Well, it looks like Adidas will have it's chance on the trail after all. My first stop at the Interbike Expo was the Adidas-Mavic booth to slip on a pair of their newest XC Race mountain shoes. The very first shipment of these shoes just arrived to the warehouse last week, so I was totally juiced to be one of the first consumers to wrap my Adidas-loving feet inside these pedi-shells.
Unlike many other MTB shoe manufacturers, Adidas truly markets their products to the American market, providing US sizes in half-step increments. This is both good and bad. The good is that after running solely on Adidas shoes for the better part of 15 years, I know that I am a 10.5 (on a scale of 10). Even though manufacturers and shoe stores recommend a running shoe 1/2-1 size larger than your typical so that your feet can make full use of metatarsal expansion, thereby maximizing your stability, power and efficiency, my narrow feet still prefer a tight toe box. (I wear a tri-colored 11 at the local bowling alley, and, if you recall, a 42.5 Pearl Izumi and a 44 Specialized.) The downside of the US scheme is that it doesn't offer quite the range of incremental sizes that the European scale does. Nevertheless, I have always found a comfortable fit growing up in the land of the free and Adidas, in particular, never fails to hit my foot perfectly.
For some reason, I still pulled a 10.5 and 11 off the shelf to try on. Amazingly, these shoes run large. Quite large. This is definitely due to the larger toe box that Adidas built into their new MTB shoes, certainly an attempt to run off their "narrow foot" reputation. I reluctantly settled on a size 10 (the stubborn Vish emerges), then buckled a Race XC to the left and a Hammer to the right (reversed in the picture). The weight variation between the two was amazing. Due, no doubt, to the full carbon sole plate in the XC Race. Many manufacturers claim a "carbon plate" or "full carbon plate", when in fact they use a carbon covered polymer. Not at Adidas. They build this shoe with a completely carbon plate, unnecessarily reinforcing my respect for their attention to creating solid products and a super lightweight shoe.
One feature of the Hammer that I'd like to mention now is it's use of Solomon's one-pull Quickfit lacing system (a smart move by Adidas engineers through their acquisition of Solomon) that was developed for their trail runners. This is very similar to the system utilized by Specialized in it's S-works model (see Outdoor Demo:Take 2), but at a fraction of the cost. OK, so I lied, I actually own a pair of the Solomon XCR Trail shoes with this lacing system and it is top-notch, doing everything it claims, so I welcome it with open arms to the Adidas line of MTB shoes.
I don't mean to run and leave you with a half-complete review of these two shoes, but I really must get over to Interbike. I can't wait to clip into a pair of these Adidas' and give them a full trail assessment. Check back in a few weeks for my garrulous review.
Note: Foot puns intended.
