I have last year’s defrosters, which are like Rusty’s but not as tall. Wish mine was the taller, but it was on sale and they are pretty good by me. I went with 47s when road with specialized I can do 46.5. Maybe could have sized up a bit, but they have been pretty good. In the rain they were doing their part to keep me dry save for the water flowing in from my rear tire. Maybe taller would prevent it or let you put your bibs over the top of them.
gf confirms Braden’s claim of fasterkatt having issues with people with tall instep. Toe box fits her fine, but struggles to zip it up over the shoe. Alas, we got last year’s model on sale for $167, and they have made winter riding much nicer.
My thoughts on this genre of shoe withstanding, I do have some small experience with the conditions they are intended for. “If the shoe fits” is always the criteria that needs to be satisfied first, of course. Fitting in this case means holding your foot looser than normal and being sized for the thickness of socks you will wear. The further you stuff your foot inside an isolated environment the more important blood flow and a layer of air around them is. There are numerous tricks to expanding the versatility and comfort from there. All of that only goes so far though if you ignore mentally and physically combating the elements. Wiggle those toes and don’t suppress the vigorous mentality you need to bring to any activity in the cold.
Many of these boots use a sock of some sort built in that may or may not ‘lace’ separately. You can buy all sorts of crazy socks too that promise to be waterproof or warm when wet or some other magical property. What actually works is unique to everyone. A very thin and loose liner sock works great for some. A super technical pair of synthetics with varied thickness and compression or a simple pair of thick wool socks the end all be all for others. None of these are a solution for everything so give extra thought to what you sacrifice in going for a shoe with a thick sock built in. Don’t be blind to acclimation or subtle differences in the climate changing what is comfortable either. If it seems you are dressing too much on the light side and it works you are doing it right most of the time but others going too warm inexplicably saves the day.
I discovered last Winter Ferg and I both have no issue riding down to or slightly below freezing for hours without resorting to using cold weather gear like booties. In that conversation he mentioned that he has had very good results with Assos fuguspeer socks. Most people instantly decide they are not a reasonable option when they hear the price. They are not ridiculous if you consider a the cost figured into Winter boots which use a similar liner. Generally the windproof/waterproof/heat reflective/etc. stuff is junk but these are really what I came in here and typed all of this to explain justifying the cost of. That and to say it is a prerequisite that your feet and hands get cold to the point of pain for sometime afterwards while warming up before you will ever be comfortable in the cold the rest of the Winter.
In my experience socks wear a lot faster than shoes/boots do. If I burn through two pairs of $60 wondersocks a season I’m not really seeing how they are any bargain compared to a $240 boot that lasts 4 years?
Or as a more realistic counterpoint $$$ boots that fall apart or lose out to their weakest component within weeks. That comes uncomfortably close to exposing the very thing I made efforts to refrain from tainting this discussion with my personal thoughts on.
I don’t expect you own much Assos anything so I’ll kindly point out that nothing they make falls apart. If it were to they are very good about repairing or replacing the item in question. I thought I handled the fact most wondersocks are junk on the way to pointing the rarity of these that aren’t.
I’m not talking about falling apart; I’m talking about wearing out, which clothing tends to do. The thing that tends to wear out on my cycling shoes is the sole, and that happens much slower than wear to my socks. Does Assos have a lifetime free mending warranty?
I’m struck by the infeasability of convincing you. Whatever war of attrition goes on around your feet is a personal battle no doubt fought without space age technology
Yes orc, they will eventually succumb to the same effects of age and use that befalls all physical objects. And discussions that wear thin as well.
Well, your description of winter shoes collapsing is a matter of weeks, which seems to be well out on the tail of the failure curve. How long does it take you to wear out a pair of your wondersocks?
Assos has a 1 yr free repair/replace policy. If you wear them out as quick as you expect to, you’ll get 18 months out of a set. If you wear them year-round, that is.
Not being any more willing to pick this up than I was at 3 AM, my (edit: second to) last contribution is going to be das wunder sockes haven’t worn out. Not even close. Which is so closely related to my recommendation of them it shouldn’t bear numerous repetition.
How would you answer to a repeated attack on having said your cordura bag is more durable than one constructed of loosely woven cotton, orc?
HOW FUCKING LONG DID IT TAKE TO WEAR OUT DESPITE IT STILL BEING IN ACTIVE USE?
Bags don’t wear the same way as clothing does, though if a cordura bag sags against a tire it will wear through pretty quickly (possibly quicker than canvas; one of my porteur bags has a nice wear hole in the bottom because it sagged into the front tire halfway through a 70 mile ride) and repeated loading will find any defects in materials in a hurry (the same porteur bag has a back panel made out of cordura with poorly applied waterproofing; after 2 years most of the waterproof layer there is gone and there’s nothing left except the fabric. Still usable, but if I’d sold this bag to someone I would have warrantied it by now.)
The 1 year warranty makes the wondersocks a lot more appealing; worst case of $120 for two years of winter wear compares favorably to winter shoes (how do they work for warmth when the enclosing shoes are soaking wet and acting like swimming pools? Would I need to wear light summer shoes for drainage?)
I came back to rework the content of that last post with a more mature response easier to spot the humor in, too late. You seized on an unintended aspect of that long semi-informational note on one way Winter boots differ from the widely varied construction of shoes. Along the way I hoped to distance myself from ultimately saying buy the most expensive thing by showing a combination of things already owned will probably work. Wasn’t sure if you were being intentionally difficult or just weren’t going to understand without stopping the good progress happening in here to engage in a lengthy side discussion. The latter broke ground and layed a foundation so we might as well just grade a road right up to it.
High end low production synthetic clothing items like the fuguspeer that actually work well almost universally share a common feature. They work ridiculously good until they don’t. What that means is they don’t show any outward appearances of wear and never lose function until the very second they disintegrate. For the sake of being sickenly clear that statement applies to items that were carefully washed at the right temperature when soiled but never received unusual wear and tear. If you drag them across the ground without shoes on they will get holes, pack bigger feet into them than they are sized for they will stretch, and without penning boilerplate all common sense that applies to a successful warranty claims fulfillment applies as well. For the sake of moving past the warranty lust it only applies to manufacturer defects. Stating you assume a cycle of warranty claims is leading and dishonest.
How well they are perceived to function in relation to standing water inside a shoe is intensely personal. If the shoe was to be drained and suddenly allow air flow an entirely different personal perception could likely arise. I start struggling with continuing to express a thoughtful response here. In the same vein as your connotations that they are a purchase requiring a stock of multiples to continue benefiting from their status as wondersocks. I can’t answer to their long term performance in what amounts to warm Spring or cool Summer rain conditions up here because I would never purposely force them into that duty. You continually keep trying to create the illusion a general information post about Winter boots was a personal sales pitch.
Maintaining a warm dry skin condition inside multiple layers without needless bulk restricting free movement of the ankle = what was so close to being hashed out here in a comprehensive look at the options available on the market. Start another thread on swimming in self proclaimed wondersocks if that is your topic of most intent interest.
Rando, chill.
You do seem as oblique as you are claiming Orc is here. The shoes won’t fall apart in the matter of weeks.
Maybe i could try to socks, but you and Ferg are blessed with some better circulation or something cuz my feets get cold in most circumstances. I thus like the boots for that little bit of comfort.
OK, I’m perfectly unworked up about being trolled by Orc. A few examples of poor stuff failing was brought up by others that I referred to weakly as a counterpoint.
I get that everyone was so excited about the number of positive responses because they make riding more comfortable for almost everyone. The first layer(s) against the skin make a huge difference if you nail them in connection with a properly fitting boot. Maybe everyone already knew not to close them tight and had figured it all out but finding a good pair of boots. Repeating that something’s good practice isn’t harmful.
Wondersock talk is welcome, though it more properly belongs in http://tarckbike.com/node/19687 perhaps. I note that the Assos fuguspeer do not appear to be waterproof, which disqualifies them from the general topic at hand. It was difficult enough to resist posting SPD sandals + seal skinz socks (which are waterproof and do work -I have a pair).
In my specific case, it’s the waterproofness that matters, not the insulation. Basically I want what my goretex trail-running shoes + flat pedals gives me, but in something SPD compatible.
Our shop went deep with a full size run of fasterkatts in road and mountain. After having to warranty every pair sold either for sticky or broken zippers or fraying laces, the powers that be decreed that the whole fucked up mess be sent back to Q. Ordered a bunch of special eds to replace them.
