I am SO over motorbike boots

[Pixie]

One of my (several) Christmas presents to myself was a pair of Gaerne GRW Aquatechs to replace my old Sidi Stradas, which stopped being waterproof after 18 months due to excessive dragging on the road.

Being $400 cheaper than a pair of the top-end Sidi Vertebras ($750 for a pair of boots? Piss off!) made the Gaernes a no-brainer. Guess I'll have to wait and see how they hold up. At least the replaceable toe sliders fully cover the join between sole and upper, unlike the Sidis, which tend to wear away the sole when they drag.

The Gaerne waterproofing seems to work well. My tootsies stayed dry in the rain on Monday.

I have some Gaerne road boots.They are 10 years old,have been put to a lot of use but were regularly cleaned and polished and are still waterproof .

[Pixie]

I have been told by a lot of people that steel caps + motorcycle boots are bad as they can be crushed and hence your toes will be then non exsitent. Personally I was of the opinion that a force that is enough to crush the steel cap and remove your toes will remove your toes anyway with a motorcycle boots fitted with the usual plastic caps.

Toe caps are bullshit.They are intended to prevent injury from objects being dropped on the feet.
Things do not drop on your toes when you fall off a bike.
If another vehicle runs you over,it will not just run over your toes.

"Sorry Mrs Jones,your son was reduced to a greasy stain on the road - but his toes are ok"

Any thing above 100 Kg will landing on a toe cap will turn the open end into a guillotine,if it falls close to the ankle.

[Maffoo]

i have a pair of Hipora (i think) boots
they are less than a year old
the toggle part of both zips is broken, making them damn hard to pull up
the sole is seperating on the left boot, the upper parts are cracking, & the inner of the right boots is seperating from the outer, meaning when i put them on i get a 'clump' of material in one place

apart from that , they are awesome !!

[90s]

My MX boots (Fox Pro Forma) will take some destroying, but the Oxtar racing boots I am wearing in these hot months are much more delicately built. Having said that they are in good nick and Gemmel's only charged me $30 to fully replace and repair a damaged zipper including unstitching and resewing the leather.

Good boots and shoes and a good cobbler will serve you better than cheap compromise boots. I believe Terry Pratchett has used this to explain why the rich stay rich and the poor expend all their money on cheap shoes and boots.

[gumboots4eva]

I wear a pair of terranova gumboots - they're light weight and firm fitting. Not got any extra protection other than they're waterproof and reasonably comfortable. May have to go to my steel-toed gumboots for that, but they're not so comfortable for doing much walking around in.

[Ixion]

I am very pleased with my Paratroop boots. Money well spent. Rode back from the Nikau cave ride in pouring rain, feet remained totally dry and toasty. And on ffwabbitt which is a very wet bike. GO the paratroop boots ! Upper half was good to, GO the hi-viz jacket. From wasit to calves however, soaked and soggy and cold. Memo to self. Cordura leggings are only waterproof up to about an hour.

[CookMySock]

Gaerne GRW Aquatechs

My Gaerne Drytech boots have been awesome. 18 months and 20,000km on and they are still fully watertight and look nearly new, and I don't clean them at all. Cough, I don't scrape them on the road though..

I wouldn't ride on the open road without proper safety boots. I keep imagining toes coming off on the road..

Steve

[sinned]

Style Martins 3+ years and 30K+ in a fair bit of wet weather and no water inside. They are warm and comfortable and okay to walk in. They could last forever.

[Motu]

If you have $10 feet,get $10 boots.Fortunatly I have $5 feet.

[scumdog]

If you have $10 feet,get $10 boots.Fortunatly I have $5 feet.

Howzabout free?

Still using ex-freezing-works leather steel-caps with ex-army (ok, I had to pay for THEM!) leather gaitors. Heaps of dubbin and years on I still have not had wet feet while riding.

[Madness]

Cash Converters in Onehunga Mall have some AXO boots for $100, brand new in a few different sizes. They are a bit too "styley" for me but.

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

I have had one pair of boots last more than a couple of years... (they actually lasted about 10) but can't find them anywhere to get a new pair...

My last pair lasted about 3 years and the stitching in places is starting to come loose.

Got a cheapish good pair from the Honda Otago Closing down sale However I can't see them lasting 10 years, maybe 3 or 4.

As Jantar pointed out, if you make something that will last, the manufacturer doesn't get enough repeat business to stay in business.

[swbarnett]

As Jantar pointed out, if you make something that will last, the manufacturer doesn't get enough repeat business to stay in business.

The problem is that there are just too many manufacturers to support both quality and price. Variety is all very well but I'll take quality over variety any day.

[MotoKuzzi]

Stick ya feet into a couple of plastic supermarket bags before putting boots on and doesn't matter what state your boots are in, your feet won't get wet.

[BAD DAD]

I wear good quality workboots most days winter or summer so tend to ride in them as well. Most motorcycle boots look overpriced to me and generally look a bit metrosexual to me as well. Having said that, if I was a hard-core or professional motorcyclist, or had access to more discretionary income I might tend to favour summat a bit more convenient than lace-ups (maybe).