I have had every type of shoe. Shimano, Specialized, Lake, Northwave, 45Nrth, Nike, Adidas, etc. The best shoe is the shoe that fits you well. Find a shop try the shoes on, and then buy it from the shop. For me, the Shimano and Specialized shoes have lasted the longest and fit the best. The Wolvhammers are warm as hell. The Lake shoes are warm down to freezing. There are so many shoes out there, you will find the one that is the best.
Imelda and me
Shoes, wonderful shoes. At the beginning of the week, we had 14 pair of cycling shoes because we had given one perfectly good, worn eight times, pair of Louis Garneau’s away in the spring, because they were too narrow. For this forum, we can ignore the six pair of road shoes, though.
Confession: It’s like this, there is always a reason why we can use just one more pair of shoes. Such as, [1] they’re a good deal (is it really a good deal if you have FOURTEEN other pair of shoes?) [2] fills a gap in temperature range for winter trail slaying (of course you could buy two lifetime supply of toe warmers less expensively), [3] bitchin purple color (no arguing with stone cold logic).
Most importantly: TRY THEM ON!!!!!! That great online deal sucks if you have to pay return shipping and MTB shoes have very inconsistent sizing from brand to brand. (E.g. Giro run really small relative to the numbers on the box. Garneau have a very narrow last etc.)
These are the MTB keepers:
I like SIDI, having had five pair, two MTB and three road. They fit me right in the MEGA (wide toe box? Size). The carbon sole Dominators (46.5) in camo are my go to warm weather shoe and Hilltop had them on sale. Stripped a buckle on a rainy rock slide this spring, but I paid for a new one. Also have a pair of the SIDI Drakos (46.5) in yellow (see [3] above) that are my race shoes. Those last prompted a sarcastic “Nice shoes” from a real MTB racer at the starting line last year, but they fit perfectly. SIDI sizes very consistently within the brand.
My third pair of warm weather MTB are carbon soled Giro Gauge HV from Halters. Gotta have a spare pair if the Dominators are wet, right? These say size 12.75/47 on the box, but I am an 11.5 wide and they fit great. Only drawback is that they are less comfortable to walk in. Solution: HTFU.
Winter is coming. Last night in the rain wasn’t so bad, but if the temperature falls 10-15 degrees, it’s a different game. Shoe covers work, but the Specialized Defrosters (45 wide) cover a range for me of about 30-42 degrees Fahrenheit.
The key to this criteria is that everyone is different. Goodvibe likes the Lakes (MXZ303) down to freezing, but that is the top of their range for me. The bottom (again, for me) is about 20-23 degrees with weighty wool sox (size 46). Only drawback is that the Lakes are noticeably heavier than the Defrosters. I got the Lakes from Brandt’s in Wantagh, where my wife used to work, back in the day.
Below that 20 degree mark, the 45Nrth Wolvhammers (size 47!) are the solution. The 45’s are probably good to absolute zero. I have run them for three hours in temperatures averaging 15 degrees and my feet were sweating when I took them off in the truck. Incredibly warm and exceedingly expensive at Cyclecraft on 46 in Parsippany.
