Reviewed: Endura MT500 Plus Flat Pedal Overshoes – Come with a free yoga workout before every ride.

It is one of the great mysteries of the mountain biking world: why are there no flat pedal deep winter boots? In recent years we have seem some efforts at warmer shoes, or even waterproof hi-tops, but we’ve yet to experience some true winter boots with sticky soles. There are any number of boots for the clip-in rider, but the sticky sole crew are left to layer up in waterproof socks, and destined to hope that their shoes will be dry by the next time they want to ride. Turn that radiator up full whack…what’s that smell?

This product does not seek to resolve the absence of winter boots for flat pedal riders, but instead aims to make flat pedal riding a bit more inclement weather friendly. The Endura MT500 Plus overshoes are neoprene booties with a tough rubber edging and stirrup that fit over your standard flat shoes.

The stirrup is designed to hold the bootie in place, but without compromising your flat shoe’s ability to grip your pedal. It’s even claimed that the stirrup and dimpled rubber toe will give you more grip than many flat pedal shoes. It also sounds very promising, especially as a pair of overshoes is cheaper than a whole new pair of winter boots (even if they did exist for flat pedals riders).

Endura MT500 Plus Overshoe Features

• Flat-pedal specific design
• Nylon faced neoprene upper
• Rubber open sole for use with flat or clip-in pedals
• Aggressive rubber toe section tread for added grip
• Rear Velcro® closure with fit adjustment
• Reflective trim
• Sizes: S/M (37-39), M/L (40-41), L/XL (42-43), XL/XXL (44-45)
• RRP: £44.99

Tight Fitting

We had two pairs in on test, and the first challenge proved to be finding people who they’d fit. These are a very snug fit – they need to be to keep the water out, and to stop them shifting around on your feet – but these are so tight that you’ll need a degree of commitment to the cause of warm feet to really persist. I am a size 41 in cycling shoes, and fitting the M/L over my Five Ten Freerider Pros proved to be such an exhausting experience that I gave up after one foot.

It went on, after quite a struggle – think of the worst tyre/rim wrestle you’ve ever had, then add in having that rim attached to the end of your leg, contorting into all kinds of positions trying to get a grip on the thing, and then trying not to fall off your seat at the same time. Stop, take your coat off, then carry on. Swear as you split a nail, and then finally breathe a sigh of relief as you get the final bit of the heel over your shoe. Stand up, have a bit of a stamp and a wriggle to try and get the bumper of the overshoe lined up evenly round your shoe. Sit back down, shake out your arms, and do the Velcro fastening up the back of the heel. Undo it again in an effort to get it to line up neatly. Try that again. And again. Now give up, and move onto the other foot. At least with an overshoe there’s no risk of explosion – there is that plus side over tyre fitting.

With my Five Tens, I didn’t get as far as the second foot, and instead opted to fit the overshoe over one of my Giro Jacket shoes. This proved to be a slightly less traumatic fitting, with things not being quite so tight. It seems that shoe size and shape can make or break the fitting experience.

But even on subsequent fittings I found myself having to have a rest, take off my coat, and on occasion stop to stretch out a spot of cramp. I found myself wondering how well someone with reduced flexibility or joint issues might get on with fitting them, given the force you’re applying to the end of your leg to get them on, and one of our other testers did indeed report having hurt their knee the first time they put them on.

In short, they’re tight, and you’re going to have to put a fair bit of effort into getting them on. The ‘how to put them on’ video makes it look easy – don’t be fooled, we’ve yet to find anyone who gets anywhere close to that level of effortlessness.

Durability Issues

All that force means that they need to be able to be subjected to plenty of tugging and twisting to get them on. Unfortunately, one of our testers managed to snap the heel loop off one of their booties – proving that they’re not up to the same standards as, say, the loop on a climbing shoe, which serves the same purpose.

Also, the Velcro on one started coming away – again, it’s under a lot of pressure from the very tight fit. The Velcro is also quite tricky to do up – you never seem to get a nice neat alignment of the two sides.

Since we first received our samples, Endura has updated its sizing though. Endura was finding some shoes to be particularly tight, since the volume and shape can change quite a bit from shoe to shoe. There is now an XL/XXL size that’s been added to the line, which officially covers a size 44-45 shoe. Unofficially, it might fit a shoe bigger than that, but really it depends on the profile.

The MT500 Plus Overshoes that our tester broke were being used with a size 44 Shimano AM41, which is a pretty bulky shoe. The extra tight fit is the likely reason why the pull-loop and Velcro failed. Now that the XL/XXL size has been added to the line, that’s the size we’d go for with that particular shoe. In summary, if you think you might be between sizes, we’d definitely recommend going for the larger of the two to avoid the issues we experienced.

A point of concern on previous attempts at flat pedal overshoes has been the underside of the shoes, where the overshoe meets the pedal or the ground. To date, our samples our holding up well in this regard, although admittedly the difficulties posed by putting them on have meant we haven’t worn them for every ride.

A small hole has developed on the neoprene of one bootie too – our tester isn’t too sure what the cause was – a pedal pin perhaps? So while the undersides haven’t presented an issue, other parts of the booties do give us some concerns. Our tester of this ill fated pair says ‘I’ve worn them 5 times – one short trail centre ride with no walking, three mid-length mountain rides with a bit of walking and one epic guiding day with a lot of walking’.

On The Trail

If your desire for warmer drier feet is strong, then persisting with fitting these overshoes over your flats will result in warmer, drier feet. And you’ll certainly be warm as you set off, after your bootie fitting yoga workout. Out on the trail, they can take a little bit of getting used to – foot adjustment isn’t quite as it would be without them, and the rubber bumpers do have the effect of making your feet ever so slightly larger than usual. It’s not terribly distracting, especially if you’re just pedalling along, but personally I wouldn’t want to be wearing them for a tricky session trying new features for the first time.

They will eventually let some water in – either it soaks through under persistent rain, gets in over the tops, or sucks up through the bottoms if you’re walking much – but for most lightly splashy rides you’ll probably find little more than a slight dampness between your shoes and booties. That does however mean that you’re going to need to take the overshoes off your shoes to dry them out…and wrestle your way into them again next time.

Oh, and separating the shoes from the booties after stepping in dog poo really doesn’t bear thinking about – they are easier to take off than they are to get on, but you’re still going to have to get a good grip on things. Seriously, pray you don’t encounter this scenario.

Overall

Perhaps if you’ve got a 24hr ride that you simply must survive in the one pair of flat shoes, they might be worth the effort and investment. But for us the effort in getting them on and the strength issues don’t quite stack up to the solution we were hoping for.

Review Info

Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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