Fizik Tempo Artica GTX shoes

The Fizik Tempo Artica GTX shoes provide protection from road spray and a certain amount of rain while cycling on the road in winter, along with plenty of insulation. They're far less clumpy than many rivals and the price is reasonable too.

If you're not convinced by winter-specific designs, you could check out our guide to the best road cycling shoes and the best cycling overshoes, as alternatives.

The Tempo Artica GTX shoes essentially take the place of the Artica R5 Road Shoes that Stu Kerton reviewed for us a few years ago, but they're a very different design. 

The Gore-Tex membrane is one of the key features here, working hard to keep rain and/or road spray out. We asked Fizik how much membrane is tucked away in there and it said, "The Gore-Tex membrane extends up to 75% of the shoes. This is a requirement from Gore-Tex to pass their demanding tests. Also, the tongue has a membrane to protect the foot from the rain. Regarding the ankle, only a portion has the Gore-Tex membrane. Over the 75% of the height of the shoes there's no membrane, again per Gore-Tex requirement."

Does it work? The membrane itself allowed no water through at all during our review period. I will point out, though, that as with other waterproof shoes and overshoes, you can still get wet feet if your tights are wet and the water seeps downwards into the tops of the shoes. That's physics for you. The membrane is waterproof but these shoes aren't magic. I never got wet feet from road spray alone during testing; it had to be raining pretty hard before water ingress via the top became noticeable (more on that in a mo).

Where the Fizik Tempo Artica GTX shoes excel is in the amount of warmth they provide – and this is from someone who got hypothermia in Morocco once. 

Gore-Tex says that its membrane provides excellent thermal insulation. I'm not sure how much of the warmth is down to the membrane and how much results from the brushed fleece lining and the footbed, and I'm not really fussed, to be honest. All I do care about is that I've been using these shoes since [checks how overdue this review is] November and I've never had cold feet once, and that includes a couple of really cold (sub-zero) snaps.

My feet have known when the temperature was down at freezing point (and slightly below) but they've never felt uncomfortable, and I've certainly not experienced that horrible toe numbness (or the even worse pain of them coming back to life again afterwards). Winter cycling is just better with warm feet.

As well as the Gore-Tex membrane and the fleece lining that extends around most of the foot, the uppers are high-density PU (polyurethane) laminate with a reinforcing coating around the bottom edge. Even so, they can mark if you touch them against the front tyre, for instance. I did that on one of mine even though I'm usually pretty careful about that kind of stuff. It's a tiny rub mark and it's not going to affect longevity.

The uppers clean pretty easily – even the white ones that I've been using. Clearly, the white uppers will show the dirt much more easily than black, which is the other option, but you can clean each one in about 30 seconds (yes, I timed it) with a damp cloth at the end of each ride. The only slightly annoying bit is getting behind the lace guides. These shoes are going to get damp and dirty often – especially if you're riding in the UK – so if you can't be bothered to wipe them after nearly every ride then, yeah, black is probably the better option for you.

Do you know what a gusseted tongue is? It's the name for when the tongue is attached to the rest of the shoe not only at the base but also along its sides. That's what you get here to keep out rain and whatever else gets kicked up from the road surface and, as Fizik told us earlier on, the tongue contains a membrane. I certainly couldn't detect any water getting in there.

The ripstop tongue – gusseted, don't forget – is slightly padded and there's deeper padding around the ankle section to keep you warm. The ankles don't extend as high as on a pair of overshoes, of course, but I didn't notice any coldness in that area at all. I never gave it a second thought (and did I mention that I don't half suffer in the cold? A martyr to it).

Closure

Closure is handled by a Velcro strap up top and a Boa L6 dial that only micro-adjusts in one direction. In other words, you can click it tighter with the precision of a safe cracker but you have to pull the dial upwards to release the tension. This can mean too much lace gets released in one go, in which case you need to dial it in again. It's a First World problem, admittedly, but the L6 dials aren't quite as slick as Boa's posh Li2s, for example, which micro-adjust in both directions.

While I'm being finicky, a second Boa dial would allow you to adjust the tension to suit different areas of your foot – just the one dial is a bit rough and ready. But it's a system that works fine, even when using thick winter gloves, and there's enough lace to allow you to get the Tempo Artica GTXs on and off easily enough. The loop at the heel helps there.

The thickness of the padding at the ankle and the fact that it doesn't extend all that high means it's hard to get the ultra-tight seal that you can achieve with overshoes or some other winter shoes. The Velcro strap allows you to get it pretty close but your ankle is doing a lot of flexing at that point. The bottom line is that I found that some water could get into the gaps during heavy rain. Not loads, but some. I'm not going to be too critical here because I've never known any winter shoes that allow you to seal out water completely in heavy rain, I just think that a higher ankle would provide slightly better protection – which is why I'd say these shoes put in a stronger performance when it's just cold and damp than when it's full-on raining.

> Spinning in the rain: Top tips for enjoying your ride in the rain

On the flip side, the lack of height at the ankle helps the Fizik Tempo Artica GTX shoes feel more like summer road shoes and less like a clumpy winter design. Some winter shoes feel practical but chunky. These just feel like normal cycling shoes, albeit a little more bulky and much warmer.

Soles

Turning them over, the soles are nylon – no one really cares about carbon fibre on winter shoes, do they? – and Fizik gives them a 6 out of 10 stiffness rating: 'moderate stiffness'. They certainly flex more than some high-performance race shoe soles, and on the whole I'd prefer a little more stiffness, but I didn't find it a huge issue.

There are no vents in the sole – that would be daft on shoes designed to keep your feet warm and dry – and there's no fore/aft adjustment at the cleat bolts. Those holes are no bigger than they need to be – although whatever three-bolt cleats you're using will offer some positioning leeway – so once you have the bolts in place there's no chance of water or cold air getting in there.

Fizik says that the cleat position is 'set slightly further back compared to standard to better optimise pedalling efficiency and reduce knee compression'. You might notice that or you might not, depending on how fussy you are about cleat placement. I can't say it worried me.

Value

There are plenty of other winter cycling shoes and boots out there at a similar price to the Fiziks, some for two-bolt (mountain bike-style) cleats and some, like these, for three-bolt (road-style) cleats. Northwave, for instance, offers a few different styles, including the Celsius R Arctic GTX shoes that Steve Williams reviewed here on road.cc. These are now £239.99 (although you'll find them cheaper online), so just a tenner less than the Fiziks, and they use a Gore-Tex membrane too.

Steve found the Northwaves to be 'warm, extremely comfortable and impressively water resistant', and I'd say the same about the Fiziks. The Northwaves also come with extensive reflective details, whereas Fizik offers a relatively small amount on the heel. Granted, that's the place where reflectivity is most noticeable when you're pedalling.

If you wanted to go for two-bolt cleats recessed into the sole, Iwein found the Shimano MW7 Gore-Tex SPD Shoes 'comfortable, waterproof and pleasingly easy to use'. They have a grippy sole for gravel and mud, but we know plenty of people who use two-bolt cleats on the road, especially in the winter when off-the-bike traction can be an issue. They're a little cheaper, too – the MW701s Iwein tested were £199.99, but they've been superceded by the MW702s, which are £219.99.

Overall, I've enjoyed using the Fizik Tempo Artica GTX shoes over the past few months. These aren't the highest-end shoes out there – the soles could be stiffer and the Boa dial could be more polished – and I wouldn't say they offer the ultimate performance when it absolutely hoses down, but they do a good job of keeping your feet warm and dry in most winter conditions – or, at least, much warmer and drier than they'd otherwise be.

Verdict

Comfortable winter shoes that provide loads of warmth and reasonable protection from road spray and rain