PTW

I have been struggling for years with a pair of Shimano 'tea bag' summer cycling shoes, and the wife has decided that enough is enough. No more chill blains, hence I'm looking for something more insulated.

Over the years I've tried adapting the tea bag shoes for winter use with a pair of neoprene overshoes, which work fine, but only up to a point. The cold and wet just comes straight in the bottom of the shoe, which is not surprising because there's a hole in the bottom

Last Winter I resorted to using bubble-wrap insoles. No kidding. That improved things, and the fact they go pop once in a while is funny, but I seem to be wasting time trying to compensate for the original problem.

A bit of research seems to indicate that there are now dedicated Cold Weather Cycling Shoes. In fact, three products keep cropping up:

Specialized BG Defroster £83
Northwave Celsius GTX £90
Shimano MW02 SPD Winter Boot £75

These obviously come from the Mountain Biking market, so they seem to come with great rubber blocks on the bottom.

Anyone got any experience with any of these?
Are there any other makes out there?
Any cleats that don't involve holes? I'm happy to stick with SPD if needs be, but I'm thinking outside 'da box at the moment.

Waterproof socks! even those mountain bike boots have got big holes in the bottom,you could always seal the cleat holes up with silicone sealant.What I've found the best so far is:- 2 pairs of socks, 1 thin pair next to the skin and a waterproof pair over the top, combined with a pair of overshoes(pro endure h20,Nelson cycles.com)BUT! if it's raining heavily, the rain runs down your legs and into the waterproof socks(bummer)!

Im sure evans cycles do the northwave winter boot in a road cycles, and i was on sidicafe.co.uk and they do sidi gortex boots mega bucks tho !!