Winter bike clothing for less

Step 7 And finally

I find my feet aren't a problem when biking in the cold much. Your feet don't present a large frontal area, have a good drag coefficient and tend to be encased in a semi-solid garment anyway. Being an outdoorsy type I habitually wear walking boots which work fine with a decent pair of socks, or alternatively skate shoes which provide plenty of padding to insulate the feet.

A decent pair of shoes are a must for motorbike owners (I don't want to think about what would happen to my ankle bones in a crash if I wasn't wearing decent shoes), and boots are recommended, but for the cyclists it's pretty much just a case of staying away from well-ventilated shoes like trainers or flip-flops and wearing something a little more substantial.

Motorbike boots:
Cost: **
Weather resistance: *****
Looking stupid: ****

Walking boots:
Cost: ****
Weather resistance: ***
Looking stupid: ****

Comments

[wschruba]

There is a very sparse selection for cyclists looking for clipless shoes for winter riding. They exist, but are expensive and very specialized. Pedal straps are available that are designed to function with larger footware (ie: boots). There is always the route of the bootie for cycling shoes, but finding ones to fit 'mountain' style shoes can be troublesome.

Depending on the weather, I will wear a thin polyester sock underneath a wool hiking sock in addition to a bootie, or a combination of the three.