Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
warm and dry. what more could you ask for?
By bart arlington
i purchased these shoes this past fall in anticipation of riding through this winter. i've ridden in them for about two months so far, throughout a variety of conditions and temperatures and feel i can now leave some genuine thoughts on them. please note that i don't have a particularly difficult time fitting into shoes. and i'm not one of those people who can speak endlessly on shoe fit and all the details that factor into it. i don't have custom insoles. i buy shoes and if they work, i use 'em. with that in mind, here are my thoughts:good:- sizing is similar to the mavic zxellium's i own. i sized up from a 9 to a 10 with these, because i wanted to be able to wear thicker socks. this was a good move; there's enough room to wear thick socks with room for them to breath and the size wasn't such a big jump that i couldn't get my cleats into a good position.- they keep me warm. i've ridden in them from 20F (10F or lower, with wind-chill) up to 50F and have been comfortable. and i regularly ride in about 30-35F (20's with wind-chill) with them. note that this is with a ~18mph avg pace, with sustained speeds of 20-24, and speeds up to 40 (descents), for 2-4 hours. this creates quite a wind chill factor on its own, on top of the outside temp/wind-chill. from about 35-50 degrees, i wear a thick merino sock with these. in the low 30's and below, i wear an assos fuguspeer sock with a medium-weight merino sock over it and also put a chemical warmer on the toes of the fuguspeer sock. this system has worked well for me so far. i'll also regularly wear defeet slipstream covers, but i imagine these add little to the overall warmth or wind-stopping ability; they're worn simply for visibility when riding at night (they're neon yellow).- they keep me dry. i've ridden through steady snow and rain on a number of occasions, for a few hours, and haven't had any moisture get in so far. there's no holes in the bottom nor mesh on the top and the cuff seals against your ankle well. it's not a complete shell, but it does a great job. please note, however, that i have fenders on my winter bike. i'm sure i'd get more spray on my feet without them, so your results will likely vary if you ride without fenders.not so good:- the ankle cuff is tricky. at first, i could barely get it to wrap around to the velcro section enough to even attach. i soon realized that what you need to do is angle your foot away from you (not at a 90-degree angle with your leg) when you close the cuff. this creates a rather tight seal, which could be uncomfortable for some but does its job of keeping water out and warmth in. just be careful; you want good blood circulation to your feet, so don't do your shoes up so tight that you're defeating the point of even wearing warm winter shoes.- normally when i'm trying to fit shoe covers on, i'll place my ankle up onto my lower thigh/knee. the problem is, the ankle cuffs don't close enough to completely cover the velcro that these shoes use. that exposed velcro is strong and when crossing your legs as i've mentioned, it will stick to your tights and then fray them when you uncross your legs. not cool. this can be avoided by moving your shoe further away from your thigh or not crossing your legs at all when fitting shoe covers, but of course this makes the whole already-awkward affair of fitting shoe covers even more so.- you definitely notice a difference from the carbon sole of something like the zxelliums to the hybrid fiber/plastic sole of these. you've also got a much heavier shoe on your foot. so you notice this. but it doesn't matter much to me. these shoes are to keep my feet warm and keep me riding through the winter. not to make sure i have the most efficient power output with each pedal stroke.overall, i'm quite happy with them. i tried the shimano winter shoes last year (model SH-MW81). they worked decently but weren't as warm as the mavic's and i wasn't 100% happy with having mountain pedals on my road bike (tried it that way through the winter so i could ride a cross bike with the same shoes). i also didn't size up enough on those. at any rate, the mavic's work better so far and i would recommend them if you're in the market for winter road shoes. please note that they're not silver bullets to warm feet. your feet will still occasionally get cold. if i do a fast descent for ten minutes, then have to ride into a 15mph headwind for ten miles, while it's 34F outside, yes i will feel it in my toes. but eventually i'll get out of that headwind and my toes will quickly recover. when you throw booties over a pair of summer road shoes, that's not the case. you may have to experiment with sock combinations as well, but these shoes will certainly be an important piece to your warm/dry winter riding puzzle.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent cool weather performance
By Charles Beatty
I have taken these shoes on about 10 rides lasting 2 hours under 40 degree average conditions. I am quite pleased with the shoes ability to keep my feet (especially toes) warm. I have used a medium thickness wool sock on some rides and other times a thinning summer-weight sock. Much warmer than 55 degrees outside and your feet will sweat too much. I'd sense these shoes would be good down to 20 degrees outside for 2+ hour rides if the rest of your body could handle it. I love the easy in and out (compared to bulky, cumbersome neoprene covers). The only minor complaint I have is the slight boot-like feel. The sides and uppers are flexible, but do give a slight feeling or wearing hockey skates. I have not riddent with these in rain, so hard to say how water-proof they are.I would HIGHLY recommend you go a half-size larger than your normal shoe size to insure enough foot space and too allow yourself the option of thicker socks should you desire. Other than that, I'd say they are worth the purchase!
See all 2 customer reviews...
