Sidi Spider Vermice SPD MTB Shoe

Mountain bike shoes are often flash-free. In other words, you typically find lots of matte finishes in hues that either hide dirt or that look dirty to begin with. Sidi's Spider SRS Vernice Shoes bring some style back to off-road bootery.

The first thing that you'll notice is the high-gloss Vernice (ver-NI-chay) finish on the majority of the new Technomicro microfiber leather. It looks beautiful clean. It looks beautiful dirty. Basically, it develops more personality as you use them.

Your feet are held in place, first, by Sidi's stiff heel cup. Moving towards the upper, retention is ensured through Sidi's Soft Instep Closure System buckle across the top of the foot, and two proprietary High Security hook-and-loop straps across the middle of your foot. Underneath the straps is a thinly padded tongue that has just enough cushion to prevent your foot from feeling too much pressure, while its thin enough to prevent your foot from moving around. This setup is Sidi's time-honored, proven, adjust-on-the-fly, lock-down system for keeping feet in place. Not only does it work flawlessly, but it helps the shoes last, last, and last. However, if you find a way to break them, the buckles and straps are all replaceable.

At the outsole, you'll find a newly designed Carbon Composite SRS Sole that mimics the venerable Dragon SRS outsole. And just like on the Dragon, the toes are threaded for spikes (sold separately — all the threading for toe spikes are the same). The sole is plenty stiff for riding, but not so stiff that you can't scramble in them with a bike on your back. After that, there are big differences. The rubber lugs are softer than those on the Dragon and D5, so they grip rock better in both wet and dry conditions. And because they're softer, they wear a bit more quickly, but wearing down the lugs isn't an issue because they're bolted onto the sole as part of Sidi's Sole Replacement System (SRS). Sidi has also added a rubber toe guard in front for greater durability.

• Patented SIDI Sole Replacement System® (SRS) for increased shoe life and optimal traction

• Integrated Rubber Toe Guard®

• Caliper Buckle two-way ratchet for easy on-bike adjustment with incremental tightening and loosening

• Soft Instep Closure System® and padded tongue eliminate pressure points