All:
Being the absent minded idiot I am, I lost one of my shoes at a race this weekend. Looking at either the Sidi T2 or the Shimano TR51. Opinions?
I went the TR51s. I did not like the construction on the T2, and there was one inside seam that is not needed that drove me nuts.
Good to know, but the blue color is killing me. How bad do they really look?
I actually think the Shimano’s look good. The T2’s don’t stay shiny and white for long. Mine are filthy after only a few races.
In terms of comfort and fit, I don’t like the T2’s all that much (but shoes are very personal). But they are light and well ventilated. Sidi road shoes on the other hand are great. If I were to choose again, I’d go with the Shimano’s. You may want to have a look at the Bontrager Hilo’s, too.
The blue is not too bad.
+1 on the T2 fit. I loved the T1, but T2 just seemed off to me. I honestly had to think about it when you mentioned blue. I was thinking of the god-awful T1s Sidi did a few years ago that were mainly blue.
All I care about is how easy they are to get on and off, how well they hold my feet pedaling and how my feet feel after a couple of hours.
I lean towards the T2’s. They fit the same as my 5.5’s and I do not have anything particularly negative say about them apart from them being a white shoe and requiring a bit of a polish now and again to keep looking clean. I tend to train in my road shoes most of the time anyway so it’s not a concern for me. I like the velcro system and the ventilation is great. A partially wet foot dries out in no time at all in the Australian weather.
One major problem I had with the Shimano shoe (which I thought looked good and was a well constructed shoe) - I found the tip of the big toe area of the tr51’s to push in when riding on top of the shoe (i.e. mounted shoe start/finishes). This part of the shoe is particularly rigid and once the tip “pushed in” - like when you squeeze a coke bottle - it would stay that way, and I would have to remove the shoe from the cleat and my foot, and then put my hand inside to push it back out. Attempting to do so on the fly would not work as the shoe material in that area is too stiff. If this happened in a sprint race I would just bear it but it would cause blistering on my toe, and longer distance races I would likely dismount to fix this. In the end this was a deal breaker so that is why my vote is with the T2.
If I was to purchase shoes again I would toss up between the T2 and the Bont Sub8/9/10. http://www.bont.com/cycling/products/sub/sub10.html
- 10 being the entry level product.
Thanks guys, great info, I am leaning toward the Shimano TR51. I will check out the Bontragers.