Carbon fiber plate vs rods | Why Nike and Adidas made such different design choices.

In this video I cover why Nike and Adidas have such different approaches to carbon fiber use in their running shoes.

0:00 Intro
0:39 Disclaimer
1:48 Nike’s Vaporfly design approach
4:23 Nike’s patent protection
5:20 Adidas’s first attempts at a carbon plate
7:27 Adidas Adios Pro skunk works development
8:17 Adidas’s Adios Pro design approach
11:58 Energy rods 1.0 to 2.0
12:25 Tuning a carbon fiber plate vs rods
15:57 Summary
17:08 Outro

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Thanks for watching! Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Disclosures: No one is paying me to make this video and no one has any editorial control over the contents of this video. Additionally, I have no connection Nike’s or Adidas’s design or marketing processes. Everything I cover in this video is my own opinion and experience.

Product Images courtesy of Nike and Adidas.
Adidas Energy Rod photo (14m39s) courtesy of Martino Pietropoli @martinopietropoli

Intro & outro music from Epidemic Sound:
Fields of Blue - John Utah

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Subscriber count at time of upload: 577

🤙🏻

[davisanderson]

As someone with a product design background who’s gotten severely into running shoes recently, this video was amazing

[wuwuisaac]

i’m not a runner but for any sneakerheads that are into techs, your content is satisfying.

[TW-tmoh]

Very well explained and informative. For Nike, ZOOMX just has to work together with a carbon fiber plate to provide propulsion, the market response of streak fly (it's still a good shoe but elite runners don't like to wear it for racing) have already demonstrated that ZOOMX without plate just don't work as good as shoes with the combo. Invincible 3 is another example that even if you make the ZOOMX thicker in the midsole, without carbon fiber plate, it's not really for speed training but more for daily wearing/jogging.

[martinopietropoli]

Hi! At 14.37 you show a still of an adidas designer explaining how Energy Rods work and you say you can't find the original video where the capture comes from. It's not a capture but a picture and I know it pretty well since I took that photo at adidas HQ back in April 2022. Mystery solved!

[JS-Treadmill-Running]

Excellent video👍. Really good work👍. I do a lot of tests myself to see which running shoe is the most effective. One thing I often think people forget to talk about when comparing Nike carbon shoes with Adidas (lightstrike pro) is the difference in durability. You get a lot more mileage out of lightstrike pro than ZoomX. And in a world where we have to think about the environment, I think it's an important thing. This is where Nike can and must improve in the future

[zixednatz]

Your engineering explanation of these plates and rods of supershoes really makes sense! Thank you so much!

[heikaltaki]

As a fine artist, i appreciate the breakdown and thoughts on the process of progress of each brands on carbon plating

[kgenest]

We are learning so much for your crystal clear videos! Amazing! Your channel deserves to grow so much more. Thank you!

[brianreiter]

Interesting take on the plated trainer situation that I largely resonate with.

I personally have a preference for a light flat as my default. And I struggle to find a trail shoe that does the job I need nut isn’t a brick in my (large) size.

I have an intermittent history of hallux irritation on one side which was originally a traumatic injury that presented like gout and is now basically osteoarthritis that rarely flares up. The ideal management for me to keep going through this is a stiff rockered shoe with a fairly firm midsole foam — specifically I have had success using the Boston 10/11 and Adios Pro. I otherwise don’t really like these shoes but they have a use for working through this problem for me.

They said I don’t personally see how I could make use of a Mach X or Kinvara Pro though.

On the trail side I am really intrigued by the NNormal Kjerag which is absurdly light for a trail shoe: 255g in my size. And it has a simple design with high-end materials that can even be resoled by a cobbler! Unheard of. NNormal will also recycle them. This is essentially the polar opposite of the tech strategy you are describing in this video driving Hoka and Saucony to keep adding models.

[Wings_nut]

Terrific explanation. As a Quality professional involved in design control for highly-regulated industries (aerospace, biotech, medical devices), I can appreciate the level of detail involved in design and development.

[mfcc]

As a shoe geek, I'm loving your take about this topic. Carbon plates and rods have their own strengths and weaknesses. I'm enjoying both of these shoe techs. I would like to know your take on the Alphafly as the carbon plate on that one has a different shape compared to the Vaporfly.

[James.chalmers]

Never knew this I wear the Addias shoes, great information cheers

[davidlynch]

Thank you. Very interesting and informative. Subscribed.

[emmettish]

Terrific video, one of my theories was that Nike developed the carbon plate because Adidas was so far ahead in the energy return foam technology. When Dennis Kipruto Kimetto set the marathon record in Adidas in 2014 Nike was really under pressure to do something.

[rufflesthefrog]

Former Marketing and Product/Brand guy here…your videos are fantastic!

[AbtrAct]

Amazing explanation of the technologies! Thank you!

[SS-plmj]

Nothing like a snack and hot drink and listening to one of these videos

[AdventureAwaits]

Great analysis ... I can see where the Adidas pretzel design has the potential to be a more dynamic - fine-tuned ride

[Boulevardfree]

In the heel area and in the rear and middle thirds of the forefoot area, Adidas should have engineered pockets of air beneath the rods so their close position to the heel does not affect the foot sinking into the (somewhat firmer) Lightstrike Pro, maximizing impact softening properties while landing.

In the remaining third up front, the one that does not get stressed until rolling and toe-off, no air pocket for the rods to sink into. This would have the effect of giving the rods an immediate abutment support against which the rods can catapult the heel into the air by virtue of our own weight, power, and momentum.

One could even argue that this enhanced rocker-catapult-mechanism might profit from a carbon cross-ridge at the bottom between thirds 1 and 2 of the forefoot, provided this can be engineered without compromising comfort.
Same mechanism as prying open a door essentially, just that we're working the short end unfortunately.

[onlineo]

Great video. I know people who have snapped energy rods... But not known anyone snap a carbon plate... That said all these supershoes have a very short lifespan.