Struggling with cold, wet feet on your rides? Check out our selection of the best cycling overshoes to keep your toes toasty whatever the weather

The Gorewear Sleet Insulated Overshoes are a great choice if you’re after plenty of warmth for cold-weather riding. Primaloft insulation is combined with a Gore-Tex outer layer to provide an impressive mix of warmth, waterproofing and breathability. 

In terms of fit, these overshoes are snug. Sizing up is advisable, especially if you wear shoes on the upper end of the stated size range.

For visibility, the bright neon-yellow colour and reflective details are excellent, helping motorists spot movement at your feet. Plus, they wash well, so getting them clean after long, muddy rides isn’t a problem.

The Galibier Mistral Toe Covers bring together strong protection, warmth and water resistance. They also come with an impressively low price.

These neoprene toe covers are a great alternative, or addition, to full overshoes, providing effective protection for your toes against the elements. Toe covers are ideal for all but the coldest conditions, and a big advantage is that you can leave them on your shoes between rides, avoiding the hassle of pulling on a pair of thick overshoes each time. 

SealSkinz LED Overshoes are up there with the thickest and weather-resistant-est ones on the market, with the added bonus of incorporating a powerful LED light in the heel. It’s a clever idea that works well. 

The lights themselves are simple little button-shaped items that fit down a pocket on the heel and into a plastic ring. They stay securely in place. You give them a long squeeze to turn them on, a quick squeeze to scroll through the patterns (two flashing and one steady), and another long squeeze to turn them off. 

These do come up small though, so it may be worth sizing up in these. 

‘Pioggia’ is the Italian word for ‘rain’ and that tells you what these overshoes are all about. They’re made from a polyurethane-coated fabric that won’t let water through. And when we say that it won’t let water through, it really won’t. Believe us, water doesn’t soak through here.

The waterproofing extends to the front seam which is internally taped to prevent leaks and the zip is waterproof too. Well, it’s about as waterproof as zips get; virtually nothing gets past it.

The polyurethane-coated fabric used for the main body is very stretchy so you can get a close fit all round and it moves easily with your ankle as you pedal. It’s lined with a thin fleece layer to provide extra warmth. 

There’s now a fourth-generation model, but you can still find some great deals on the third-gen version we reviewed.

Like a swimming cap for your feet, these divide opinion and can make your feet very sweaty indeed. These are, however, very, very waterproof and work great for racing or time trialling. 

When placed directly onto the shin, they prevent water from seeping down into your socks and also offer complete windproofing. When worn on top of oversocks, they form possibly the ultimate deep winter combination.

These offer arguable aerodynamic benefits and are surprisingly robust for what is essentially a thick balloon. They are the most fragile covers in this list though.

dhb’s Aeron LAB range is its top-end kit, and reviewer Liam says, “these overshoes are really good and well worth the money”. While the dhb Aeron Lab Neoshell Overshoes have an RRP of £60, you can often pick these up for considerably less. 

Making these overshoes feel light on the feet was one of dhb’s primary concerns and so it turned to Polartec’s NeoShell material to make up the bulk of the overshoes. This softshell fabric is thin, flexible, windproof and pretty good at keeping out water as well.

Madison’s Sportive PU Thermal overshoes are a great option for wet weather riding, with the added thermal benefits providing some much-appreciated insulation at times.

Although described as a mid-weight overshoe by Madison, they don’t struggle when the temperature gets down to low single figures.

Featuring a fleece lining that fits snugly to your shoes in tandem with an unvented, taped waterproof top layer, these overshoes are surprisingly warm in all conditions bar freezing or below.

These Sportful WS Bootie Reflex overshoes employ Gore’s Windstopper fabric and serve to keep your feet warm and keep out most of the rain and cold out.

They’re not 100% waterproof, but on typically showery days they’ll keep most of the rain out and it needs a decent spell of prolonged rain before saturation occurs. They cope just fine when it’s not raining but the roads are slick with water.

Galibier’s Ardennes overshoes deliver a really impressive performance. They’re very durable, and will keep your feet dry, warm and comfortable on long days in the saddle.

They are built from four-way-stretch insulated neoprene that offers a racing fit and they feature a large Velcro strap at the bottom that will work with SPD or Look-style clips.

There are also Kevlar-reinforced toe caps that promise added durability where needed, and reflective panels at the back for visibility.

The Castelli Diluvio UL Shoecovers are made from waterproof neoprene to keep your feet dry, they extend high to make sure your ankles stay warm in most conditions, and they’re very stretchy for a close and comfortable fit. The good news is that water doesn’t get through the neoprene at all and the seams are sealed.

Whereas the Diluvio Pros, below, are made from 4mm-thick neoprene, the Diluvio ULs are 3mm thick. 

Sportful’s Speedskin Silicone Booties – overshoes to you and me – keep the wind and water out brilliantly but only really work on milder days because of their lack of insulation.

The Speedskins started life as a time trial overshoe, developed more for controlling airflow over the bumps and buckles of your shoes, but with the addition of taped seams and a silicone coating over the Lycra they are some of the most weatherproof overshoes around.

The material is near-impenetrable by both wind and water – riding on wet roads caused them no issue at all. They finish quite high up your calf so that cuts down on a lot of the spray hitting your tights and soaking down in through to your socks that way. That’s something that inevitably happens when you are riding in persistent heavy rain, but no overshoe is immune to this.

Made from 4mm-thick waterproof neoprene with a close fit to keep the water and wind out, these overshoes from Gripgrab will keep your feet toasty without looking quite so out-there as our first option from Spatz.

Our reviewer did say toes started to get cold in temperatures just below freezing, but anything above and you won’t need to dig out extra layers of socks underneath them. The fully open sole is fastened with a Velcro strap, and you need to put them on before you put your shoes on, then roll them down over the shoes and fasten the Velcro. 

While thye lack extra, extra warmth for the coldest of days, the RaceThermo provide great protection against the wind and rain, fit well and have lots of great reflectives. 

Castelli’s Diluvio Pro Shoe Covers are full-on winter-ready booties – warm, waterproof and with a svelte-yet-thick fit around the shoe that very likely come from input from Team Ineos; Castelli credits the team with asking for a warmer overshoe for training in cold and wet conditions. They’re expensive, though, and for such a high-wear product that might be an issue.

Shoe covers are an essential piece of winter cycling kit, no question. You need them to do their job, and you need them to do it well. Happily, the Diluvio Pros are brilliant performers for the cold and wet winter months, featuring a 4mm-thick neoprene fabric that is as adept at insulating your feet as it is protecting them (and your shoes) from water ingress, from road spray and rain.