My old Sidi Geniuses. The genius of longevity.
13. Nov, 2011 
12 Comments
My seven year old Sidis.
This might take a while, okay?
Eurobike and Interbike are over and the new shoes from Pearl Izumi, DMT, Mavic, Bont, Vittoria, Giro and the like are headed for your bike shop.
So why are we reviewing a pair of seven year old shoes from Sidi? Because when you’re ready to drop up to $300 dollars on new shoes, it’s instructive to remember the old ones.
We’re seriously considering a brand new pair of stunning Sidi Ergo 3′s based largely on a purchase we made long ago. This is a story of quality, heritage, recycling and enduring affection.
First off, we’ve loved our Genius shoes from the moment we slipped into them. The old cliché “fits like a glove” barely does them justice — they wrap, envelope, cradle, firmly caress. They’ve been an integral part of our rides, three days a week for many a year.
Mostly, it’s the high quality and respect for craft at Sidi that have made us a brand evangelist. Most every piece on the Genius is re-buildable or replaceable — and in this day and age of dwindling resources and outrageous prices that is impressive.
We’ve replaced the heel and toe counters several times and we’ve swapped in new Sidi bands across the top. When the velcro straps finally lost their stick, we simply had new velcro sewn on at a shoe shop for next to nothing.
When one of the ratchets wore out we screwed in the replacement. Then when the fabric below the ratchet began to rip we returned to the shoe shop and they sewed in an extra piece of fabric to stabilize it. Good as new.
Our Sidis are like those stories of the old Mercedes or Volvo that’s still rolling with 500,000 miles on the odometer. We just polished them up for the first time two weeks ago and you tell us how good they look.
So when we eyeball the snazzy, stylish, ohh-so-cool cycling shoes now on the market, we smile and ask ourselves the Sidi question: will these hold up for ten years?
Before you throw your credit card on the counter for that shiny new pair, we personally recommend you ask how re-buildable those shoes are and what replacement parts are actually available. Because we know for a fact, the Sidis are crafted for the long haul.
And when we finally replace our old black Geniuses for the next Sidis, we won’t be throwing out the old pair. Why should we — they still work just fine.
