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Anyone tried using neoprene wetsuit boots for commuting in the rain? Such as these numbers from Lomo: Lomo wetsuit boots
Have just purchased the Alpkit Parallax overtrousers as they get good reviews. Would need boots rather than shoes to avoid water ingress at the top. I've been poised to throw money at the perennial soggy feet problem looking at Adidas Terrex, Inov8 etc with a Goretex membrane but deep down I know they just won't cut it in a deluge. The above boots look like a cheap and effective bodge
Skin is waterproof. Always have spare kit to ride home in. Including Aldi waterproof socks... not found a way to remain dry, embrace the damp!
Lomo wetsuit boots
You what now? Neoprene boots for watersports have a very thin flexible sole to make you agile about a boat/ feel for footstraps and generally just enough not to mash your feet on cleats and other boat fittings or stones launching or recovering. They would be horrible to ride in - the complete polar opposite to the carbon soled road shoe. Also, there is not a lot worse in life that putting on cold wet neoprene boots.
What sir needs are some neoprene overshoes to be worn over your normal cycling shoes to keep the worst of the crap off and make your normal cycle shoes warmer. Take them off your shoes between rides and everything dries a bit fast. Or.....if you are wearing overtrousers a pair of sealskin socks. These are dreadful if water can access the tops as they hold it in rather than keep it out but with over trousers you are good to go.
But leave those booties for the sailors/ kayakers.
I've those boots.
Very thin sole. Sweaty. Not as warm as you might think, just warmer than normal shoes when wet.
Just no.
They work in a canoe.
It's worth trying! But I would recommend 3mm neoprene socks inside your riding shoes rather than the ones you linked above and you might need to take the insoles out of your shoes to give enough space inside. Your feet should stay warm even if they're wet - I use mine like that for commuting in the winter (in Norway, so it's super cold) and on multi day bikepacking trips where my shoes get damp and stay damp. I prefer them over sealskins which I never found very effective, they're much cheaper too.
@steezysix
Good shout!
Agreed on Sealskins socks, they're shite
I take it you have full length mudguards on your bike? They'll deal with most of the water. Neoprene overshoes will handle virtually all of the remainder with just some water getting in via the cuff/leg interface. If you are wearing over-trousers then even that's unlikely.
I never bothered with overtrousers on my commutes, I'd just get too hot and sweaty. As above, skin's waterproof so my legs only needed a dry down once I got to work.
I have those booties, but just as light weight bikepacking bothy wear
edit: no, they are actually the lighter neoprene sock version
@convert I ride flats!
Don't let that stop you....
https://www.mbr.co.uk/news/product_news/endura-mt500-plus-overshoes-355435
Sealskins socks, they’re shite
They really aren't - they just only work well in certain situations. And with over trousers is one of them.
And also agree with above - full length mudguards are the first purchase you should be making if you have not already.
I use my Northwave boots - with Sealskins or similar if it's really wet. I mean, you could wear Sealskins, GTX boots and overshoes if you really desired dry feet!
I also bought some of those shoe drying devices (I think they were reviewed on STW) and they didn't work AT ALL! So don't buy those, use newspaper.
Northwave boots and gripgrab gaiters on the cuffs. Dry feet even offroad in winter, they're waterproof until you submerge them calf deep at which point the water finds its way up between the boot and the gaiters. They would probably work with overshoes or lightweight walking boots, some people have tried drysuit cuffs with similar results.
And wetsuit socks 🤢🤮, when you pour the water out of them after a sail it's almost opaque with sweat 🤢🤮.
Like tinas above I use shimano mw7 boots and gripgrab gaiters. Dry warm feet with merino socks.
I've used neoprene socks before, they're very clammy not and particularly warm unless it's not all that cold anyway.
The best warmest option I've found is warm socks that aren't too thick, normal shoes, toe warmers and overshoes. With that combo I've been warm well below freezing for an hour+ much better than even winter shoes.
A lot of my sailing boots have been so thin-soled that you can't walk up a rocky beach without them being uncomfortable. They aren't the tool for the job. I use SPD shoes, warm socks and overshoes when I'm commuting and it's wet and cold. Then at least I'm wet but warm. If it's wet but warm, so far my mudguards have stopped the worst of if it's just the ground that's wet and it's not raining, and if it is raining I just change my socks when I arrive.
What sir needs are some
neoprene overshoescrocs
As kog as you have full length mudguards it will be a handful of times in a year that you would need them, spare socks + overshoes should cover most of the eventualities.
year round commuter here, hello
I will 100% agree with all the other posts saying mudguards. ideally full length proper ones.
overshoes help also, but always carry spare pairs of socks in the bag for the journey home and newspaper stuffed into the shoe dries them out enough to make the home leg bearable.
if it's winter and you're wearing flats then just get some goretex style walking trainers from amazon/sports direct
Full length guards on for me year round
I used to use overshoes (have just bought boots), I found them to be great in most conditions. Only in the wettest of days would water either run down my legs or soak down through my leggings into my socks/shoes, or even get through the overshoes (neoprene ones, but not waterproof, and a few years old)
But that was a deluge only, for most conditions it's absolutely fine. I only bought boots as I'd always fancied them and my overshoes had died so needed new ones. Overshoes did me for 5 winters