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Here at TrackdayMag.com, we’re devoted fans of Sidi boots.
Several of our Editors wear this Italian company’s Vortice or Vortice Air model and we’ve crash tested the design more than once. Aside from being superbly constructed and heavily armored, the Vortice’s standout feature is its complete adjustability. Ratchet assemblies, located at the instep, ankle and calf of each boot, allow the user to mold the Vortice to a custom fit. These boots receive our highest recommendation, due to the safety, comfort and style that they offer.
The one drawback to the Vortice line is that it is quite complicated to put on.
In our opinion, this is a small price to pay for the unrivalled fit and protection of these boots but for some consumers, it’s a deal breaker.
If a segment of potential customers won’t buy your product, you need to come up with another offering. Sidi has done this with their new ST line. The ST offers every bit of Sidi’s legendary style and protection in a package that’s far easier to put on and is less expensive, um... To boot! Needless to say, we had to give this newcomer a test.
First, let’s dispense with the rest of the boot world. Sidi’s Vortice and Vortice Air are the most protective and best fitting boots we’ve tried, period. How about the ST? Well, if the Vortice line weren’t so clearly in the lead, we’d have to say that the ST rivals anything else in the market. Fit, comfort, armor and style meet or exceed what you’d expect from a high-end racing boot offered by any other manufacturer.
The ST is available in standard or the highly perforated Air model, either of which sells for $395. That’s an honest hundred dollars less than the Vortice but also fifty-five bucks less than the Alpinestars Supertech R’s asking price of $449.95. We mention the Supertech R because among top-spec boots, this would be the ST’s nearest match as far as fit, features and ease of getting into or out of.
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If the ST costs less that its Vortice sibling or the Alpinestars Supertech R, the obvious question is, What am I giving up?” Having ridden in all three, we have some opinions on that score.
As far as the Supertech R is concerned, what you’re giving up is $55 fewer dollars and the Alpinestars logo. When judged strictly as motorcycle footwear, the Sidi ST is every last bit the equal of the Supertech R and in many details, may actually be better.
The negative, at least for some, is the Sidi boot’s unmistakable lack of an Alpinestars logo. For comparison’s sake, think athletic shoes: Reebok or New Balance offer outstanding products and might win the Consumer Reports shoe comparison but there are those consumers who will only wear Nike.
If the size and quantity of banners alongside a MotoGP racetrack don’t guide your purchasing decisions, try on both the ST and the Supertech R boots to see which one impresses you more.
Look down at each pair of boots and think about the jabbing footpegs, spinning tires, whirring chain and gears, crushing blows from your bike’s frame and engine, rumble strips, ruts, pavement edges, etc, which you might encounter during a crash. At that point, price should become academic, especially if the pair you like better are the ones that cost less.
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How about the ST versus Vortice family rivalry?
In our estimation, the $495 Sidi Vortice and Vortice Air models are the Gold Standard in racing boots. Sidi’s ST model costs 20% less. What are you giving up? To start, the ST loses the Vortice’s three ratchet adjusters and four latches in favor of a single pair of cam buckles at the calf. While the calf adjustment system on the ST works perfectly and is lightning fast to operate, there’s no question that the vastly more complicated Vortice system does a better job of custom-fitting the boot to your foot.
But, (And this is a BIG but…) some people choose not to buy the Vortice because of this complicated system. If you’re one of them, the cam buckle setup on the ST is an improvement, not a downgrade. The ST does without such Vortice features as closable ram air vents in the toes, replaceable sole inserts and magnesium toe sliders. (The ST gets plastic sliders instead.)
Vortice DNA is readily apparent in the ST. Clearly, many parts are shared between these two boots, as are the high tech materials and construction techniques used to form their basic structure. Going back through the years to their revolutionary Vertebra boot, Sidi’s claim to fame in motorcycle protective gear has been their torsional ankle protection and armored Achilles area. Impact-absorbing heel cups are also a part of the plan. All of this hardware is shared between the Vortice and ST, as is the composite, crush-resistant insole. Protectively speaking, these boots are identical; which is to say that nothing we’ve yet tested will do a better job of keeping your fragile feet and ankles safe in a crash.
If you’ve arrived at the decision to buy Sidi boots, your bottom line comes down to two things:
1) Are you willing to hassle with the Vortice’s latch system in trade for the superior fit that it offers and
2) Do you have the extra $100 to spend? We have two seasons of experience with the Vortice and when we ride the ST, we feel like something is missing.
The problem is that we’ve become addicted to that custom Vortice fit and for us, an extra $100 and the additional struggle when putting the boots on is a fair tradeoff to get it. If you’d like to experience every bit of Sidi’s legendary protection with a C-note in savings, buy a pair of the ST boots. If you’ve never ridden in the Vortice model, you honestly won’t know what you’re missing. It is our opinion that if you manage to avoid destroying your set of Sidi boots and thus keep them for several seasons, then the magnesium toe sliders and replaceable soles of the Vortice model will extend the boot’s lifespan; additionally, if the Loicra shell of the boot stretches with time and use, the Vortice’s adjustment system will allow you to retailor the fit. These advantages could well justify the extra cost of the Vortice by allowing you to use it longer.
Good as the Vortice is, the ST makes sense to a lot of riders for a lot of reasons. If you’re a newcomer to the brand, are on a budget or are a Sidi enthusiast who sadly took a pass on the Vortice when it was introduced because it was just too hard to put on, the ST is the boot you’ve been wishing that the company would make. Consider it to be “Simply Sidi.”
