Winter road shoes (3 bolt)

Red Mosquito

Red Mosquito

Formerly RLB the Scrapple Boy
Looking to keep my feet warmer this winter while riding skinny tires. I have an old pair of Lake boots that are OK but always left me wanting more. I think I should have sized up a bit for larger socks when I bought them years ago. In general, I suffer from cold feet and hands while winter riding.

Looking at the modern offerings there’s a lot out there. I was eyeing up the Lake CX146 boots, they seem to have some better reviews than the ones I currently use.

Does anyone have experience with these, or any other boots that they’ve been pretty happy with?

www.cyclingnews.com

Lake CX146 Winter cycling shoe review: Bulky, but performs well even in sub-zero conditions

The Lake CX146 is the perfect winter cycling shoe if you have wide feet, and will keep you covered into sub-zero conditions with the right socks
www.cyclingnews.com www.cyclingnews.com
 
Red Mosquito said:
Looking to keep my feet warmer this winter while riding skinny tires. I have an old pair of Lake boots that are OK but always left me wanting more. I think I should have sized up a bit for larger socks when I bought them years ago. In general, I suffer from cold feet and hands while winter riding.

Looking at the modern offerings there’s a lot out there. I was eyeing up the Lake CX146 boots, they seem to have some better reviews than the ones I currently use.

Does anyone have experience with these, or any other boots that they’ve been pretty happy with?

www.cyclingnews.com

Lake CX146 Winter cycling shoe review: Bulky, but performs well even in sub-zero conditions

The Lake CX146 is the perfect winter cycling shoe if you have wide feet, and will keep you covered into sub-zero conditions with the right socks
www.cyclingnews.com www.cyclingnews.com
Click to expand...

fwiw, I used to swap to my winter MTB pedals and shoes. Now I just wear high end gore shoe covers and if it’s really cold, I’ll stick chemical warmers between the cover and the outside of the shoe and this works exceptionally well. May not work for you but it’s a much cheaper and less of a commitment
 
I have Lake mtn bike winter shoes and those are really nice, so I'd imagine their road versions are equally nice. Otherwise, I run mtn bike pedals on my road bikes all year, so I don't have an opinion otherwise.
 
Jeremy said:
fwiw, I used to swap to my winter MTB pedals and shoes. Now I just wear high end gore shoe covers and if it’s really cold, I’ll stick chemical warmers between the cover and the outside of the shoe and this works exceptionally well. May not work for you but it’s a much cheaper and less of a commitment
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I have been doing this for years with my road shoes as well, the Pearl Izumi full winter covers are the best.

Pro tips:

if you are driving to a ride location, drop the toe warmers into the shoes for the drive over and keep the shoes on the floor of the car with the heat blowing on them. makes a big difference putting on the shoes vs. them sitting in the garage or the car overnight and then they are ice cold.

If I leave from the house I put the shoes near the heat register for a few minutes while I am getting the rest of my gear ready.
 
I would say swap out your pedals and use a pair of Wolvhammers. I haven't ever found a 3-bolt shoe that is warm enough. I even use them with chemical toe warmers when it gets colder and I have a pair of the WolfGar shoes when it gets super cold.
 
My only issue with swapping out pedals is the buffet weeks where you may get some rides that don’t need the winter footwear and some that do. But I suppose I could just wear my MTB shoes on those occasions.
 
Red Mosquito said:
Looking to keep my feet warmer this winter while riding skinny tires. I have an old pair of Lake boots that are OK but always left me wanting more. I think I should have sized up a bit for larger socks when I bought them years ago. In general, I suffer from cold feet and hands while winter riding.

Looking at the modern offerings there’s a lot out there. I was eyeing up the Lake CX146 boots, they seem to have some better reviews than the ones I currently use.

Does anyone have experience with these, or any other boots that they’ve been pretty happy with?

www.cyclingnews.com

Lake CX146 Winter cycling shoe review: Bulky, but performs well even in sub-zero conditions

The Lake CX146 is the perfect winter cycling shoe if you have wide feet, and will keep you covered into sub-zero conditions with the right socks
www.cyclingnews.com www.cyclingnews.com
Click to expand...
I’ve been winter riding for years and I have never had any better boots than Lake. The furthest I’ve been north in them has been a cold winter Vermont and almost always stay warm and dry. I currently have the 304s and consistently get them a half size bigger than my summer shoes to give me a little more room. I’ve used them with SPD cleats exclusively
 
Glenn Rides After 4 PM CST said:
Currently Pearl Izumi
Also my winter shoes are spd only
I like road pedals on my gravel bike.
If I can find something similar will buy them again.
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Also using road shoes on the gravel bike. i have 12 year old pair of Shimano road shoes I use for winter and gravel riding.

On the MTB I’m on flat pedals so I just wear extra wool socks with my Shimano riding boots.
 
I use Lake boots for road and MTB. For the winter you definitely need to size up to allow for thicker socks and warmers. Depending how much larger you end up going, you may run into issues with cleat location. I needed an adapter plate to shift the cleats back for the road boots. When I started winter riding I had started with covers, but got annoyed with them after a few seasons. If you're using covers with road shoes, you'll probably want to cover any vent holes in the bottom of the shoe.
 
Red Mosquito said:
My only issue with swapping out pedals is the buffet weeks where you may get some rides that don’t need the winter footwear and some that do. But I suppose I could just wear my MTB shoes on those occasions.
Click to expand...
It is better to occasionally wear MTB shoes on a road ride than to have cold feet on a cold ride.
Or just swap them back when it is warm. It only takes 2 minutes to swap pedals.
 
Red Mosquito said:
What covers are you looking at? Seems we have a vote for Gore and a vote for PI in this thread.

I never really considered this option, but I do new new summer road shoes too so this might work out.
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PI covers are the best for the money. I have had all the brands and they are all kinda the same thing. Castelli is the best looking but get expensive for the warmer ones.

IMO road specific shoes arent worth it, just get insulated booties and combine them with toe covers if you need extra warmth. Inside and outside the bootie provide different effects. You can also mess around with a plastic bag barrier. Again, overshoe, over sock and undersock has different effects.
 
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