Sidas Custom Bike Pro Ultra insoles

I tested the Sidas Custom Bike Pro Ultra Insoles as I thought they might just be the answer to my dreams. Have they been? The short answer is ‘Hell, yes!’ And while I’ll try to keep the level of enthusiasm under control, these mouldable insoles really are everything I was hoping they’d be. And while more expensive than a lot of cycling shoes, for me they’re worth every penny of the £195 – a price that includes fitting.

> Buy now: Sidas Custom Bike Pro Ultra Insoles for £195 from Sigma

So, just why have I been so impressed with these? Well, in addition to cycling I also ski. And after suffering for decades from numb toes and pain from my ski boots, a pair of Sidas insoles finally brought me comfort when I was skiing. With Sidas having now released these cycling insoles in conjunction with the Astana cycling team, I was anxious to see whether this improvement in comfort and performance could be transferred from the ski slopes to the cycling world.

Sidas makes a few different insoles at different prices, which start from about £15 for pre-formed replacements, and going up. In this case, by quite a way…

Its more expensive insoles are customisable – which is the case with our test insoles. At the top of the line are the Custom Bike Pro and Custom Bike Pro Ultra, with the Ultra having the same stiffness and claimed comfort benefits but with a little less thickness.

It’s a little tricky to talk precise prices, as these insoles require a professional fitting, so they tend not to be sold direct to a consumer but rather as part of a fitting package.

I had mine fitted at Sigma Sports. Sigma charges £175 for an hour’s session to supply and fit the Custom Pro, and £195 for the Custom Pro Ultras. This is in line with Sidas’s suggested pricing though it may vary between stores. Sidas’s website shows which stores stock its Bike Pro and Bike Pro Ultra insoles.

Fitting

This is a pretty speedy process – if you don’t chat as much as I do. Salvo at Sigma is the bike fit expert who had solved my Cadex Amp saddle issue, and he worked with me on these.

The process starts with an assessment of your feet. Everyone’s feet are unique of course, but most of us have slight differences between our left and right, compensating in left-side/right-side differences in our bodies. This affects everything from posture to ‘effective’ limb length; in my case, my right leg is a few millimetres longer than my left.

Salvo measured my instep/arch height, and found a little difference between my feet, with my right foot arch collapsing a little more than my left. So, Salvo explains that he can compensate for this with the Insoles, and support me a little more on my left instep, which he does.

The insoles are baked to a high temperature in vacuum sealed drawer.

While they’re warming and becoming malleable, you stand barefoot on the Sidas forming equipment. The silicone pads/cushions are soft and squishy, and your feet sink into them. Manipulating the vacuum allows the pads to solidify, so they’ll hold their shape and the impression of your feet.

The ‘cooked’ insoles are now pressed into the negative mould of your feet, and you then stand on them to perfect the impression, sandwiching the insoles between your foot, and the pads. As they cool, they harden.

Perhaps because I’ve been chatting so much and we’re running out of time, Salvo speeds up the hardening process with some ice packs…

He then polishes the insoles to smooth the curves and edges, and they’re inserted into my shoes, which is when things really start to surprise me.

Two things were immediately noticeable, the first is obvious, and expected: my shoes became much more comfortable. It wasn’t the fit as this was previously good, it was the sensation of my feet being perfectly supported, and of a very even and firm contact underfoot, spread evenly across my foot.

I could feel the solid support under my arches, which was tremendously pleasing. If you’ve ever sat in a racing car seat, and felt that very definite grip and support through your lumbar and sides, it’s like that. I felt even more connected to the bike, in the way clipless pedals make you feel more connected than flat pedals – and with a similar order of magnitude too. And this sensation applied to the whole length of my foot.

The second thing that happened was not as subjective as the first – and was much, much more surprising.

Five weeks ago I brought the Cadex Amp 3D saddle into Sigma, to do some pressure mapping on it, and below is that pressure map from five weeks ago.

The Red hotspot was a result of the saddle not being straight, which we corrected, and the red went orangey-yellowy-green and evened out between the two sides. It became pretty comfortable.

Below is the pressure map we did after the new insoles were fitted.

The better contact between my feet and shoes had drastically lowered the pressure on my saddle. The fantastic support the insoles provided underfoot had made my saddle noticeably more comfortable – and this subjective opinion is backed up by the objective analysis of the pressure map.

I suppose it should be obvious, but I’d never thought of it. Your pedals are 50% of the contact point for the rear half of you and your bike, the pedals and saddle splitting the load/weight of you between them in some proportion. Better insoles were doing more of their share of the heavy lifting, and taking the pressure off my saddle.

And from this point things got even better: I was naturally very pleased, and I was sure this would translate into a greater ability to push more power through my feet and into the pedals without any being lost to the layers of the interface.

There’s a red line running diagonally in the two pressure maps above. This shows my weight movement side to side and front to back through the pedal stroke. As you can see, my weight moves backwards as it shifts to the right side of the saddle, which is probably due to physical differences between my two sides.

The front-to-back weight shift is undesirable, as the forward-to-backwards rocking wastes energy. Salvo inserted some 3-degree wedges, which are extremely thin bits of 2mm plastic, under the insoles in order to introduce a slight lean to my foot, from inside to outside. This would hold my foot in a more mechanically neutral position, being someone who pronates. I couldn’t feel the shim – but look what happened to the saddle pressure and the red line.

Even Salvatore was delighted: “I didn’t think we’d get it that perfect.” he said.

In concert with the insoles, the wedges, which is a big word for some tiny bits of plastic, had fixed my pedal stroke’s front-to back rocking, and it was now perfectly flat, and had further increased the comfort of my saddle by distributing the pressure more evenly.

I was also getting better power transfer from the solidity underfoot, with my feet being held in a more mechanically neutral position, which is also more efficient for me.

The big picture

The more bikes, components and kit I try, the more I’m drawn to the conclusion that comfort is king and bespoke is best. A bike fit is an attempt to make your mass-produced bike fit as if it had been made especially for you.

We’ve all read how wider tyres save you energy by absorbing road buzz, leaving you more in the tank. Well, I think an increase in comfort also leaves you more energy in the tank – letting you go faster for longer.

So am I faster? It’s obviously impossible to measure watts out the bottom of your shoe vs effort put in. But I ‘feel’ faster, as if maintaining a specified power output is easier.

I definitely feel more efficient mechanically, my pedal stroke is noticeably smoother, my contact is more stable and I did grab 20 Strava PRs on the way home from the fitting – without even thinking about it. And the following ride was my longest of the year.

While they do increase comfort, efficiency and my experience would suggest speed as well, there are a few downsides. These insoles are yet another far from inexpensive cycling product that’s perishable – when you’re wearing them, they’re very slowly wearing out.

They’re also heavier than stock insoles. For example, my standard Lake insoles weigh 14g each, while these are 72g each.

You also have to set aside an hour to get them fitted.

Value

While we have tested thousands of products at road.cc, these have included very few insoles, so direct comparisons are thin on the ground.

Back in 2018 we tested the Solo Men’s Sport Medium Footbeds. These are also heat-formable insoles that you pop in your oven, but they were geared very much to comfort rather than performance.

But Sean liked them a lot, and they’re a world away in price from the Sidas insoles. They were £25 when we tested them and they’re still available today, though they’re a pricier £44.99.

That year we also tested the same company’s Active Thin footbeds with Met Pad, though they didn’t prove such a hit.

And if we’re looking at heat-mouldable solutions, you could always go the whole hog and consider shoes from the likes of Lake, Shimano and Bont. The Bont Riot G come in a little more expensive than the Sidas insoles, costing £219.95, but Dave found them very comfy.

Conclusion

It’s hard to quantify just how good these were for me personally. I feel faster on the bike, and not only that my feet are more comfortable too. Sidas is genuinely bringing you bespoke comfort, with the only downside for me, the price. But these are as close as I’ve come to giving any product a perfect 10, and I can’t think of anyone whose cycling experience wouldn’t be improved by these. In terms of a quality-of-life upgrade, these are right up there with a bike fitting for being about the best money you can spend on cycling.

> Buy now: Sidas Custom Bike Pro Ultra Insoles for £195 from Sigma

Verdict

Close as I’ve come to awarding a perfect score – should be your next purchase if you’re looking with an up-to-date bike fit

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