One of the biggest challenges with cold weather cycling is keeping your hands and feet warm. Your hands need some dexterity reserved while also holding a position exposed to the weather. Keeping your feet warm might be the biggest challenge of all though. They are continually in motion but the connection to the pedal means they don’t actually move. There’s little flexing or muscle use and it doesn’t take much to end a ride early because of painfully chilled toes. For many people finding the best winter cycling shoes opens up a whole new world of comfort in the winter.
If you are ready to stop trying to make summer shoes work in the winter, Fizik has a couple of solid options. Our current list has two entries from the brand but they are both disappearing. Going forward, the Fizik winter cycling shoe options include the Fizik Artica GTX Tempo and Fizik Artica GTX Terra winter boots. They are both the same design but offer a choice of cleat compatibility for either road or off-road. Although I spent time with both, I took the road-focused Fizik Artica GTX Tempo into the coldest weather we are likely to see this year and put them to the test. If you are looking for a serious upgrade to the comfort of your feet this winter, keep reading to see what works and what doesn’t.
Design and aesthetics
Fizik has some wild colours available for two-bolt-compatible shoes but for the road-going options, they’ve stayed a bit more traditional. If three-bolt road cleats are your preference then you’ll have an option of white or black colour in the Fizik Tempo Artica GTX. I spent time with the white version and even though white isn’t going to be suitable for winter weather forever, they’ve held up well so far, even through winter dirt and grime, and wipe clean easily.
The whole lower portion of the shoe uses a hard-wearing polyurethane-coated outer. The very lowest portion also adds another rubberized coating for even more protection. Both are easy to wipe clean but aren’t the picture of breathability. To make it work, Fizik adds venting holes that cover the mid-section of both sides as well as the toe. Although that might seem like a bad idea for a winter boot, the PU coating is only the outer layer.
Sitting under the lower section, and visible in the tongue and ankle area, is a Gore-Tex membrane. Fizik refers to it as a…
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