Things improved dramatically this week but it had been a brutal winter. Up until a couple of weeks ago I thought my loss of enthusiasm for winter riding was strictly weather related. That was until I went for a spontaneous ride one night. I felt... freer and more active. I had more energy. I'm sure part of it was the fact that I was under no time constraints and had no intention of staying out for very long. Nor did I have to ride on any street I didn't want to. But it was more than that.

It was my feet.

I was wearing sneakers instead of the hiking boots I'd been wearing all winter long. Not only that but my legs seemed freer too. Though I love my PI AmFIB bibs for warmth, they're kind of stiff and don't have the articulated knees that my usual wind proof winter tights do. Due to the weather I've had to wear the AmFIBs more.

It was still very cold that night and though I had wool socks under my sneakers I wouldn't have been able to ride that way very long. So I'm left wondering what I'm going to do for footwear for next winter. For many years I went the booty route but most of them aren't very durable and they're kind of a pain to put on. I thought about the 45Nrth boots but couldn't justify the price. I'm really not interested in clipless for winter riding anyway.

Ideas?

Low, insulated winter boots and flat pedals, more info in the winter forum. Try keen and sorel for starters.

I agree. My legs feel slow and heavy when I'm wearing tights and hiking boots. The past couple days have been great, since I'm able to wear loose pants and sneakers again.

The hiking boots I have are a mid rise. The ones you're talking about are more like a standard shoe in height?

Its a close in trip , I wear LLBean rubber Mocs most, of late, to keep my feet dry .

but I'm on the other coast from y'all ..

The sorrels' I use are hiking boots height.

I’m sure Boston is balmy in winter compared to Minneapolis, but FYI, I posted about some new footwear this winter and was comfortable for my 14 mile commute at the lowest temperature I rode, about 15°. This foot wear is much easier to put on than Neoprene shoe covers, and is open at the bottom for clipless pedals:

Since I wrote that post, I further use Velcro ankle straps over the Goretex shoe covers for additional closure.

I've been using L.L. Beam Snow Sneaker's for years. They're good to about the teens. Funny thing about these shoes, they look like reg. shoes. (Meaning you can wear them to the store, that is until your feet start to overheat.)

I am using some mid-rise trail running shoes. They are made by North Face and have Gore-Tex lining. Those shoes are extremely light and comfortable., also very warm with one or two pairs of wool socks.. I also have a pair of Sorrels which I use, but they are heavy and bulky.
And yes this winter was absolutely brutal, I can't wait until spring.

put me down for snow sneakers. affordable and the warmest boot I've ever had. makes for a great winter cycling boot if you don't go clipless. and the insoles are removable

Thanks for all the tips. They've given me some ideas but I'm not quite sure what I want to do yet. I know they now make ski boots with built-in heaters. Someone should do that for cycling shoes too.

Why not justify the price if they work? You don't have to use the cleats. Leave them off and use platforms. To me, if my feet or hands are not comfortable, then I just won't enjoy the ride. Sure, it might be splurging, but so what? There are many things in life which cost much more than good bike shoes.

I didn't explain my reasoning very well. My thought was that since I'm not interested in the cycling specific features of the boots (the ability to use clipless pedals), why limit myself by looking at only expensive cycling boots ?

There are far more options out there if you don't care about clipless. There were things about the 45Nrth boot that weren't appealing as well. I'd heard that the design made them kind of pain to put on. Another review said the soles are pretty stiff, which again is good for cycling but not something I cared about, - especially since I wanted to be able to walk in them comfortably.

The mistake I made, which presumably I would have avoided by going ahead and spending the money on the 45Nrth boot, was getting a mid-rise boot with too stiff of an upper cuff and perhaps too heavy as well. I looked around at what other people were wearing for platform pedals and saw the Keen Brixen was mentioned a number of times. I couldn't find any.

Now I see they have a Brixen "lo" model available again which perhaps might be about ideal but it's a slip on. Sounds comfy but I'm worried about it staying on my foot while pedaling.

Salomon has a studded winter running shoe called the "Snowcross" which looks like a cross country ski boot designed for running and seems almost perfect. I run in the winter too and my current running shoes don't grip well on snow and ice. It gets mixed reviews though. Apparently its water resistant material doesn't stay water resistant.

I'm sure some variation of what Jim from Boston is doing would work for me since it's similar to what I've done in the past. I was really hoping I could avoid dealing with that many layers on my feet though. It already takes forever to get ready in the winter.

These are fine - around 120 euros:

Link:
P L A N I K A

+1 To all the above! I don't ride clipless pedals, but I really like an extra stiff sole for cycling, so I'm typically riding in some sort of MTB shoe that was designed for clipless pedals but I'm running them on flats. I wince at some of my cycling expenses, but I don't really think of them as splurging anymore. If it equips me with the gear I need to keep riding, well, that's justification enough right there!

My 510 Minaar shoes are still holding together after three solid years of riding, but it doesn't get terribly cold here. For my feet, I just double up on wool socks when it gets cold (for us) here. I am tempted to treat the shoes with Snow Seal or mink oil (I've got both languishing in a box somewhere), because this spring is looking extra wet.