Autumn/Winter Apparel Special: Specialized Defroster Road Shoes Preview

Mark Tearle

The perfect shoe for winter?

There’s nothing worse than cold and wet feet. Nothing. One of the biggest challenges for winter riding is keeping your extremities – fingers and toes – warm. Traditionally I’d be wrapping my feet up in neoprene overshoes. Though a necessity, I have always found them to be an annoying faff and they never last more than one season. On paper the Specialized Defroster Road shoes seem like the perfect solution.

The Specialized Defroster road shoe, could it be the ultimate winter shoe?

The Defroster Road shoes feature a seam-sealed bootie construction with Thinsulate® insulation, and a neoprene collar to help keep the elements away from your feet, keeping them warm and dry.

The boots have a Specialized Body Geometry sole and footbed, which is made from a nylon composite material; “ergonomically designed and scientifically tested to boost power, increase efficiency, and reduce chance of injury by optimizing hip, knee, and foot alignment”. They utilise Thinsulate® 400 gram insulation for warmth and have a waterproof, seam-sealed internal bootie. There is also a reflective heat-loss barrier in the sole.

The sole is made from a nylon composite and is drilled to take three bolt type cleats

The upper features a sealed ‘canopy’ and neoprene collar that wraps over the instep and around your ankle, which is fastened with Velcro. The shoe fastenings are a Single Boa® L4 dial closure which come with a lifetime guarantee.

The boots are a wide fit to accommodate winter weight socks, have high visibility reflective accents and come with a three-bolt cleat pattern standard. Advertised weight per shoe (size Euro 42/UK 8) is 407g.

Defroster Road Shoes Black/Hyper Green Reflective –  £160

Specialized