Lightest cycling shoes WHEN WET (or sweaty which they always are)?

Triathlon Forum
1

All the cycling shoe manufacturers give weights for their shoes in grams, but of course that is when they are just out of the box, clean and dry. Even if we’re not riding in the rain our feet are always sweating and our cycling shoes are absorbing it into the lining or retaining it in the sole (before *maybe *exiting via some drainage holes).

Now, if I know I’m going to be riding in the rain or on wet streets whether in training or a race, reducing ‘rotational weight’ is always a nice thing, so are light feeling feet. So, I don’t really care how ‘light’ the listed weights are for dry cycling shoes. I want to know which cycling shoes will be the lightest weight under normal (sweaty) and rainy conditions. Gore-Tex does nothing to help this, as the rain always soaks into the upper of the shoes before even reaching the waterproof liner inside. This goes for running shoes too.

BONT is the only manufacturer who I’ve found that actually boasts of their shoes ability to resist absorbing or retaining water due to their upper material.

Anyone else?

2

If this a performance based question which seems to be given the “rotational weight” mention I would think you would care about other factors first like which pair is more aerodynamic and which pair allows you put out the most power for a given event or run blister/hot spot free during the run, or which pair is easiest to slip on and slip off in transition.

3

Good points. Most aerodynamic is a shoe that doesn’t require an overshoe or rain guard to stay dry and warm (such as Sugoi Resistor Shoe Covers which might actually help aerodynamics but those would take a bunch of time to put on in T1). Most power and blister free is the best *fitting *shoe for each person’s feet. Easiest to slip on, well, I really never concerned myself with the 10 second difference there.

As for performance, if prepared for the rain, feet can always stay dry and warm via waterproof socks (Sugoi Resistor socks) inside the shoe which does not impede aerodymanics (and only require 5 additional seconds per foot in T1 if racing). Now, which shoe model, from any manufacturer, will resist absorbing and retain the least water?

4

Unless you buy all the shoes on the market, figure out a way to saturate them consistently, and weigh them yourself, that data simply isn’t out there.

5

I would think a lot of the tri shoes would do well in this category. They are usually a little more minimalist then road shoes.