Sidi Dimaro Clipless Shoe Review

Words & Photos by Drew Rohde

After decades of success in the cross-country and road world, Sidi has recently developed a mountain bike shoe for us gravity fiends, the Dimaro. We received Sidi’s Dimaro shoe late last year and couldn’t wait to mount some cleats and see how these clipless mountain bike shoes would perform. The looks impressed us right away, the Vibram sole looked to have a really effective pattern and tacky rubber, it was time to ride.

THE LAB
Sidi collaborated with Vibram to create a Megagrip sole that is stiff, smooth but still offers grip when you need it. When trying to spread the triangular-shaped lugs and sticking fingernails into the Vibram sole, our staff commented on the slow rebounding characteristics and how gummy or soft the rubber felt. This was verified as we spent a bit of time walking on wet rocks and logs with great success.

Built around a standard “D” width last, I found the Dimaros to be very comfortable but a touch on the wide side. They’re certainly not the narrow XC-slippers that you’d expect from Sidi. The toe box is especially roomy. Sidi uses an EVA midsole and reinforced heel cup.

Sidi also built the low top shoes with an inner gaiter to help keep sand, grit and other debris from filling your shoes while shralping corners. I was a bit skeptical as to how much it would work, but it seemed to have some definite advantages, although I’m still a fan of a mid or high-top shoe for gravity riding.

THE DIRT
Despite having not ridden clipless shoes for the last two years due to an ankle injury, I can confidently say that over my 25-year riding “career” I’ve spent more time clipped in than not. I’ve always switched between flats and clips depending on what I was hoping to get out of my ride, and lately my quest for working on jumping and ankle injury kept me in flats.

That changed when I opened my box of Sidi Dimaro shoes. They looked so cool that I couldn’t wait to get them on my feet. I dug around and found some old Shimano XTR pedals and cleats and got right to it. There was almost no break-in period required on the shoes and while riding my usual test loops I instantly felt the increased performance compared to my flat pedal rides. I instantly felt comfortable inside the shoes and never developed any hot spots, blisters or other symptoms.

Putting the Sidi Dimaros on is quite easy as the opening is wide and the gaiter makes a nice place to grab the shoe from while inserting your foot. The tongue is padded and comfortable but I did have some critiques of the lace cover and lace keepers. I don’t have a very wide foot so I really had to snug down the laces to keep my foot in place. The lace keepers are pretty narrow so I didn’t have a lot of adjustability, as the laces wouldn’t pull tight enough for me. On top of that, the lace cover flap is very close to the laces and it was a bit of a fight to keep it out of the way while lacing up. I imagine if you had a wider foot and didn’t need to get every inch out of the laces, this wouldn’t be as big of a deal, but I would like to see those improved for my use.
Also on my last test ride with the shoes, as I was undoing the Velcro lace-cover to take the shoes off, the threads pulled through the lace cover as you can see in the image above. I like the shoes a lot but question the durability a bit.

The Wolf’s Last Word

Since coming back into the clipless world, I’ve worn some new mountain bike shoes from Ride Concepts, Leatt, Specialized and Bontrager. The Sidi Dimaro clipless mountain bike shoes are definitely competitive with all of the above. From my experience I’d say the Vibram Megagrip sole could be the grippiest of all the clipless shoes I’ve ridden. They are great for walking on challenging terrain and keeping your feet on the pedals between corners if you have to unclip for anything.

This is a shoe designed for DH and enduro riding, so don’t expect it to breathe like a lighter shoe, but for what they are, I felt they did a decent job managing heat. For a “skate style” shoe however, I felt comfortable taking them out for 30-mile rides on my pedal bike or eMTB on days well into the 70s. We’ll see how they do as summer hits and temperatures climb, but I suspect that I’ll be spending more time in these than many other shoes in the closet.

Price: $149.99;
Weight: 2lbs (w/cleats);
Website: actionathletesupply.com | Sidi.com

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