Got a set of Sidi Diablo GTX Winter Shoes for Christmas and figured I'd post up my impressions thus far.
As with most Sidi products, the shoes are very comfortable. My first ride with these shoes was a 23 miler in the mountains around Frederick and the shoes caused me no discomfort. I have noticed that the traction on rocks is lacking but this is a common characteristic for Sidi mountain shoes since the tread compund is made hard for added durability. The top of the shoe, around the ankle is very comfortable but I've found that no matter how tight I make the ankle strap, there is still a gap between the back of my ankle and the shoe while riding. This gap, acts as a catch-all for the little bits my rear tire throws up while riding. On most days I find myself either stopping to dig a rock out of one of my shoes or emptying out bits of leaves and dirt at the end of the day.
The shoes are 100% waterproof as you would expect with any Gore-Tex product. I've forded several streams and not a drop of water enters the shoes. There is however a limit to the protection and it's not when water crests the top of the shoe. The upper most, ankle area of the shoe is not protected by Gore-Tex, it's made of a neoprene like material. If you step in water, up to the top of the ankle, you have about 5 seconds before water starts finding it's way into the shoe through the neoprene like material.
Today, was the first day I was able to spend any prolonged time in the cold wearing these shoes. Temps were hovering around freezing for most of the day and about an hour into the ride, my toes started to go numb. I hoped this wouldn't happen but I sort of expected it since my initial impression upon opening the box and inspecting the shoes was that they were lacking any real insulation.. That being said, the winter shoes seem to be cut a little big in order to allow for thicker socks. The socks I had on were Wool, and were winter socks but I still had plenty of wiggle room inside the shoes. Next time out I am going to wear much thicker socks and see how things go. 2 1/2 hours into the ride we reached the car. Peeling the ice covered shoes from my feet was a painful process. Tomorrow, I'll be shopping for warmer socks and seeing how winter seems to have finally arrived, I'll post a cold weather update soon. Below are links to the shoes and socks I was wearing.
http://www.defeet.com/products/product.php?sport=bike&c=36&PHPSESSID=19ba7c6f679b468a711b3daed04d5ecb
http://www.sidiusa.com/winter.html#a
4 comments:
So far I have loved my pair. Any of the minor complaints I have are when walking not riding.
I'm warming up to mine (pun intended). Really waterproof. You have to wear the right socks. So far it seems like a heavy wool will work. I used a Seal Skinz sock with a light smartwool cycling sock. They do feel kind of clunky but that is comparing them to my warm weather Sidis.
Any updates to how you like them? I'm thinking about buying a dedicated pair of cold weather MTB shoes. From what you said about your feet getting cold around freezing temps it doesn't sound like much of an improvement over Goretex oversocks and a Pearl Izumi neoprene booties.
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