Agreed with this... 4 mile ride to work this morning at around 16F. Had some wool socks and my Keen waterproof hiking boots on. Feet felt just fine.

As much as I love the feel of my SPD shoes, I just don't think I could keep warm with the venting. Also, I don't want to use shoe covers.

If your pedals are A530s though, I would suggest swapping for some cheap plastic BMX pedals like Odyssey Twisteds. A530s just look too slippery in case it snows.

My cold weather spd shoes are sized to handle a medium weight wool sock, have a felt pack in the bottom, and have had the cleat sealed against water... I can put shoe covers over those and be fine to -10C / 15F but it is far easier to throw on my Asolo hikers which are waterproof, windproof, and toasty down to -18C / 0F.

After that it is my pack boots which are good to -45C

Keeping your legs and ankles warm and allowing wiggle room in your boots is key to keeping your feet warm and there are some folks (like my wife) who just suffer from cold hands and feet despite following all this advice. I have a friend who wears boots with a -80C rating for weather I'd be wearing shoes since he has issues with keeping his feet warm.

+1 on wiggle room, wool socks and felt insoles - if you insist on riding SPD pedals in cold weather.

Somebody's numbering schema are off. My size 13 feet take a European 49. Unless your feet are unusually skinny, you might be squeezing them too tightly and restricting blood flow.

Shoe covers do make that much of a difference. I'll usually go with a half a plastic grocery bag wrapped around each sock for 25-35F inside the shoe. Below 25, shoe covers are fine down to at least 14F (aka the coldest I've ever bicycled), and my feet were still on the warm side.

For 4 miles sure but try doing 4 times that distance!

We don't get any snow around here, and even if we did, at this point I wouldn't be cycling 15+ miles in it. I was thinking of my goretex hiking boots because the sole has much more of a tread on them which should work better on the A530's than my board-flat skater-style shoes have.

I normally wear sandals most of the year. As the temperature gets chilly to cold, naturally I'll wear socks with them. I'm good in my Louis Garneau Stop tech shoe covers down to about 25f. Below that, I switch to the LL Bean Snow sneakers. They fit in my toe clips good. Those are good to about 5f with two pair of socks on. I've had those for seven years. Lower than that I break out the heavy duty NEOS Explorer overshoes. I don't know what their limit is because I haven't reached it yet. But the snow sneakers fit inside them and stay toasty in the negative digits. People in Alaska use them when its 20 or 30 below outside. So I know they work. My coldest was -14f.

Just got the shimano winter shoe mentioned earlier. I also went up a size and using the costco
merino socks at 30 degrees today my feet were toasty after 12 miles. This is with a circulation
problem in my hands and feet.

I'm with you. Especially in winter, with snow on my shoes and ice on the pedals, I like clipless to keep my feet where they belong.

The SPD heat-sink effect can be mitigated in two ways. Cheapest, try insulated insoles. The Toasty Feet brand comes to mind.

The more expensive solution is Lake's MXZ-series winter cycling boots. I can't speak for the other brands (or Lake's less expensive models), but the MXZs are constructed so the cleat backing plate is embedded in the out-sole, but insulated from your foot by the mid-sole, some Thinsulate, and an insulated insole.

Between that and their full-grain leather construction, they're the warmest boots I own. Too warm, actually, for me to wear above freezing. I don't even need a second pair of socks until it's below 10F.

I don't know what the conversion is. My regular size 13 shoes I wear at the office say EUR 46 on them.

Okay so most size charts say size 13 is EUR 49, and I can't find those MW81 winter shoes in anything larger than a 48.

Darn my big@$$ feet! It's my long toes that are the problem I guess.

Neoprene shoe covers do the trick for me.

Here's your answer - better socks. I have size 12 feet, these are XL and fit fine.

Combining these with shoe covers on standard shoes gives me warm feet in whatever I come up against...granted, if you're in Alaska or Canada, you might need more.

adidias nordic trekking shoes with GoreTex lining.

works for me for €50 and great in the rain as well

I have the same problem, I've tried everything, EVERYTHING with little or no results. The only thing that works are my sorel boots that keep my feet warm at any temperature, the coldest I've experienced was -27° celcius (-16 °fahrenheit) And my feet were just getting cold at the end of my 27.4 kms commute.

If its -5 or lower I pull out my winter boots, wool socks & platform pedals/MTB.

I also take my sorel boot and Platform pedals at around -7 celcius.

I found the A530 platforms to be too slippery on a dry, sunny day.

I have the A530's too. I'm good up until -5(& above), any lower & my platforms make their debut.

My toes never get warmer on a ride. From the time I start a ride to the time I finish, my toes are in a steady temperature decline.

My "trick" is to simply start warmer. I put my winter cycling boots (Shimano MW80s) on the radiator at night, so they're toasty warm when I put them on in the morning. Compared to putting them on cold after they've been sitting in an unheated garage all night, it makes a huge difference. When I put on cold boots, my toes will last about 30 minutes before they start to hurt. When I start with warm boots, it's more like 90 minutes. My commute is 90 minutes, so that's just about perfect.

Rode 15 miles the last 2 days at about 15 F. Wore Shimano RW 80 shoes with neoprene toe covers. Toes start feeling it at 45 minutes and at the end of the ride I am at my limit. The key fo me is to have shoes as a minimum of 2 sizes larger than nomal.

Is anyone till using the old standby - chili pepper or Ben-gay between their toes. It really does stimulate circulation and keep your feet warm. I used to use it for longer winter rides, but my commute is short enough at 1/2 an hour, that I don't bother.

I agree with most of the threads but if I could add one idea, Bunny Boots. They work will for the troops and are made to go down to -30F and -60F respectively. (Good for cool riding, up to the low 40sF.) You can pick up a pair at most military surplus shops starting at less then $30.00 USD.