Asics MetaRide 'Black Electric Red'
Colorway: Black/Electric Red · Style code: 1011B216-001 · Release date: June 22, 2021 · Price: $248 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Asics MetaRide 'French Blue Aqua' (1011B216-400)
The MetaRide was a proof of concept sold at retail. ASICS launched it in February 2019 to introduce Guidesole, a stiff and heavily curved midsole designed to keep the ankle from flexing as far through each step, on the argument that the joint is where runners lose the most energy. The company claimed the geometry cut wasted energy by close to a fifth against a conventional running shoe.
It was never meant to be a volume product. At two hundred and fifty dollars it sat far above the rest of the range, and within seven months ASICS had launched the cheaper GlideRide specifically to get the same idea to more runners. The MetaRide continued alongside it as the heavier, more cushioned expression of the concept.
This black and red version is dated to June 2021, by which point the geometry had spread across several models and the MetaRide had become the reference point rather than the experiment.