Crankbrothers Stamp Street Fabio first ride review – casual shoes for street and park riders

Excelling at downhill, freeride, and trials, Fabio Wibmer is a man who's hard to pigeonhole. His collaboration with Crankbrothers has recently produced the Fabio Wibmer signature Stamp 7 pedal, which has now been followed by the release today of the Stamp Street Fabio shoe (and his new video edit Street Life, too). 

Crankbrothers' Stamp shoes have been around for a little while now as the Stamp Lace and the Stamp Speedlace – the latter getting a place in our best MTB flat pedal shoes guide. Rather than being made for general MTB abuse though, the new Stamp Street Fabio shoes are aimed more at park, trials, and street riders. The result is a very causal and comfortable shoe that has a number of stealthy technical aspects.

Design and specifications

As you'll have no doubt gathered from the images, the Street Stamp Fabio is a very casual-looking, slimline shoe. When comparing them to Five Ten's street-leaning Sleuth, the Stamp has a smaller sole profile, but a taller and tighter ankle collar. They're also one of the lightest shoes we've tested, weighing in at 652g per pair, compared to 704g for the Five Ten Sleuths and 838g for the Stamp Speedlaces.

The Street Stamp Fabios may look uber casual, but they still have a number of bike-specific features. A tough toe box gives decent forefoot protection and there's equally tough protection at the heel too. The shoe body has a strengthened inner sidewall for protection against the crank arms and the ankle collar has a light neoprene cuff for comfort and keeping debris out of the shoe.

The soles use Crankbrothers' MC2 high friction compound and the tread pattern is very similar to that on the other Stamp flat shoes, but with tighter lug spacing designed to make foot adjustments easier on the pedal.

The uppers are entirely man-made and have a light faux suede finish, while perforations near the toe and on the side panels aim to help ventilation.

Performance

While I've been wearing the Street Stamp Fabios for a couple of months now, they're definitely not well suited for trail riding in a particularly soggy and slippery British winter, so I've only been able to test them when riding the streets, the pump track and putting the miles in on foot.

From the moment I put them on, the shoes felt immensely comfortable, thanks in part to the neoprene cuff which snuggly hugged my ankles. The Fabios feel like a particularly comfy pair of skate shoes and I've had zero issues with rubbing or discomfort from any part of the shoe.

The Street Stamps are designed to mesh perfectly with Crankbrothers Stamp 7 pedals, though I've not yet been able to put that to the test. They do grip extremely well on the other flat MTB pedal brands I've tried, but were not as grippy as my Vans when riding on flat commuting pedals without any pins.

With minimal stiffness in the sole, pedal feel is excellent without feeling as unsupported as Vans or Etnies skate shoes. The uppers shrug off splashes which is aided by the ankle cuff, though water can seep in through the ventilation holes. The shoes felt snug and reasonably warm in the winter, which makes me think that they will likely run on the hot side in summer conditions. 

Early verdict

The Crankbrothers Stamp Street Fabio shoes are super comfortable, give excellent MTB pedal grip, and are casual enough to be worn in any off-the-bike situation. This makes them an excellent choice for casual use, or street and park riding, but they're about as lightweight a riding shoe as you can get, so would only be suitable for dry, nonthreatening trails.

Tech specs: Crankbrothers Stamp Street Fabio shoes

• Price: $129.99 / £124.99 / €134.99
• Release: Early 2023
• Sizes: US men's, 3 to 14, women's 4.5 to 15.5
• Colors: White/gold,  black/gold, sage/grey, purple/pink
• Weight: 652g per pair