Any ideas? My toes nearly fell off today :(

Or do I need winter shoes?

Sealskinz waterproof socks (or similar)

Endura over shoes (or similar)

Managed snow and puddles at Llandegla yesterday no probs.

+1 for waterproof socks. I think I need to start wearing a thin liner pair inside mine though as I got numb toes today after a while.

I've got some sealskins, trouble is I find they fill up with water from the top as I always wear shorts

Borderer wrote:+1 for waterproof socks. I think I need to start wearing a thin liner pair inside mine though as I got numb toes today after a while.

Was freezing in the borders eh, was over in the woods below the Eildons late afternoon, my toes were in pain for ages thawing out!

Today I wore SockGuy wool socks and North Wave winter boots. Toasty feet.

The socks don't matter, the boots do. Get some.

IME waterproof socks aren't really warm unless they're merino/wool lined which negates your not wool requirement. The only thing I can think of is maybe fleece socks.
e.g. http://www.uttings.co.uk/p100350-aigle- ... hsyLLp2vug

restlessnative wrote:

Borderer wrote:+1 for waterproof socks. I think I need to start wearing a thin liner pair inside mine though as I got numb toes today after a while.

Was freezing in the borders eh, was over in the woods below the Eildons late afternoon, my toes were in pain for ages thawing out!

Yep, I couldn't warm up once I got back and had to have a very hot bath. Was good fun riding through the huge frozen puddles down our way though.
I have only ever ridden in cycling shoes of some sort as cycling boots seem very expensive. I suppose we could just ride in normal hiking boots though. Takes a bit of wrapping my head around somehow....

https://www.nookie.co.uk/head-hands-fee ... -socks-sox

I got these for the cold weather but both bikes are in pieces now the opportunity to use them is here.

Borderer, yep 'Normal hiking boots' gets my vote since never use SPDs for BP now. Lightweight Salomon ones at moment, or things like Inov8 390s. And being Reg, bamboo socks layered as required. Gets wet but stays warm somehow.

I only ride in spds

Winter boots are so expensive :(

Not sure I fancy neoprene

Found some funkier socks that claim to be made of thermolite so have ordered a pair to try

On the plus side it's warmed up a bit today

Was out both days this weekend in what passes for snow cover these days. Both days I used a pair of "normal hiking boots". The rubber used for the sole is much harder than that used for bike specific boots so the pins on my cheap flat pedals struggles to bite into it but the pins on the Hope pedals are fine. The other advantage is that unlike Five-tens the boots dry out quickly - despite one or two proper dunkings a night in the airing cupboard and they were dry again. Five-tens would take several days to dry out in similar circumstances.

Back to socks: I use either a wool/acrylic mix or Sealskins. If some water does get in the latter then they'll act much like a wet suit in that your body heat will warm up that small amount of water. What you don't want is water around your feet being constantly replaced as that will just suck all the heat out of you.

The other thing is to make sure your legs are covered so that you aren't trying to keep warm feet at the end of cold legs.

psling wrote:IME waterproof socks aren't really warm unless they're merino/wool lined which negates your not wool requirement. The only thing I can think of is maybe fleece socks

Quite right, Endura make a primaloft sock which is really cosy as part of the fs260 collection.

https://www.endurasport.com/product/pro ... loft-sock/

[quote="Laurensdad
Quite right, Endura make a primaloft sock which is really cosy as part of the fs260 collection.

https://www.endurasport.com/product/pro ... loft-sock/[/quote]

Except it has wool in it, and silk which I also don't want, shame coz it looks good

Winter boots are so expensive :(

Not sure I fancy neoprene

2 things that are worth investing in if you're out for a decent amount of time in winter - neoprene and/or winter boots : )

Wool is good, any reason not to? ... since you can't stay dry you may as well be warm when wet. If you're committed to SPDs the problem is that big heatsink cleat, sucks all the heat out. Neoprene insulates really well and you don't lose the ability to feel/use zips etc, I love my neoprene gloves. Ebay has scuba/kayak socks for £4-10, this winter I'm going to try a set rather than using bulkier winter boots. 3mm should be plenty warm enough.

And this,

What you don't want is water around your feet being constantly replaced as that will just suck all the heat out of you.

The other thing is to make sure your legs are covered so that you aren't trying to keep warm feet at the end of cold legs.

Wool is good, any reason not to?

I'm a tree hugging vegan type

Will scout ebay later for some neoprene then, sounds better than I imagined it would

Ah OK, fair reason not to. Neoprene is good stuff, the gloves can get a bit clammy but they're consistently warm without being bulky. People windsurf off the UK coast this time of year with 5mm, maybe 6mm neoprene on their feet so I'd expect 3mm socks would be good for cycling. Anyone tried them and can comment from experience?

Clammy sounds like luxury, have ordered some

I've used neoprene socks for winter fell running for years. They are as described above. Warm, but a bit clammy

Even the thin (3mm) ones area fair bit thicker than most other socks. I used to go a half size up in shoes for winter.

decathlon used to sell some decent ones for cheap

Slightly OT but just checking out the decathlon site and found these

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/neoprene-azu ... 27196.html

Could help with touchscreens.

I ditched the spds for walking boot a few years ago. Iif it wet and or cold I wear sealskinz socks and neoprene overshoes and my feet stay warm even when wet. Not the easiest job to get the overshoes on though!

Not the easiest job to get the overshoes on though!

That's what I got fed up with, even with road overshoes. Then the zips break or the bases wear through too soon. Neoprene works well next to the skin anyway so I'm hoping the socks work better. If it's really throwing down and they start to fill up I might not be so keen but these things are rarely 100% watertight, it'll get pressed out at the seams by the pedaling motion.

Decathlon do some 2mm neoprene socks (look in their diving section) which are a bit less bulky. I haven't used them for cycling (although I might give them a go after reading this thread) but I've used them in a pair of non-membrane hiking boots while packrafting (I wanted warm feet but decent grip and ankle support while accepting the inevitability of wet feet). They worked fine and kept my feet warm even when wet although I'd be careful if using them multiple days to dry my feet properly at night and possibly use some kind of foot balm to prevent issues. Top tip is not to lace your boots/shoes too tightly as this will restrict circulation and make for cold feet (tight shoes would do the same).

Lizard Skins overshoes are the winner for me. Velcro down the back so no zips to crap out. For me, it's all about keeping the wind off the wet summer shoes (summer shoes dry faster in front of a bothy fire than any winter boot).

If memory serves me right, Taylor had some Bonty winter boots with a pull-out neoprene insert that looked pretty decent.

Greetz

S.

No good for OP as they contain wool, but a lot of people have recommended Ground Effect's Lucifers to me. They may be of interest to others:

https://www.groundeffect.co.nz/products ... bike-socks

Having said that, I've not tried them myself. Thermal insoles, warm hiking socks plus neoprene overshoes have been OK thus far.