Review - Winter Riding Shoes Boots - Shimano MW81

Shimano MW81 (569g)

ITEM: Shimano MW81
PURCHASED: from Brands Cycling and Fitness in December 2011
PRICE: $229
RATING: VERY GOOD

After five years of pulling a pair of tight fitting neoprene booties over my riding shoes, the convenience of slipping into a pair of MW81s is awesome. I have only ridden 3x with them and not yet below the mid-20s, but they seem to be plenty warm (though not quite as warm as my riding shoes with the booties). Unexpected weight bonus, they are considerably lighter (569g each) than my Shimano M086s with Performance booties (743g each).

Shimano M086 and
neoprene bootie (743g)

Sizing was a little tricky. Web site and customer support said to go with same size as the M086, but turned out the MW81s were too small, I had to go one size bigger. This was not a "thick sock" issue, the foot bed fit was different. Once size bigger fixed both problems.

All around I am thrilled with these, now if only winter would get started (has been very mild so far). I would definitely recommend these, just be careful with sizing.