Diadora had a lot of new and revised road, mountain and triathlon shoes on display with some really cool features.  The Pro Trail Carbon, shown above, is their top of the line mountain bike shoe.  It’s got a mean looking tread (pics after the break) and their neat Micro CL Buckle that it shares with their top road shoe that articulates out to easily get any mud or debris out.  It shares two other features with the road shoe: The lining is a synthetic suede (very soft!) and the last is a narrower, Italian racing cut.ÂÂ
All of their ratchet-imbued shoes have three mounting points on the opposite side to let you customize the fit. The upper level road shoes have some really sweet ridged carbon soles that are very, very stiff.  Read “more” to see the line…
The rubber sole on the Pro Trail (and their other upper end MTB shoes) has serious lugs and grooves to give you some solid traction, and the carbon sole morphs into a ridge near the middle to keep it stiff.  These will run you $300.
The ratchet buckle is double hinged to open wide, making it easy to clean out any muck that finds its way in there.  This buckle is exclusive to their top-level shoe in both road and mountain.
The buckle strap can mount in any of these three holes, giving you a lot of flexibility in making them fit your foot.
The X-Trail Carbon is next down the line, and the only real differences are a traditional buckle, wider last and non-suede lining.  For this, the price drops to $175…big price difference for a very similar shoe.
Drop down another $50 and you get the X-Trail with a Nylon reinforced outsole, but otherwise basically the same shoe as the X-Trail Carbon. This model is also available in a black/purple women’s edition.
Diadora’s top of the line road shoe, the $350 Pro Racer Carbon Evo has the articulating Micro CL Buckle, which felt very smooth when ratcheting it through it’s motion, and the velcro straps have small ridges and catches the help keep them in position.  The real standout part of this shoe was the bottom:
The carbon outer sole tapers back into two solid ridges, making them extremely stiff.  I couldn’t flex them at all.  The other cool feature is the removeable clear plate.  If you run cleats that use the three-hole mounting pattern, you can remove the plate to get your foot closer to the pedal.  Otherwise, this or other adapters let you use any cleat bolt pattern you may have.  The two little vents at the front bring fresh air into the shoe.
The Speed Racer Carbon R is next down the line at $170.  It has the same carbon sole and looks very similar, with the only real changes being the buckle, regular velcro straps and non-suede lining.  It also comes in Silver (below) and black.
The Aerospeed is one of their entry level shoes.  At $80, it’s a bargain.  It’s got the quality feel of their higher end shoes, is stiff enough and has a good bit of padding in the heel cup for comfort.  There are a few models above and below this…something for everyone.
The Infinity and Infinity Carbon are Diadora’s Triathlon specific shows.  They have a pretty nifty strap system with a large outer tongue that wraps the top of the foot with one “double” strap.  The way it’s laid out, you could pull the strap wide open and leave in the transition area (the bottom strap is hidden underneath).  Just slip your foot in, pull the tall heel strap and cinch it shut and you’re off.
This view shows the giant pull tab for the “double” strap.  The non-carbon version is $200 (Nylon reinforced outsole) and the Carbon soled version is about $300.
