Best winter cycling shoes 2024: footwear for the cold months reviewed

Is it time to invest in a pair of winter cycling shoes? If you've exhausted all the options for warm socks and overshoes with your regular cycling shoes, you have probably declared a truce with winter and are now looking for more robust options to keep your feet warm and dry in the coldest months of the year.

Owning season-specific cycling shoes is certainly a luxury, but it’s one definitely worth investing in for year-round riders. 

Winter shoes are incredibly robust and resilient, and frankly, basic black boots never out of fashion. If soggy feet and numb toes are consistently a problem for you, it’s a well worth investment because they’ll see you through several seasons.

When temperatures really drop, it’s the extremities that suffer the most. Your feet, being far away from the source of blood supply, can become extremely cold or even numb – and winter cycling shoes are designed to combat this. 

Our guide to the best winter cycling shoes helps you navigate your way through the cold weather footwear to find the best option for you, and which boots have significantly improved out winter riding experiences. 

Our pick of the best winter cycling shoes

Fizik's Artica winter shoes were the first pairs of winter shoes that truly convinced me to never go back to overshoes. After 12 winters in the very wet and cold Pacific Northwest, I finally became a winter boot convert. Warm, convenient and with a fit not too unlike a regular road shoe, Fizik’s Artica boots are performance-oriented shoes that will make the dreaded winter base miles a lot more comfortable. 

Made in a two-bolt off-road version as well as a sleek road model, the Fizik Tempo Artica GTX and the Fizik Terra Artica GTX shoes feature an insulating fleece lining and an upper with a GORE-TEX membrane to provide warmth and weather-protection with breathability.

The Fizik winter shoes stand out in that they’re relatively light and feature a decently stiff sole. The inner fleece lining is luxuriously soft and warm to the point where you’ll want to save these for the really cold days – at 45°F/7°C these start getting almost too warm. 

The L6 BOA closure provides a snug fit and the ankle cuff is comfortable and relatively low in height compared to the other winter boots reviewed here. This aids the normal-shoe feel.

Another plus: the sturdy outsole on the gravel shoe and even the pads on the road model provide stable footing when walking over slippery surfaces – be it wet roads, the coffee shop floor or snow. The off-road version of the shoe even allows for teh addition of toe spikes, should you want extra grip or use these in a true wintery cyclocross race. 

Combined with a front fender, the Gore-Tex upper does a good jump keeping the feet dry. But –and this is a big but– in a downpour or when riding without the spray protection of a front fender, the waterproofing disappointed. This is entirely due to the ankle strap and lack of a sealing cuff of some kind. The opening at the ankle is simply too roomy to prevent the water from streaming in from the shins. Even with your tights or leg warmers folded over the opening, your feet will quickly be swimming in water.

As mentioned previously, fastenings are really important when it comes to winter cycling shoes - and we've seen it done wrong. The Lake CX145s get it right - with two Boa dials and a retention system working all along the outside edge of the shoe. The pronounced toe and heel bumpers provided a bit of grip while treading on slippery ground, but only the heel pad is replaceable.

The upper is made from a mixture of waxed canvas, leather and a waterproof membrane. The outer sole is made from fibreglass-injected nylon. Lake makes its shoes with a wider toe box than most which allows a bit for added space for thick socks, and it offers the CX145 in a standard, women's and wide last so there are plenty of fit options.

There is a lot of insulation in the Northwave Flash Arctic GTX winter cycling boots, but that can mean less support than a summer shoe.

The bottom half uses Northwave's own dial and reel system, much like a summer shoe, while the upper is constructed with a Climaflex collar which does away with the need for overlaps or Velcro.

The upper is flexible so that your normal pedal stroke and range of motion aren't impacted in any way, but you still get the warmth and drip protection of a winter boot.

The sole — a NRG Air Carbon Reinforced construction — promises a stiffness index of 8.0. These shoes are designed to suit conditions from 26°F to +60°F and there's still some breathability built-in at the front.

Gaerne's winter offerings feature a full Gore-Tex membrane and ankle collar which Gaerne say keeps the shoe waterproof and breathable for when a cold snap hits.

To prevent heat loss through the bottom of the boots, a thermo-reflective aluminium layer is placed between the outer and inner sole, and insulation top and bottom.

Underneath features EPS Carbon Power Sole 7.0 which combines carbon and nylon to create a composite sole rated at 8 out of 12 for pedaling stiffness.

Specialized places a huge focus on shoe fit through its Body Geometry research, always using its own footbeds which are designed to correct any knee tracking issues which can cause injury.

When it comes to warmth, the brand has called in experts at Thinsulate, using a 400 gram fabric with a neoprene collar to keep the rain out. All the seams are sealed and a single Boa dial at the bottom and Velcro at the ankle help you get the right fit. The sole itself is a nylon composite, designed to be stiff enough for efficient power transfer whilst remaining comfortable.

We're big fans of Sidi here at Cycling Weekly so although we've not put the Sidi Zero Gore 2 winter boots to the test, we feel assured that they will be a great option for cold weather riding.

The upper is made from a microfibre Microtech fabric which Sidi claims features resistance, stability, water-repellence as well as eco-friendly credentials.

Sidi's own Techno-3 system dial acts in a similar way to a Boa dial, and there is velcro top and bottom to help achieve a precise fit.

At the bottom is a sole with a carbon injected and nylon mix, which should balance out the stiffness required to press and the durability of harsh wear in temperature changes.

Be aware, Sidi shoes usually come up narrow and smaller than other mainstream brands.

The winters in Minnesota are nothing short of biblical: they are cold, windy, and wet, so it's no surprise that Bloomington based 45NRTH makes some of the best cold weather kicks money can buy.

The Ragnarok sees a fully waterproof membrane just beneath the microfibre face fabric to keep the water on the outside, but also to allow for thermal and moisture regulation on the inside. Around the ankle is a neoprene cuff to keep drips out, and a single Boa dial reels the shoe in. 45NRTH say they are comfortable down to about 25ºF / -3ºC.

Like the Specialized shoes, these are technically mountain bike shoes and will only work with two-bolt cleats. The lugs are semi-aggressive, but also see microscopic glass fibres embedded into the rubber to create abrasive protruding shards to produce grip on slippery surfaces like ice, wet wood, wet tiles, and wet metal.

What to expect from winter cycling shoes