As I've written many times before,
I don't really use full shoe covers even in winter.
If I combine them with socks and get creative,
I can manage fine with an Osaka winter,
and I dislike how the inside of full shoe covers
rubs against the crank arms.
I was using Fizik's Winter Windproof
toe covers, but the toe area started tearing,
so I decided to get new ones.
The right foot is torn quite badly.
This is because when I'm stopped at a traffic light,
if there's a curb on the left side,
I unclip only my left foot from the pedal
and rest it there, but
if there's no curb, I unclip only the right side
and balance on my toes—that's a habit of mine.
There's no rubber covering on the toe.
I checked when I bought these—it was March 2024—but
that's right at the edge of when you need thermal shoe covers,
so really it was just one season of use in 2025.
Whether there's rubber on the toe isn't really important;
what matters most is that the fabric is as thin as possible.
So I bought Pearl Izumi's 7975
Windbreak Light Toe Covers.
I occasionally buy other brands,
but Pearl Izumi toe shoe covers are my go-to.
I bought Fizik last time because
Pearl Izumi was out of stock at my parts distributor.
Just to be clear,
the Fizik also had excellent fit.
There's a logo patch stitched on only the left side.
On the toe, there's quite a substantial
rubber covering, but
there's been an improvement where it's
set a bit away from the seam.
The reason is,
↑this is an earlier model, and
the rubber covering was
close to the seam of the cleat hole
(my cleat position is set forward,
which contributes to this), and
when I engaged the pedal,
the rubber part rather than the fabric
would get pinched, giving a squishy feeling,
↑so on the right foot only, I modified it this way.
On the left foot, the toe area doesn't tend to wear
from experience, so I removed the rubber covering itself.
As a result, both feet no longer have that squishy sensation.
With aging use from that point on,
↑left foot
↑right foot
became this, so
I bought a shoe cover called Neoprene Toe
from a brand called SIXS (a brand that mainly
develops socks products).
This had clearance at the cleat tip,
so there was no problem with the pedal feel,
but due to the material's nature, it was somewhat thick,
and its weather resistance was poor—after one season
(or rather, neglecting it over the summer)
the surface started crumbling and deteriorating,
which is why I switched to the Fizik
mentioned at the beginning.
↑this is a much older Pearl Izumi, and
it has no rubber on the toe,
but it has enough clearance
to prevent any pinching with the cleat,
so the feel in use was excellent.
They've made many small refinements
(or rather, changes), and I'm sorry to be particular,
but this one was my favorite.
I had installed LOOK KeO road pedals
on my Niner, which is supposed to be a gravel bike,
but I only swapped them to SPD-standard shoes
with Crank Brothers MTB pedals
when I was definitely going to walk around temples and shrines
(the saddle height change was a subtle pain).
But since KeO cleats are now sold only in GripCleat versions,
I can no longer get the non-GripCleat black (fixed) cleats,
so going forward, to conserve my precious black cleats,
I plan to run the Niner with egg-beater-style pedals all the time,
and I'm using them with a combination of
egg-beater-style cleats compatible with 3-hole road cleats
plus road shoes.
The downside of this is there's no 0° float (fixed) version,
and I can't adjust the left-right position either.
It's 6° float, and when you put the cleat with the round dots on
the right foot, you get 15° release (the state in the image above),
and on the left foot, you get 20° release.
With this cleat setup,
the toe shoe covers don't wear as easily on impact,
so I plan to use the Fizik shoe covers
with this shoe until spring.
I don't really use full shoe covers even in winter.
If I combine them with socks and get creative,
I can manage fine with an Osaka winter,
and I dislike how the inside of full shoe covers
rubs against the crank arms.
I was using Fizik's Winter Windproof
toe covers, but the toe area started tearing,
so I decided to get new ones.
The right foot is torn quite badly.
This is because when I'm stopped at a traffic light,
if there's a curb on the left side,
I unclip only my left foot from the pedal
and rest it there, but
if there's no curb, I unclip only the right side
and balance on my toes—that's a habit of mine.
There's no rubber covering on the toe.
I checked when I bought these—it was March 2024—but
that's right at the edge of when you need thermal shoe covers,
so really it was just one season of use in 2025.
Whether there's rubber on the toe isn't really important;
what matters most is that the fabric is as thin as possible.
So I bought Pearl Izumi's 7975
Windbreak Light Toe Covers.
I occasionally buy other brands,
but Pearl Izumi toe shoe covers are my go-to.
I bought Fizik last time because
Pearl Izumi was out of stock at my parts distributor.
Just to be clear,
the Fizik also had excellent fit.
There's a logo patch stitched on only the left side.
On the toe, there's quite a substantial
rubber covering, but
there's been an improvement where it's
set a bit away from the seam.
The reason is,
↑this is an earlier model, and
the rubber covering was
close to the seam of the cleat hole
(my cleat position is set forward,
which contributes to this), and
when I engaged the pedal,
the rubber part rather than the fabric
would get pinched, giving a squishy feeling,
↑so on the right foot only, I modified it this way.
On the left foot, the toe area doesn't tend to wear
from experience, so I removed the rubber covering itself.
As a result, both feet no longer have that squishy sensation.
With aging use from that point on,
↑left foot
↑right foot
became this, so
I bought a shoe cover called Neoprene Toe
from a brand called SIXS (a brand that mainly
develops socks products).
This had clearance at the cleat tip,
so there was no problem with the pedal feel,
but due to the material's nature, it was somewhat thick,
and its weather resistance was poor—after one season
(or rather, neglecting it over the summer)
the surface started crumbling and deteriorating,
which is why I switched to the Fizik
mentioned at the beginning.
↑this is a much older Pearl Izumi, and
it has no rubber on the toe,
but it has enough clearance
to prevent any pinching with the cleat,
so the feel in use was excellent.
They've made many small refinements
(or rather, changes), and I'm sorry to be particular,
but this one was my favorite.
I had installed LOOK KeO road pedals
on my Niner, which is supposed to be a gravel bike,
but I only swapped them to SPD-standard shoes
with Crank Brothers MTB pedals
when I was definitely going to walk around temples and shrines
(the saddle height change was a subtle pain).
But since KeO cleats are now sold only in GripCleat versions,
I can no longer get the non-GripCleat black (fixed) cleats,
so going forward, to conserve my precious black cleats,
I plan to run the Niner with egg-beater-style pedals all the time,
and I'm using them with a combination of
egg-beater-style cleats compatible with 3-hole road cleats
plus road shoes.
The downside of this is there's no 0° float (fixed) version,
and I can't adjust the left-right position either.
It's 6° float, and when you put the cleat with the round dots on
the right foot, you get 15° release (the state in the image above),
and on the left foot, you get 20° release.
With this cleat setup,
the toe shoe covers don't wear as easily on impact,
so I plan to use the Fizik shoe covers
with this shoe until spring.