i'm gearing up to buy a mtb shoe and i'm considering my options.

i *really* like the sidi fit, and so i'm pretty set on buying sidi. i also plan on keeping these a while given the expense. i plan on wearing these most of the time, and as such, i'll be doing a lot of walking around on them in the city.

the dragons are appealing because the treads are replaceable. however, i'm not too hot on the mesh. i'd like to know how much of an issue is tread wear on the dominator.

I think the D5s are too stiff for what you are looking for. I plan to supplement mine with a pair of Specialized Tahoes, or something else that is a better compromise in terms of pedaling efficiency and walkability. YMMV.

I'd go for the Dragon. I've heard the replaceable soles are soft and wear fairly quickly, but I was also thinking that you could also screw on pieces trimmed from a set of Vibram soles or something like that and have the Sidi fit with long-wearing tread.

Dominator sole is tougher than Dragons soft-but replaceable sole. Takes a year of 'lving in your shoes' to wear out Dominator soles, from my experience.

If youve got johnny burning a fat hole in your sky rocket - go the dragon.

I have a pair of Sidi Catapults that I love. It took a while of living in them to wear the soles to the point that my cleats started grinding, but it did eventually happen. I like the idea of being able to replace the tread when it wears to this point. Failing that, however, I have found an adaptive solution that seems to be working quite well. Specifically, building up the worn parts of the sole with Shoe Goo and letting it set for a couple of days before you start walking on them again. Takes a few months before it starts to wear through/peel, and it offers better grip on wet pavement than the original sole ever did.

I've had great luck with the dominator soles, at least a year if not two when I was a messenger. My current pair is four years old, and still not completely trashed, and I'm really hard on shoes.

i found the dragons had a different fit, particularly in the arch. i went with the doms for that reason, and cause i figured by the time i went through the soles on the dragons there would be something new to try. i've been thrashing my dominators for a year and a half and have plenty of life left.
try em both and get what fits best.

was the arch higher or lower? was the fit more narrow or wide?

M-F i'll be walking pretty much exclusively on carpet in my office, and it wont be that much walking. on the weekends they'll see a lot more kicking around.

I've walked around a lot in my dominators and they still have plenty of life left. I found that it doesnt' matter what the arch is like, i actually prefer to have no arch support and buy my own insole for my bike shoes which is what I do now.

Just keep a pair of shoes at the office for walking around, you don't want to be in your bike shoes all day.

Note that Sidis come in "Mega" for extra width. The regular Sidi's were way too narrow for me so I picked up a pair of Dominator's in Mega for a 1/8" extra room all round. They're still pretty snug compared to the Diadora Gekos I wore for a while but feel really good. Especially in the winter when I layered on socks.

I also do what Wangster does and replaced the slippery Sidi sole with something more padded and with better arch support (for me at least).

i'm pretty much sitting at my desk all day so it's not really an issue.

i'm pretty sure i wont be kicking around much more than any of you. i'd just like to get about 2 years out of them. it sounds like a definate possibility.

i take a size 43.5 - narrow, and i have high arches

the dragons felt like they had more arch and fit a little narrower, but thats just how they felt on my feet. for all i know they're made on the exact same last.