Hello,

I own a pair of SIDI mtb shoes, the eagle model from 2005 or 2006, size 45. My problem is that i feel them like lacking a bit of stiffness now. I don't knwo it they were like this already when new, or it's because they are too old now. I´ve been using new road sidi shoes for my new road bike since january, and i´ve been riding the road bike exclusively since then, made about 1000km on it. and today i used the mtb and shoes felt lacking some stiffnes. this was very noticeable while pedalling out of the saddle, like sprinting or climbing.

- is this because shoes are too old? the upper part is quite good, i don't want to buy new shoes if it's not really neccesary.

- Is this normal with these sidi mtb shoes or it's because they are old? are sidi shoes with carbon sole better? should i buy the carbon ones or the one made of plastic but with replaceable rubber parts already stiff enough?

Thank you and best regards.

_________________
Happy Trails !!!
MTB / Giant Xtc '05 / 8.7Kg
ROAD / La Perla Negra - FM015 / 7.0Kg

For years and years I'm wearing Sidi shoes. Almost every year I'm buying the new model (because I'm a real Italian ). Every time I think: I will use my old shoes for bad weather so my new ones stay better. But in the end: wearing the new ones makes the old gone "bad". Of course the old are still stiff but not as stiff as the new ones! And how older the shoe the less stiffer the shoe.....

ok, so i guess these ones are too old, right? these have seen about 2500km per year of true mtb, and they are from 2006 so... i guess i should get a new ones...

_________________
Happy Trails !!!
MTB / Giant Xtc '05 / 8.7Kg
ROAD / La Perla Negra - FM015 / 7.0Kg

anyone else with input on this issue of sidi sole's stiffness with time?? thanks

_________________
Happy Trails !!!
MTB / Giant Xtc '05 / 8.7Kg
ROAD / La Perla Negra - FM015 / 7.0Kg

I have the carbon sidi dragons. If they are a good fit for your foot shape, then they will be amazing. Some people find them too narrow.

The carbon sole is perfect. I have some gaerne shoes which are too stiff, it makes them crap for running in. The heel retention is excellent.

The sole replacement is pretty expensive and you cant replace the carbon insert.

The carbon insert can wear down pretty quickly if you are not careful. I wore my down in less than a year. However, as they are replaceable i just took them out and made new ones using vacuum bagging moulding technique. I also got rid of the plastic crew on sole and adapted the nut inserts to fit M5 rubber rugby studs.

I have tried, specialized (carbon road), gaerne (carbon mtb), shimano shoes (carbon mtb and road). Nothing like the sidi dragons. I have also had non-carbon sidi mtb shoes. They quickly end up like flip flops.

If you can justify the cost then get the dragons (or ruby slippers as an italian friend of mine named them), but get something to protect the sole

Thank you so much for your long explanation, i really appreciate it, as i would rather avoid the cost if it's avoidable. My finances are so so.

Thing is that Sidi's narrow shape suits me with no problem, and i will not be running on them at all. So an extra stiffness would be welcome. I also have an old specialized mtb shoes, with that extremely thick and heavy body geometry sole, which puts your feet like 4mm higher, but man, that's really really stiff, really nice. Loved them, but the upper is cheap and the toe box way too big for me... so back to the sidis, I guess the carbon sole can justify the extra cost, as long as the extra cost is justificable by itself. normal sidis run for about 150€ here in europe, sidi dragons for about 290€, 220€ sidi dragon 2 or dragon 3 in sale... With some effort i may find them for around 200€ a dragon 2 on sales... I hate available colours though, they are either all white or all white. A combination of both would be great... pity... I'll think about it. I will not expend such a big amount of money in an ugly color shoes... no way. I'll keep on thinking about it. i will check sidi website to see all colors avaialble. thank you and best regards. Any other tip from anyone else will be welcome too.

_________________
Happy Trails !!!
MTB / Giant Xtc '05 / 8.7Kg
ROAD / La Perla Negra - FM015 / 7.0Kg

i wonder if the srs sole is as stiff as the carbon srs sole. maybe the carbon thing is just a gimmick, so i could purchase just the srs sole. There is another sidi sole, the basic plastic sole with no srs system (no replaceable rubber parts), that's the one i already own and not gonna buy them again.

_________________
Happy Trails !!!
MTB / Giant Xtc '05 / 8.7Kg
ROAD / La Perla Negra - FM015 / 7.0Kg

I have an old pair of Sidi Bullets from 2005 or before. They are fine shoes, but I ride Lake shoes. Newer shoes are stiffer, especially with carbon soles, although the old shoes may be softer than when they were new. Sole stiffness is a personal preference to a certain degree. On the road, change from a nylon soled shoe to a fiber glass reinforced sole hurt my feet because they are so much stiffer. So, yes non-carbon soles can be very stiff. I also have carbon soled shoes for off road. The soles are stiff enough that I leave the closure system a little loose since I do need to run.

Pedals like Time and Crankbrothers tend to eat of the sole around the cleat. I think this is what mikeyg is talking about. Crankbrothers and Sidi make shoe shields, which are thin metal plates that go under the cleat and prevent sole damage. I use the Sidi ones, but I had to trim the hole to fit Time cleats. They are less than 1 mm thick and really non-obtrusive but save the carbon part from the pedals.

Just try Lake's(with carbon sole). I went for it in this year i'll never come back to SIDI's.

thanks for the tip, but i won't buy anything that looks worse than sidi. those lake's may be good, i don't know that, but they definitely look bad. and as i've said a thousand times, style is all.

now, back to sidi's... there are three soles; the normal standard nylon sole and then two models of SRS, the normal SRS (carbon reinforced i think) and then the SRS with large carbon plates.

my question is; is it necessary to expend the extra bit on the top of the line srs sole of the dragon shoes, or the cheap SRS sole is enough? my cheap nylon sole from 2005 lacks lot of stiffness now. i need to know which is the cheapest alternative i should buy, the dragons are about 280€, and that's a bit out of my budget.

thanks again!!

_________________
Happy Trails !!!
MTB / Giant Xtc '05 / 8.7Kg
ROAD / La Perla Negra - FM015 / 7.0Kg

Hello! I have the 2008 SIDI Eagle 6 Carbon SRS. Being older mine are not the "Vernice" but are very nice. Current:
http://www.sidisport.com/eng/scheda.php?macro=1&id=27

These have the same design sole as the Dragons but with a with a simpler middle fastener and are 80% of the price.

I'd describe the soles as very stiff and any movement that must be there is far smaller than all the other flex between leg and tyre. With apologies to Italian friends, I call them my carbon clogs. Definitely cycling shoes and not great for running or walking - which is fine by me.

I have 13,000km on them and (subjectively) the soles feel as stiff as when new. Certainly lack of stiffness is not a problem. These are the only good cycling shoes I've owned so I can't say how others compare, however I am completely satisfied and don't regret spending what seemed like a lot of money at the time.

I upgraded my road shoes from genius3 to genius 6 carbon and the old ones are like rubber compared to.the new ones. Not sure if it is because the old ones have gone soft or they were just softer to.start with but i have the same experience as you.

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You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.
-- Frank Zappa

I ran S-Works shoes on MTB and road for a while.
The MTB sole was too stiff for me.

I have used Sidi for 15 years and they are always very comfortable.

I now run Sidi Genius 6.6 Carbon on road and Sidi Spider off-road.
I like the fact that the Spider sole is flexible for running or steep climbs where I have to walk up.

To each his own on shoes.