Bike in the rain, versus a crowded train.

[matticus]

Had my MW7's years. Quality shoes. Feet stay dry.

I've had Goretex cycling boots which (so far!) have been fine; but I suspect they lead a much different life to walking shoes. (I still own leather walking boots from the days before everyone moved to Goretex shoes, so I haven't tried the latter.)

One aspect is that cycling shoes vv rigid. Just a theory!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

However, Ballantyne didn’t count the times when it had been raining earlier, and therefore one got wet from the calves downwards.

Riding through floods?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I'll say something controversial re gore tex shoes; I used to sell them and got the opportunity to get a few at trade price, and test them extensively.

Gore Tex isn't durable enough as a shoe liner. The shoe itself will far outlast the membrane. With me, the membrane would usually go within 6 months to a year.

I'm a novice with cycling gear, but I tell people now to avoid gore tex in shoes/boots when it comes to outdoor activities. I've had gore tex liners in shoes fail on me, on a 6 month trip to India. That convinced me to never use gore tex in shoes again.

Bear in mind with breathability in jackets, gore tex will only breath well in cold, dry conditions. For wet, high humidity it doesn't always breath that well.

The answer to all your wet weather needs

 

[wafter]

That's something a non cyclist might say about cycling to work. We're all different, just because we enjoy a particular hobby or lifestyle doesn't mean it would appeal to everyone else.

I think one can say with reasonable certainly that nobody enjoys adding 50% to an 8hr working day getting there and back, or spending thousands of pounds a year for the privilege of being crammed into a rattly metal tube full of other sweaty, ill-tempered commuters, or slowly destroying your car and filling the air with smog stuck in miserable stop-start traffic..

There are other alternatives to this miserable grind besides cycling but as the state of the roads and other transport infrastructure will attest to during rush hour, people en-masse still choose to engage in this self-defeating, self-destructive nonsense.

Yes, I think its the route itself that's important. Cycling in Central London rush hour isn't going to be fun.

Swapping the M25 for tow paths is a no brainer.

Absolutely! In my case it was the ring road around Oxford and I was lucky that there was such a nice alternative

I'll say something controversial re gore tex shoes; I used to sell them and got the opportunity to get a few at trade price, and test them extensively.

Gore Tex isn't durable enough as a shoe liner. The shoe itself will far outlast the membrane. With me, the membrane would usually go within 6 months to a year.

I'm a novice with cycling gear, but I tell people now to avoid gore tex in shoes/boots when it comes to outdoor activities. I've had gore tex liners in shoes fail on me, on a 6 month trip to India. That convinced me to never use gore tex in shoes again.

Bear in mind with breathability in jackets, gore tex will only breath well in cold, dry conditions. For wet, high humidity it doesn't always breath that well.

That's an interesting insight!

FWIW I have a fairly long history of Scarpa Mojito GTX shoes which have had a hammering but never (to the best of my knowledge) had the membrane fail before the sole was worn nearly through.