VN tech ticker: Adidas athleisure cycling shoe, POC stops the SPIN

Adidas Velosamba

Adidas is again dipping its toes in the cycling waters.

The $120 Adidas Velosamba has all the iconoclastic styling of the long-popular Samba soccer sneaker but has been fitted with an opening and mounting point for SPD cleats.

The Velosamba is so close in appearance to the original Samba shoe, it’s nearly indistinguishable from the long-time footwear favorite other than the two-bolt cleat port on the sole.

POC to phase out SPIN, fully adopt Mips technology

Helmet maker POC is retiring its SPIN (Shearing Pad INside) technology and is moving to Mips Integra technology for additional traumatic brain injury protection in its helmets.

The Swedish company is aiming to replace its entire line of helmets with Mips within the next 22 months.

“[It’s] likely that by the end of 2022, every new POC helmet for both snow and bike will either have Mips or nothing else,” writes Michael Finn of True Communications, Mips’ public relations firm in North America.

POC joins Giro, Bell, Scott, Smith, Specialized, and Troy Lee Designs in manufacturing helmets with this technology which aims to offer greater protection from concussions and TBIs.

POC has been working with Mips — both Swedish companies — since 2009, but the change from the proprietary SPIN technology to Mips is seen as a significant advancement.

“Our original collaboration with POC is well known, but it’s critical to improve and continually question what currently exists and whether it can be done differently, especially from a user’s perspective. It’s a process that has renewed the partnership and collaboration with POC. I am pleased with the development of Mips Integra, which we recently launched, and that this new system will be added to POC’s collection imminently, giving even more users around the world protection with the Mips system,” says Mips CEO Max Strandwitz.