Just as you can judge any man, you can similarly judge any cyclist by his shoes. Although not necessarily an indicator of speed, a cyclist with high quality, well-worn shoes always gets my respect. While my fashion sense of street footwear might be underwhelming, I found a classier route for my cycling kicks: pricy italian leather shoes originally designed by Dino Signori.
I posted some info about my shoes back in January, a few months after I first got them - Sidi Genius 6.6s. I'm lazy, so I'm not gonna re-write all of it... but I'll add some thoughts.
In October, I asked my parents to help me get some new cycling shoes for my birthday. My mom jokes that she bought "one shoe," because I ended up getting the pricy Sidi Genius 6.6s. Thanks to an eBay coupon, leftover Paypal cash, and some online liquidations by All American Bicycle Center in Damascus, MD, I bought these at a pretty penny. Hell yes.
When they came in the mail, I even took a cell phone pic so I could brag to my buddies:
For what it's worth, I used to ride with Nike Poggios that I loved. (Tyler Hamilton wore the same model Poggios when he won the stage in the '03 Tour.) The Sidi's are not as light as the Poggios, but the quality and ratchet are well worth the grams.
When I started shoe shopping I picked up some Northwave Aerator 3Vs on a whim off of Chainlove. Their sizing runs absurdly large so I sold them on ebay and didn't lose a dime. The Northwave 43s were immense and way too boofy (they also came with paper-thin soles if you're wondering).
I also tried on a few different Specialized shoes because I liked the Pro Carbon or S-Works models, which I intended to buy, but they were a bit boofier in the toebox than I liked.
I tried on many models of Sidi shoes and they seemed to fit just right. A lot of people tell folks to "size-up" with sidi's because they fit snug or narrow. I think that's kinda BS, because I don't like having extra long or boofy shoes. It's not that my feet are narrow either, I just don't have a volumous foot. I am always between a 9.5 and 10, or 43.5 Euro, and I needed a 43.5 sidi shoe. It was insanely hard to find a good deal on Sidi shoes in half-sizes, but it was well worth the search. I got lucky I guess: Sidi shoes fit great.
I tried them out first in the controlled environment of Catherine's apartment, riding her trainer. After about 12 minutes, the outsides of my feet were seriously in pain, so I stopped and switched the paper-thin stock Sidi insoles for my old Nike insoles. I also put the specialized metatarsal wedges under the soles... and voila! After about 2 more minutes, my feet were fine and dandy.
While the quality of the Sidi shoes is hard to beat, the insoles are trash. Literally, it's a thin layer of some plastic-like material with a fuzzy top. No contour for your foot, no arch support. If you're going to drop cash on Sidi shoes, make sure you leave yourself some change for good insoles. Luckily for me, my old stock Nike insoles work just fine and fit nearly perfectly. I guess Sidi expects any serious cyclist to get their own custom insoles anyways.
My only other complaint is that the heel pad on the bottom of the shoe has twisted on both shoes a good bit. No matter how much I tighten the screw, they'll eventually loosen and twist. I'm not worried. That's the small price you pay for buying shoes that have replaceable parts. Not bad.
A lot of people have told me that I'd never want to go back to any other shoe because of the Sidi "heel cup system." Honestly, I believe that's a gimick, because my old Nike Poggios held my heel in just fine too. The Heel system on the Genius 6.6s I have does not adjust, so it's an extra peice of plastic to make things look neat. Whatever.
The Genius 6.6s have a carbon sole. Sidi says that they design their soles not to be super-stiff, but to support the foot more where necessary and to be comfortable where the foot may need more flexiness. While I'm no masher, I'm confident that the shoes are just about as stiff as anyone would need. For that matter, Sidi is right, the hard soles don't kill my feet either.
If you've seen me riding since I bought these shoes, you'll notice I've been riding with some black knitted Sidi Oversocks no matter what the temperature is. I bought them only to protect the shoes but apparently everyone jokes that they look "pro" too. They're good for those cool-weather days, but not the cold days. You have to limit your walking in them too, because the material on the heel isn't cut out, so it rips fairly easily. I just picked up some of the lycra Sidi Chrono overshoes, in white, no less. They are easier to get on/off and seem more durable on the bottom, since they have stitched cut-outs.
As cyclists, we always joke that it's not about the bike and I'm a definite believer that it's not about equipment. However, I wanna take us back a few years and leave y'all with this:
It's gotta be the shoes!
Thanks for reading.
2 comments:
you should use some loc-tite on that screw for the pad near the heal. That would probably do the trick
Same shoes, same problems. The insoles definitely are weak--I'm pissed I threw out my Specialized insoles when I dumped the shoes. Also, that heel pad totally swivels around, no matter what you do with the screw. Otherwise it's a good shoe, but I think I preferred my old specialized pro carbons.
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