I ride BMX pedals on my city bike because they dig into my shoes to hold firm and are easier than clips to stomp on and off of at traffic lights. And in the winter, clipping in can be a hinderance, which anybody who has ever slipped on ice and failed to unclip and then separated their shoulder on the cold, cold ground can attest.
Flat tennis shoes and skateboarding shoes work best with platform pedals, but in cold/watery weather they leave my poor little ankles exposed, so I switched to boots:
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| Too much tread! |
Ah! but boots have heels and hard, thick tread that doesn’t allow much purchase on a BMX pedal.
So I bought thin, flimsy boots with light tread, but they wore out quickly:
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| Buy cheap means buy twice |
Which is how I got to the perfect cold weather riding boot, Red Wings:
Red Wing boots are made in Minnesota out of thick leather with heavy-duty stitching. They’re designed to outlast the foot that fits in them so that workmen can pass their boots down to the next generation. They’re also repairable, and the soles can be replaced or switched to a different style if the needs of the wearer change.
What makes this specific Red Wing boot (the 6″ Classic Moc with the ‘Traction Tred’) a good cycling shoe is that it has a thick flat sole, like a skateboarding shoe:
And the conditioned leather on the upper repels water and wind while being durable and abrasion-resistant. The perfect boot.
There are some provisos, however:
For one, the cost. Red Wings aren’t cheap. The ones in the picture have a small defect so I got them for a discount, but the retail cost of a new pair is around $300.
For another, since they’re leather, they need to be cared for, much like a Brooks saddle.
And for another another, if you plan on walking in your Red Wings, they have to go through a break-in process that takes months, if not years.
Some notes on breaking Red Wings in for cycling:
Straight out of the box my 6″ Red Wings did not need to be broken in for bike riding. The main ankle movements in cycling are minor, and involve rotating the foot up at the top of the pedal stroke, and down on the back-end of the stroke, which medical nerds call dorsiflexation and plantarflexation:
With that in mind, the stiff, un-broken-in leather of a new Red Wing boot works fine for cycling.
But for walking, hiking, and working – Oi. I’ve had my Red Wings for about eight months now, and they still give me blisters if I walk for more than a mile in thin socks. Granted, I don’t walk in them that often, which is why they haven’t molded to my feet yet.
And one other thing, the ‘Traction Tred’ sole is thick. I had to raise my saddle about an inch.
Oh yeah, and I guess I should bring up the fact that there exists an actual Red Wing Cycling Boot:
