Lusso Windtex Terrain Red Overboot

The Lusso Windtex Terrain Red Overboots are ideal for when the weather isn't too extreme. The fabric keeps out the chilly wind and the rain to an extent, plus they are very well made, especially for the money.

• Pros: Easy to get on and off; fabric offers decent insulation for its thickness
• Cons: You'll need something thicker for really cold days

The Terrain overboots offer some really impressive performance considering how thin the main fabric is. Lusso tends to use Windtex in a lot of its winter clothing, and in testing Lusso garments over the years I've always found it to offer great windproofing, especially when it is really cold.

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Windtex is basically a membrane that stops the cold air and water getting through from outside but still manages to be pretty breathable – not that that is a major concern here. The way I look at it, if it's cold enough for me to wear overshoes then I want my feet to stay as toasty as possible, and here they're helped by the fleece-lined material.

Lusso gives a temperature range of 0°C to 14°C and I'd say that is about right. For me, I started to notice a bit of a chill around my toes when it was around 3°C and below but that is going to be personal to you.

> How to keep your feet warm while cycling in winter

The Terrains aren't totally waterproof but they'll do a decent enough job of keeping road spray out and light rain for an extended period, helped by the taped seam running up the front of the boots. Anything heavier is going to get through eventually, but even with soaked feet I never really felt them get cold or uncomfortable as long as the temperature stayed above freezing.

The upper looks to be exactly the same as Lusso has used on its Windtex Stealth overboots that I tested in February last year, but underneath, the Stealths had a kind of rubber feeling material for the sole, while the Terrains are Lycra.

Around the cleat and heel hole on the Terrains, Lusso has reinforced the material with extra stitching – something that it didn't do on the Stealths (although they are still going strong, so it wasn't necessarily needed).

The Terrains also have a much tougher woven fabric at the toe and heel to stop wear and tear when you are off the bike and walking.

The cleat hole is very generous, so it'll fit around Speedplay's massive cleat setup easily as well as the usuals like SPD-SL.

Once again, the build quality is top notch from Lusso; it's all neatly finished throughout with tough stitching.

The zip that is positioned at the rear runs smoothly and once zipped up stays firmly in place.

When it comes to sizing, you can stick to Lusso's guide. I wear a 44/45 size shoe, for which Lusso recommends a large, and although these mediums fitted fine I could feel a bit of pressure on the zip when doing them up, which could affect longterm durability.

Price-wise 30 quid isn't bad, especially when you look at the prices of some of the other brands we've tested.

Castelli's Diluvio Pro shoe covers offer similar performance and will cost you another 20 nicker on top of the Lussos. The Gore Universal overshoes are £54.99 and don't offer any resistance against rain at all.

> Buyer's Guide: 10 of the best cycling overshoes

On the whole, the Lusso Terrains do a very good job of keeping out the worst of the elements and thanks to their build quality are likely to last for a good couple of seasons.

Verdict

Brilliant lightweight overshoes that'll stand up to all but the heaviest of rain