Boots (again)!

I've always been a 'jeans & casual boots' type of rider, so not so long ago, I had shelled out over £100 for some Forma Slam trainer style waterproof boots. 



They're a 12, but with hindsight, too narrow for my creaky wide old hobbit feet.

Bloody great - felt like slippers in the shop, but feel too cramped when I wear them in the real world. So they will be going on eBay for sod all.

I've decided it's not worth the extra dosh for dedicated bike boots, so I've taken a punt on some caterpillar boots, and after wearing them today for the first time, for about 8 hours solid, on and off the bike, first impressions are good. Fingers crossed!



If I fall out with these I'm going to chop my toes off.

Those look good stout boots 

UNLESS you are riding a "sports" bike and trying to get your knee down, I personally think any "sensible boot/shoe" is adequate, I have a pair of decathalon hiking boots for "long" motorway trips (probably just a mental thing" the rest of the time..trainers/dm's/timberlands..... comfort is way more important especially on long rides unless you plan on doing 180 around nurburg in which case full kangaroo/ shin length boots, slider gloves etc etc. The ONLY foot ware I would draw the line at is flip flops or sandles! ( don't do feet or toes in public) The way we ride max 60mph on a cruiser the most you are going to slide is 30 foot at a rapidly decreasing rate if your wearing pyjamas "ouch" most normal textiles will suffice. If you hit a car bonnet doing the same................It wont matter what your wearing! praying might. here endith the lesson, night.

Yep, agreed Justin. And to be honest, the cats I just got probably offer more protection than the trainer style boots above (which were biker boots).

Sorry guys, but I disagree with you. If my mate had not been wearing motorcycle boots with shin protection etc he would have lost his foot without question. He was riding a Triumph Thunderbird Storm in a 40mph limit when a woman pulled out into the side of him. It's up to you, but why risk it??

Yes of course full on bike boots offer the ultimate protection. But if said driver pulled out in front of me wearing Forma Slam boots or caterpillar boots, I think my foot would survive best in the cats.

v-twin wrote:

Sorry guys, but I disagree with you. If my mate had not been wearing motorcycle boots with shin protection etc he would have lost his foot without question. He was riding a Triumph Thunderbird Storm in a 40mph limit when a woman pulled out into the side of him. It's up to you, but why risk it??

Agreed, a mate from Darlington was wearing steel toecap Docs when a woman clattered into him on a junction, result was 11 breaks from ankle to knee and six months of leg scaffolding.

As for sportsbike boots, meh, flimsy expensive rubbish.

Buy a boot that looks and feels like you could use it to easily beat a Rhino to death.

Andrew hitting a car at 40 means the actual speed of impact is 40+the speed of the car all the "official" bike ware guarantees nothing apart from it will keep your "skin in" it isn't there to stop bones breaking! He was just lucky that the bike absorbed the side impact and NOT his leg, A Motorbike boots are built to slide, that's all. A better pair of boots with a close comfortable fit are a lot less likely to get caught up in the wreckage because you can feel them on your feet you know what your feet are doing at all times, motorbike boots are too rigid in my opinion and as I said unless your doing stupid speeds on a sports bike around bends you are never going to experience that "guy martin" moment sliding along 200 ft of tarmac which the boots are built to slide over rather than snag and tear your leg of.
Just my opinion would prefer to be comfortable and more aware than uncomfortable fidgeting in the saddle and thinking I am bullet proof because the blokes who make my stuff are the same blokes who makes guys stuff and he survives, don't he!

Risky business riding them there motorcycle's    I don't know why people bother?  

Statistically safer than horse riding!

simbo wrote:

Risky business riding them there motorcycle's    I don't know why people bother?  

Neither do I, bloody death traps

I wear my Altberg boots when I go out on my bikes but if i'm only going up the road i'll not put them on as I know I wont be doing anything except a few hundred yards.