Sidi Vortice Boots Review

Hello! I’m RyanF9 and this is a crash test of a pro-level racing boot – the Sidi Vortice. Now I know that a lot of you spent 600 hard-earned dollars to buy a pair of these, so don’t worry, I’m gonna go easy on ‘em … Nahhh just kidding we’re going to savagely destroy the Vortices just like everything else. FortNine’s nine tests are sure to rip this thing apart but first – waterproofing. So the Vortice is made from Lorica – a type of synthetic leather that is more water resistant than a real cow. But alas, the Italians designed this boot like Mr. Potato Head. Every piece is removable, interchangeable, replaceable… and that means I have a lot of screws for water to leak through. Plus there are two air vents – mid-foot and on the toe slider – which I doubt are water tight even when closed. And these triangular exhaust slids have all the waterproofing of a sieve. But who knows! Maybe the Vortice will handle SeaWorld better than I think… Nope! Instantly wet. Very very wet. That took like two seconds… I mean two minutes is our benchmark average for waterproofing so this is a legendary failure. But before we leave the aquatic tests, our Vortice will have a chance to redeem itself. Motorcycle boots need to grip on wet and oily surfaces – such as a rainy public road – so we’ve created a similar scenario over in SeaWorld. Now we’re ready for our sole-traction relay. I need to run those three tires to the other side of slippery street as fast as possible. Of course the tires get progressively larger and heavier, making it more and more difficult to set a good time. Anything under 15s gets a passing grade. As for Sidi, they’ve given me a racing SRS sole, which is made from a stiff blend of polyurethane and rubber. It’s great for quick shifts, rigid braking and standing up to sharp metal footpegs. But for creating a grippy contact patch… I think it’ll be too hard. Especially considering that Sidi chose to carve out most of the surface area from the heel, because apparently the bottom of a shoe is the perfect place to advertise… So, I completed the ridiculous relay in a pitiful 22s, meaning the Vortice fails for sole traction. Hopefully it does better for puncture strength. Which, of course, brings us to Rambo’s Corner. Our plan of attack involves pointed penetrating pellets, shot at 500fps from point-blank range. Your average leather boot takes 2 shots to break through, but Sidi claims their synthetic leather has superior cutting strength to the genuine stuff… We’ll see about that. Wow so it took 1 shots, looks like their Lorica doesn’t have a better puncture strength than leather after all. So we failed for puncture strength, but our next test is abrasion resistance and I expect that to go well for the Vortice. It has such an extensive exoskeleton that you’ll slide on plastic for ages before you even reach the synthetic leather. Which, as it turns out, has a better abrasion resistance than cowhide anyway. Oh well… I’m in for a long grind but at least you’ll get the magic of timelapse. Alright so we’ve finally ground right through the boot. It took a ludicrous 3mins. Passing grade and then some. Now, I’m standing on the tee box of Golf Town which of course means that it’s time to test impact protection. The Vortice has a toe cup like all proper motorcycle boots, but Sidi also wrapped the fibreglass-reinforced nylon slider around the front of the foot for some added protection. Time to see if it paid off. Not much visible damage at all, but the proof is in the pudding. Specifically our nice soft foot insert which… measured more than 100g. Sorry Sidi. Now, the heel cup on the Vortice is probably the best I’ve seen. It’s made from a polyurethane shell that encases a softer, shock-absorbing insert. And all this is mounded on a sliding screw, so the entire unit has 3mm of travel. Fore! You can see that it cracked the shell. The impact foam did its job, etc. And let’s look at BryanF9’s severed foot – yep – less than 100gs, a solid passing grade. Next we test the ankle armour, and I’ll have to take a mulligan on this one because there’s two places I need to hit. First we whack the malleolus plate, which is hard nylon mounted onto not-so-hard polyurethane for progressive impact absorption. Then we also need to test the torsional strength of this ankle hinge. See it’s designed to allow normal movement, but to resist the twisting motions that love to break bones. So we’re going to hold the boot upright and hit the toe to see how much we can make our ankle twist. So the ankle plate received this damage from the first hit, plate popped off, screws embedded, etc. 100g sticker wasn’t tripped. Then if we look at the slo-mo from the torsional impact, we can see it turn a little. That gives us a passing grade for ankle armour. And if you remember correctly, we also had a passing grade for heel protection and a failing grade for toe protection. Not exactly surprising since the Vortice is a CE-rated, bona fide racing boot. It was bound to be bomb proof. But is it fireproof? So the Vortice didn’t like to burn. Such is usually the case with race boots, since they’re made to be pressed tight with engines and mufflers that are very hot. I’m going to give a passing grade for heat resistance and move on to FortNine’s ninth test – build quality. So what still works after all our shenanigans? Well… Vent sliders Ratchet straps, cords and buckles Zipper Nylon screw cover Heel cup Replaceable parts? What still screws off? What does it look like underneath? Overall, very good build quality. Well done Sidi. And a positive result for build quality means we just have our three failures from earlier. X Y and Z. The overall score for the Vortice is therefore 5/9, which is comforting. In this case at least, professional gear does indeed come with a professional level of safety. But what about not-so-professional gear? The stylish stuff. Are retro helmets as safe as their modern counterparts, or do they sacrifice protection in the name of fashion? We’ll find out next week when we test a cliché hipster favourite – the Biltwell Gringo. Until then, take care!