once in a while. Nike often creates lifestyle monstrosities, with race tech, within their ACG line and other collabs. Adidas has done alot of this too with Y#, Stella MaCartney, etc. These often have zero performance aspirations and are more building off the evolution of the ugly/dad shoe thing from years back (whatever that has evolved into now). The Evo SL does really look the part. I has the silhouette and the design language. I do expect many collabs on it over the next year.
For context, my 10k PB is still in a non plated non super-foam flat. I’m not an amazing runner, but I’m OK, and certainly know my way around running shoes.
I really want to try and buy different brands, but for the last 1 1/2 year only ASICS & Adidas have managed to capture my imagination. Nike is trying hard to rebound, but too many and confusing models and too much Air.
Youre the best communicator for running content!!
Because of you I am excited for every run i am on. Because of you I always looks into how to better spend my money on shoes, you definitely not promote us to keep buying!
But you makes us think and excited for the shoe even if you not like it, you always makes sure that your opinion is unique to you and that is what interesting.
Keep these content coming!! Being in my current situation I had 8 weeks off from running due to injury and I would be excited to see how you kicked off your training plan.
I appreciate the kind words and support. I do try to share my excitement for everything I cover in this channel. 🤙🏻
Always enjoy your monthly shoe talk. Looking forward to the Evo SL when it releases, it might become my go to do it all trainer. Given the difficulty in finding Superblasts, and Evo SL is much cheaper, this may turn me away from finding a Superblast
The Evo SL should be readily available. I bet I’ll even be able to find it here in Taiwan easily.
Thank you for watching the monthly. I enjoy just sitting down, unscripted/outlined and riffing on shoe stuff. 🤙🏻
Potential shoe topic: Companies subtly reducing the length (by 1/2 size or so) of an existing shoe model when developing the new version, so that they marketing department can say "it now weighs X grams less (or now has as stiffer plate but weighs the same) and has X mm more stack in the heel" etc. Yowana mentioned this in his Mach 6 review, and I have had to return both the Mach 6 and Takumi Sen 10 due to this. I have also heard the SL2 is potentially guilty of the same. You may know of other examples. It's obviously not the most unethical practice, intended or not, but it sure is annoying and a good way to lose customers from your brand - if the sizing becomes more of a gamble between models, I know I will tend to just look elsewhere. Yes everyone's foot is different etc but I would be amazed if the aforementioned examples had the same insole length at the very least.
I read that comment 🤷 The person must have had a bad day 🤔 No matter what you do, you can't please everyone. For me, you are the professor of running shoes on RUclips 💪🙂 I don't always agree with you. But I have huge respect for your channel and your knowledge 👍🥇💪. I also hadn't seen that the Evo C would turn out to be an SL. And not a shoe at all for that price. It also surprises me that they have chosen to use the Evo name on it. But a really exciting shoe
One of the best running youtubers out there. Great channel, always elaborated contents amd a friendly tone. Keep it up!
As always pleased to watching you talking!
Adidas in Thailand (may be else where as well) accidentally put up the Adios Pro 4 online yesterday and people where placing orders like crazy. Then in a few hours they have to cancel all the orders made. It was suspicious when I first hear about that but people were rushing in to order them. A bit of a blunder by Adidas.
Same happened in Malaysia for Adidas. Oddly, earlier this summer something similar happened to Nike with the Peg Plus in Singapore (it’s how I had a pair weeks before anyone else). South East Asian CMS systems seem to have a mind of their own.
Maybe they were baiting to figure out allocation depending on demand 😉. It is a new shoe so i fugure there might be limited number of pairs as of now.
Evo 2 sounds like something possible for Boston 25 more than fall 24, especially if they bring there their top guys like Tola and Lemma.
Agree. Though Berlin 25 seems even more likely. I was more defending the fact we may see leaks or an update to the world athletics approved shoes list with a new “dev” shoe or two for Adidas at some point this fall.
Thanks for all you content, it really helped me navigate the quite complex waters of running shoes (from a beginner POV). Today I finished my first marathon in Berlin (2:58:45) and your content helped me to choose the right shoe (Adios Pro 3). It was the right decision and the shoe suits me really well.
Congratulations! Great time time too. Wow! 👏🏻🙌🏻🎉
I'm glad what I do here helped you on your path. Thank you for being here! 🤙🏻
The storm will barely miss us here in the Philippines . Take care over there as it will intensify over the sea.
Ya, it’s a bit north for you guys. The eastern mountains will pretext most of Taiwan… but they will take a hit again.
☕🥐
🥱🛌
Interesting to see where Adidas positions it Pro4. I found the AMSP much faster in 10s and HM - but the Pro3 came very much alive during the last 10K of a full marathon and was catching up with the Asics during the last K's. But.....that meant that the use was pretty limited. Will the Pro4 fill the gap to be also great for HMs?
I watched the BitR interview with Patrick Nava. It was long, but very interesting (loved the "This too shall pass" easter egg). I'm left wondering what questions you would've asked him, with your background in product design. I think it would be quite valuable if you could have similar interviews on your channel. I was surprised when the BitR crew talked about the Evo SL as a lifestyle shoe and Patrick had to correct them that it was actually a running shoe. Marketing dropped the ball with that one. Fingers crossed it'll release here soon. I'm still waiting for the Peg 41 and Peg Plus.😆
I enjoyed this vids. Great callout on the marketing disconnect for Evo SL. I actually quite confuse if this model is an extension/next generation of SL2 from a consumer perspective. If Evo SL is similar to B12, definitely I don't need to consider that. Perhaps adidas' marcomm team hasn't aligned well with what the product team's intention of creating these new models. The disconnect def created some unnecessary misunderstanding on these shoes. That's said, I am still looking forward to the launch of Evo SL in Asia.
2:51 We do appreciate that, Sagasu. 🤟 Many runtubers don't bother to reply, I've seen even small ones with very few comments and they still don't engage with viewers. I don't know about everyone else, but not replying to comments when you don't have good excuse like being overwhelmed by thousands and thousands of comments, really gives me the vibes of somebody that thinks is above his/her subscribers. Like, "see man, I'm too cool to answer these peasants". LOL
Adidas doesn’t loose as much money from EVO1, I believe Patrick in the interview said that material & production costs are covered by the price. R&D is not, but there’s no R&D if Adidas were to release another batch of EVO 1s.
Thus it makes no sense or so it seems to me, Adidas not cover all their elite runners with EVO 1s.
The comment is absurd and just the opposite of what is right. The reason why 30k people can run a given marathon like NY/Boston etc. is the advancement and protection from trainers. Have you seen people's feet? Most of them do not have the structure to withstand the mileage endurance running requires. I ran 33 marathons, I can't walk without trainers and orthotics, poor foot structure. I think this is also why adi and Nike are trying to wean people off the carbon plates in training shoes- injuries. Trainers are for training, and yes a good portion of the sales go to lifestyle, that's just the nature of the silhouette (let's be honest walking all day in a Peg is much nicer than a Jordan, any Jordan). When it comes to your channel, firstly you race and that puts you in an upper tier of requirements, secondly you are highly engaged and want to try everything in the marketplace (the old joke about cyclists or guitar players or any gear-based activity is the right amount is N+1). Can 99% of runners get by on one pair of Pegs? Absolutely, but your channel is targeted more to the 1% of sub-elite athletes. Are running companies way over sku'ed? Yes! They are creating niches within niches in the category, but they pay for that when they have to put shoes on sale and take a hit on the margin. Every shoe company wants the lifestyle crossover to lift sales, It is unfortunate that adidas was deliberately marketing to streetwear (the product manager said we can market to lifestyle and it won't hurt our true runners, they don't look at the marketing anyway and will still buy the shoe no matter). Salomon has greatly benefited from haute couture, are they any less performance? I no longer race and just run for fun but I enjoy your content and the research you do on the culture of the sport
I still have the adios 8 and there is such infinite forefoot outsole rubber that the outsole will never wear out. But I find myself reaching for the Takumi Sen 10 for workouts. I have only used the adios 8 in my recent memory for some sessions on the elliptical or extremely recovery pace just to feel the ground.
The exposed shank that Adidas put into the Adios 7 and and the Takumi Sen 7 - I’m sure other shoes - I don’t love it. I will inevitably catch a price of gravel or a stone and make a horrible grinding scrape noise that I always find unnerving. The Nike Streak had a shank but it was maybe 10mm above the ground which was better. Granted the voids could trap a stone and scrape and that was annoying but nothing like the nails on chalkboard situation with the low adios shank.
i just thought the commenter was stoned. why didnt they just call it the torsion system 2.0. then the evo SL could just be the true boston. same with the adios, call it torsion system 2.0. Dont care how adidas markets its shoes, if it sells to non runners or not. Kind of like non runners wearing hoka or ON , adidas just trying to stay relevant. they need to. just ran a race yesterday in colorado. only one other adidas shoe at the front of starting line other than my ap3. some dude in takaumi 10 doing the half. mostly nike vf3/2 af3/2 random other brands no adidas. noone els in CO runs in adidas only tinman elite😅
I have a business and most of the reviews are very good. But we have got a few from people that didn’t even buy anything. Maybe some of them even just looked at the website or something.
So now I just try to put these out of my mind.
You can’t please everybody!
Take care
Amazing content! You help me understand why I like certain shoes more than others, and this will in turn help me figure out on my own if I will enjoy the latest releases of these brands! By myself I would never have that "aha" moment "aha that's why I like this shoe so much!" as you spelling it out with the actual shoe in hand to demonstrate. 🤩
regarding the shoe rotation controversy i find the whole thing pretty silly to argue about. The narrative of the critics normally goes along the line, that we spend more money if we have more shoes in the rotation. This is pure nonsense. The amount of money we spend in shoes i purely depending on the price of the shoes and the durability.
.....example:
Lets say i run 250 miles per month and my shoes have all the same price of 150 $ and the same durability of 300 miles
runner1 has a 1 shoe shoeroteation. He uses a total of 10 pairs, all one pair at a time during the year totalling the cost to 1500 $
runner2 buys 10 pairs on the first of january and spends also 1500 $. He has a 10 pair rotation and runs every 10th run in the same shoes
result: to spend less money in shoes buy cheaper and more durable shoes......or run less...every things else is just mumbo jumbo
looked over a longer timespan, you can do the same with a 100 shoe rotation, still no difference in total cost to a 1 shoe rotation
Agree regarding the Evo SL marketing. The entire Adizero line including clothing has always been about training and racing. For lifestyle+causal running, that is more the ultraboost line and others.
Enjoy these monthly updates keep em coming !
Also wanted to ask
Is it too early if I shop for race day shoes 2 months before my first full marathon?
I’d still like to see you try the Brooks Hyperion 2. Just seeing your preferences in shoes, I believe you’d be pleasantly surprised.
I’m surprised in the exploded AP4 that there is still a substantial sock liner. Having a smooth strobel board and no sock liner is an obvious step for weight savings. Maybe they could not do that kind of manufacturing process at scale in the cost range they wanted to hit.
I'm glad you brought up the 'lifestyle' marketing aspect of the EVO SL. I don't know if it's a result of a disconnect but more or a push to further normalize wearing 'performance' running shoes in a casual setting. I vaguely remember seeing someone speaking about this in relation to some Hollywood film star rocking some vaporflys with jeans, but also you can see Patrick Nava wearing Takumi Sen 10 with his non-running clothes in the Believe in the Run AP4 video, and just the other day I saw a man in his Sunday best going for a pub lunch in Alphafly 3s! Personally, I don't like wearing running shoes if I'm not running, but I can definitely see as a way for the big brands to sell more shoes
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"Personally, I don't like wearing running shoes if I'm not running ..." I walk my dog in (old) Hoka Mafate. Is that ok?
@@hawaiifranke7637 my old trail shoes becoming hiking shoes
Sorry but im all in on asics, didnt like the boston 12
I think the Evo SL marketing is inspired by the hipster runners, and the growth of the urban running scene. There are crews like Barbes Runners from Paris, who are heavily associated with On Running, as well as Maurten. Their imagery at times includes kebabs, alcohol, coffee. A recent post from Adidas had the tagline "POV - your barista is a runner" and the guy had on the Evo SL, while the coffee making was the main focus. The ad campaign stands out, so they'll be happy, and casual runners (in particular) may wear them casually.
Interesting. I'm originally from NYC and we have alot of run crews/teams/groups (i.e. Black Roses, Orchard Street Runners, Bridge Runners, Brooklyn Track Club, et)...all of them have a social layer to them but they are all performance/running based as well. Not elitest, just about performance, the social layers are secondary.
Same with the run crews I'm away of out of the EU, though the social layers are a bit more dynamic there.
Maybe these EU run crews are evolving their own direction.
Adidas Streetwear, especially in the EU, is a very dominant style. So it makes sense in that way.
Fantastic review. Maybe Adidas will send you all new Adidas shoes to give your channel a shot at top. Am bored with #BITR clickbait approach. QUERY 1: For okay runners like myself with slightly heel strike, can we buy Adios Pro 3 and use it as a daily trainer/temp trainer/long run shoes? Me thinks that Pro 3 might be a better option than SuperBlast 2 and Endorphin Speed 4. QUERY 2: How do you compare Takumi Sen 10 to other new Adidas shoes other than Pro 4? Can we use it as a half-marathon shoe that is lighter than Pro 3 and 4 (given that it is hard to get EVO 1). Thanks!!!!
On 1 my take is that I effectively use the Adios Pro 3 as a "super trainer" as I prefer to race in Vaporflys although I use the Speed 4 as well and "boring" shoes like the Peg 41 for easier runs. I can't use a Superblast as don't do my size. Ultimately I feel there are no "rules" - if a certain shoe works for you doing a certain thing then I say go for it but I would also say try different things to be sure of this. Based on my experience of the Sen 9 (not got 10) then sure you could race a HM in them but I would be very surprised if you could go faster in them than the Pro ones. I never saw any real difference even over 5K.
I am thinking either Adidas will continue with Evo 1 at a more affordable price or they will tweek the Sen 11 to be their other race shoe like Alphafly/Vaporfly, Edge/Sky, Elite/Pro4 duo in other brands. Boston 12 and Evo SL will be their tempo training and long run shoes. 2025 is going to be an exciting year for Adidas.
Now about the guy who made the comment: Had you said one should use race shoes for daily training, that would have been shilling for shoe companies as race shoes are much more expensive and have half the life and durability of daily trainers. Training means you challenge your body coordination and muscles. You learn how to use a handsaw before a table saw so you learn how wood behaves. A hammer before a nail gun. You learn how to balance on one leg to help folks walk or perform better balancing on two legs. You train for running in daily trainers to train your muscles so racing in race shoes will not only be easier and more pleasant but also less impactful on your already trained muscles.
Again, the comments on this channel change my thinking. I was not thinking about he Takumi Sen becoming more like a Evo Vaporfly. I mean, in my 2nd video on this channel, which was a review of the TS9, I said Addias needed to make the Takumi Sen more like the Vaporfly....but I didn't actually think it would happen. I'm leaning towards that a bit now. This would also offer Adidas a platform for a much lighter weight shoe... hmmm, hmmm.
The Evo SL is the "more affordable" Evo...and the AP4 is the racing tech from the Evo. So the Evo 1 is "replaced", for all but Elites.
I agree... 2025 is going to be an exciting year for Adidas. So will 2026.
Per the comment guy - I mean, "Hammer before nailgun" (love this analogy) and I'm fully on board with the reasons and benefits of training in a trainer, which I didn't even both to explan (as I already have plenty of content on it). I wasn't offended of bothered by his comment, I just thought it was an interesting discussion point. Comments like yours show that. Thank you! 🙏🏻
There were photos going around of a Kith collab with Adidas on a shoe that looks a lot like the Evo SL. Similarly, Adidas has been doing those ridiculously expensive Y-3 models of their race shoes. It does send some mixed messages.
Adidas is VERY good about their fashion collabs. I mean Noah Lyles won the 100 in Paris in Y3 spikes. I believe I saw Kith AP4s in leaks too. Definitely saw Evo 1s at one point (not sure they ever came out though). Adidas does do this stuff very well.
Omg, very few people could afford to go through a $250 racing shoe every month. It's actually more economical to buy multiple pairs of shoes and only race or do hard workouts in racing shoes. I just cannot wrap my head around that comment. I guess if you only run like 10 miles a week it may make more sense, but then you probably aren't going to care about getting real racing shoes.
I mean, taking cost out of it (which I do) it's not that outrageous...given the prevalence of plated performance trainers and people doing easy runs in shoes like the Boston 12. I will often pair a worn out super shoe with a fresher one, same as I do with trainers...having options. Still though, the argument of it all was just non sensical.
New subscriber here, just found your channel and it’s great! Keep up with the content
I’m happy to have earned the new sub. Thank you for being here. 🤙🏻
Do you think the EVO SL will be a competitor to the Saucony Speed 4 or is the better comparison to the Boston 12?
On paper the only two shoes I think compare to the Evo SL are the Nike Peg Plus and Saucony Endorphin Speed 4, thats it. We will see a few other in 2025 from other brands though. The B12 is something else due to the stiffness of it. More like the Evo SL and B12 are complimentary to each other.
I'm going to have an update on the ES4 in Oct and I'll talk a bit more about this.
I'm curious about one thing.
In one of previous videos you mentioned that you like to run most of the runs in non plated shoes besides few key workouts.
As a cyclist who recently started dabling into running this seems odd in this day and age from cycling perspective. For example most amateur cyclists will use one bike in identical setup for easy and hard training and maybe swap tires to faster ones more prone to puncutures for racing.
What is motivation for not using plated shoes for regular daily workouts?
I'm a former cyclist (road and fixed road crits)... and the bike parallel to shoe has no bearing. Most cyclists stick to one all rounder bike due to cost. Those of us who raced, even at the amateur level, would AT LEAST have a race bike (often a aluminum frame and non carbon parts for crit racing due to crashes). I I also knew many people who had "aero" bikes as yet another option. Multi bike setups, even at the amateur lvel happen.
As far as why not to train in plated shoes 100% of the time.... I'll be making content on this specifically in oct/Nov. But it comes down to foot/leg strength. If your foot isn't naturally moving in training, in a non plated shoe, you are loosing alot of training effect.
Much more coming in this. Stay tuned. 🤙🏻
Adidas do something called the Y3 S-Gendo Run which is a lifestyle shoe but it has Lightstrike Pro and a Pebax plate (it’s £350 and does look cool). They are using their racing line to create an aesthetic in the same way as Ferrari use F1 to give their road cars more technology and street cred. The general training shoe market is big business and companies want their products to appeal to the cool kids so the rest copy them.
Ya, brands do this once in a while. Nike often creates lifestyle monstrosities, with race tech, within their ACG line and other collabs. Adidas has done alot of this too with Y#, Stella MaCartney, etc. These often have zero performance aspirations and are more building off the evolution of the ugly/dad shoe thing from years back (whatever that has evolved into now).
The Evo SL does really look the part. I has the silhouette and the design language. I do expect many collabs on it over the next year.
Where does the Takumi Sen go once the Adios 9 comes out? Seems like Adidas is competing with themselves a bit
TS11 will be an Adios 9 with rods and a little more of the latest Lightstrike pro foam I'd wager
As soon as you mentioned a comment I knew the exact one that you were going to read out.
For context, my 10k PB is still in a non plated non super-foam flat. I’m not an amazing runner, but I’m OK, and certainly know my way around running shoes.
I saw that comment.
🤦🏼♂️
These are so good 👍🏻
Glad you like them!
First!
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