So I am new to riding, and I have a solid new pair of power-ranger-esque Alpinestars SMX-5's. They are great, but they are not comfortable/useful around town. I wish to god I could own these: http://www.vitessemoto.com/boots/ but there is no hope, they seem to have gone out of business. I am looking for a solid boot, that still has ankle protection, that I can wear around town on a day where I ride my bike the 1 mile to my buddies house without having to have my power ranger boots on. I have a fairly wide foot, so the italians tend to not fit as well. Any suggestions?
The TCX line has a fairly large toe box and good flexibility for walking comfort. I use the Mesh Goretex high boot for year round riding and occasional walks through a town. They make the same boot in a non-mesh and have several shorty styles that are even more comfortable for walking.
I imagine, though you do not say, you are looking for something that is more comfortable to walk in than you power ranger boots. My Sidi On-Road Sympatex are really comfortable, but don't have specific ankle protatection beyond the leather . . . . . .
Yeah I am looking for something a little more mobile off the bike. Mainly.. I have full dainese leathers and those power ranger boots, and if I am going to be hopping to work or going to a friends house down the road. I don't want to give up my ATGATT, but I want stuff that I don't have to carry a pair of jeans/sandals around just to change into when I get somewhere. I am thinking a pair of kevlar jeans and some vaguely acceptable street shoes will keep my big-pile-of-leather-and-helmet to a minimum at a friends house.
You want boots/shoes that are more "mobile." I still don't know what you mean. Wear what you like . . .my friends expect me to have gear with me when I arrive, but YMMV, clearly. If dressing for them is important, well, there you are.
I have a pair of Aerostitch Combat Lite boots that I've worn for years. Under pants, they can almost pass for Doc Martens. They're plain enough I've even worn them to court with a suit (twice) when I forgot my dress shoes at home. I think the full Combats would be too heavy and too big for hanging out in all day, but I frequently wear my CLB's with jeans all day at work, they are that comfortable. Oh, and I have a wide foot too. Even though they're made by Sidi, they're built on a wide last so there's plenty of forefoot room.
Just get some 10" RedWings or Wolverines and call it good. It's just a mile or two and you're not doing any performance on or off-road shenanigans. Be comfy and semi-protected for those short treks.
I'll confess to wearing my HD full height engineer style boots for short casual rides but my most comfortable full protection ( ankle & shin armor/protection, weather) are my BMW "All Arounders". http://www.ascycles.com/detail.aspx?ID=44790 These are pretty similar to the BMW Pro Touring boots but with a little more synthetic material on the uppers and I think a little more flex zone below the front of the shin. That said, I bring walking shoes on any ride where I need them. No full protection boot is going to be as comfortable as walking shoes and with the price of good riding boots, they will last for many years (if I don't walk or crash a whole lot in them). Finally, I am but one of thousands of stories where I dumped one of my bikes ( KLR) in the street 500 yds from my driveway with HATGTT (Hardley Any of The Gear That Time). I'll try to dig out a pic of what happened to my foot/ankle with less than proper foot gear on ( broken ankle, 5 broken bones in foot, 3 broken toes and tore my heel off). Lesson learned = most crashes are close to home. .
The SMX-5s have pretty minimal protection for a dedicated riding boot, and are really damn comfortable to walk in. They're far from power ranger boots. In fact, those are one of the boots that comes to mind when someone mentions they need a boot that is comfortable to walk in. If you find them difficult to walk in, you may want to try out some even less protective non-riding boots like Red Wings or similar. Personally I dress the same for a trip to the gas station a couple blocks down as I do for a trip across the country. I have the Sidi Adventures and find them pretty easy to walk in... However, I thought the SMX-5s were far easier to walk in, so I don't know what else to say.
^ I've got those TCX X-streets in leather, which give you some foot and ankle protection but aren't horrible to walk around it. Those combined with my BMW City 2s look pretty casual, though the most comfortable is regular jeans or pants with my Forcefield Limb Tubes for knee protection. That leaves just my jacket, gloves and helmet to stash when I get where I'm going.
Try the Bates 8" gortex boots. The police wear them all day long. Very comfortable and waterproof too. Good support also.
Something with less protection? Something like the A* Gran Torino or Web Gortex? I have yet to try the A* Toucan. I am hoping it will be a decent compromise between comfort and protection for me.
I actually don't mind walking in them.. they are just a little bulky. I guess I am being stupid. They seem plenty protective.. do you have any suggestions for a better all around protective boot? I would rather be protective than go by looks.. I just feel like they're a bit annoying to stash easily if I take a trip to work. I also am kind of already convinced it's not worth wearing a shorty boot after looking at some and realizing there just isn't legit ankle protection. The more I think about it, the more I just realize I'm being stupid and should wear the best gear I have at all times. That being said: A* SMX-5's enough protection for me..? =P
have thought about getting CLB but put off by a lack of armour.... wonder what the feedback is for crash protection with CBL's?
I have not **knock on wood** crash tested mine. I also have not been able to find any reports of anyone crashing in them to report how well they held up. All I can say is they're made of very heavy duty leather which should hold up well in a crash, but they probably won't do as much in the case of a crush injury as some of the more armored boots. The again, those wouldn't be comfortable enough to wear all day. Trade off, y'know.
I'm honestly being a bit hard on them as far as protection goes. I crashed in a pair of SMX-5s going about 70 on the highway. Granted, I really only slid and rolled, but the boots took a significant amount of damage and my feet and ankles were fine. However, I also know that the boots are lacking in any type of torsional protection, and the impact protection is pretty low as well. They offer good abrasion protection though, which is kind of the lowest level of protection for boots. After my wreck, despite being protected by the boots, I really saw how lucky I got and really noticed the holes in this boots' protection. Rather than buying another pair, I invested in boots with much better protection. I certainly wouldn't go with less protection than the SMX-5s. The more boots I looked at and tried on, the more I realized how much the Alpinestars were lacking in protection. When I bought them, I didn't have much experience in buying motorcycle boots, and they seemed like they offered an immense amount of protection. Compared to sneakers or hiking boots, they do. Compared to other boots, not so much. I bought the Sidi Adventure Gore-tex boots, which offer phenomenal protection for a street boot (still not nearly as good as a high end MX boot), and they are really good for walking in (though not as good as the SMX-5s). The downside is that they're expensive as hell, and I'm not financially well off. I actually bought them for $298 shipped from FC-Moto in Germany. The shipping took forever, and communication sucked, but I did get a high end boot for mid-tier pricing, so I can't complain. Whether or not your boots offer enough protection for you is up to you. It took a crash for me to realize that some of my gear wasn't up to par. Fortunately, luck won out and I didn't find out the hard way (ie, injuries) that my gear wasn't good enough.
bloody Italians strike again! just noted in another thread on boots that I usually wear a 10w or 10.5 regular in US sizes but in the Sidi I have a 45 eur or 11 US. fits well though all things considered... usually Italian footwear is too slender but somehow this particular one worked out. albeit in a larger size.
I picked up a pair of the AYC Web-Goretex boots a couple of years ago from either Iron Pony or BikeBandit. My intent was to wear them while commuting and change into a pair of street shoes once I got to work but I soon found myself forgetting to change into shoes as the boots are that comfortable. Haven't had any water leaks during winter riding in the Seattle area, little warm when the temps get up into the 90's but overall a great boot especially since I paid about $125 for them. I wish I had bought two pair.
My wife gave me a pair of the BMW Urban Boots. They're expensive enough that I probably wouldn't have bought them on my own, but she said I looked like a dork wearing my Sidi Adventures to work. They have turned out to be great boots for commuting and nice enough to wear to a meeting if I have to go to another site during the day. VO
Another vote for the TCX brand. Numerous every day boots in their all-purpose line. Wearing the X-Cube right now. Great protection on all and comfy.
