Army boots safe for riding?

[Balky001]

Try some MX boots for a week and you'll find road boots feel like slippers

IMO Dr Martins/army boots aren't the best and its better to get used to proper gear.

I found Daytona's £500 boot horrible but the TCX RS Comp super comfy so don't go by price but you will find a pair that suits you. You try Held?

I was wearing ex-army 18 hole leather boots when I had a nasty accident in '95 when I left my CX500 wedged in the side of an Astra van (writing off both vehicles).

The leather had a tear on one boot and I chipped a bone on my ankle but that was all. I had the boot repaired and they're still going strong as my winter boots. They do take bit of getting used to but I also wear thick socks so you can't feel much.

So to answer the question of "do they do the job". In my experience yes, definitely. I think it's one of the best £10 I've ever spent.

However, I wear Alpine Stars until it gets too cold/wet.

I suppose it's whatever you feel comfortable in riding with and what you feel would be best to protect you.

If you don't feel as 'in control' then maybe consider wearing some boots that are less bulky but if you are used to riding with them on then so be it.
I used to wear military boots as a passenger back in the days when I only wore jeans and a thin leather jacket and it made me feel so uncomfortable and vulnerable I don't think I could wear them again.

[Jayneflakes]

I have tried riding in Docs, but I find that the toe is too thin to comfortably change gear. I also have some proper riding boots that have armored shins and to be honest, they fell apart after a year and never offered the support that good mountain boots offer.

These days I ride in thick leather, semi stiffened, three season climbing boots. These will take a flexible crampon so have a stiff sole for support and comfort. However, being a high boot, they cover my ankle and come a little up my shin.

Riding in them felt strange after the light weight biker boot, but the added protection and comfort makes them worth it. I do make sure though that they are always well waxed and use coloured polish before waxing so that they don't look too weird! On very wet days, I even use my old Gore Tex snow gaitors.

[Bibio]

if your going to use lace up boots on a bike then please make sure that you either tuck the laces into the boots at the top of use a gator of some sort. one of my mates got laces trapped in his chain years ago. it was not nice.

Originally Posted by Bibio

if your going to use lace up boots on a bike then please make sure that you either tuck the laces into the boots at the top of use a gator of some sort. one of my mates got laces trapped in his chain years ago. it was not nice.

I can imagine that wasn't a good experience!
I heard about some guy who had a pair of jeans in his rucksack and they slowly came out and the leg got caught on the chain and took him straight off!

Ah yes, got to agree with Bibio. I always keep the "bow" as short as possible and double knot it.

[rictus01]

Originally Posted by Fallout

I've heard a story of a guy who came off and the medics on the scene were surprised by a white line leading up to the crash victim and his bike. Turns out his foot was tapped under it as he slid along and it ground his ankle bone into the tarmac. He was wearing trainers.

As I've said I see not problem it robust leather boots per se, but I will add a tale that isn't anecdotal.

in 2005 I was riding my bike home on the A3, I came across (what I later found out was a road sign) grey metal disc in the road a bout three feet in diameter, I saw it, but it those moments it took to work out what it was I reached it with the front wheel ( the car in front had just gone over it so a second or to at most I had to deal with it), the front wheel slid out on the metal (well the metal slid taking the front wheel with it) as it was on a bend and the bike wasn't upright, the bike went over on it's side trapping my foot between it and the road, it felt like hundreds of yards, but was only about 70 or so before it came to rest, I pushed the bike off got up and felt light headed, so sat down in the road, looked at my left foot, the boot appeared to be misshapen with a white patch on the left toe side. this seemed to quickly fill with a black fluid, then overflow to red onto the road, I passed out.

later I was to find the bike had ground my toe slider into the road, worn through it, through the reinforced base and the toecap and ground two toes and a section of foot away, this was in proper motorbike boots, toe slider and everything, but the combination of a concrete type surface and the weight of a 50 mph Triumph speed triple had effectively gone through 1/2 inch of plastic, two layers of thick leather and my foot.

the moral of the story? nothing is total protecting....

Cheers Mark.

Originally Posted by rictus01

As I've said I see not problem it robust leather boots per se, but I will add a tale that isn't anecdotal.

in 2005 I was riding my bike home on the A3, I came across (what I later found out was a road sign) grey metal disc in the road a bout three feet in diameter, I saw it, but it those moments it took to work out what it was I reached it with the front wheel ( the car in front had just gone over it so a second or to at most I had to deal with it), the front wheel slid out on the metal (well the metal slid taking the front wheel with it) as it was on a bend and the bike wasn't upright, the bike went over on it's side trapping my foot between it and the road, it felt like hundreds of yards, but was only about 70 or so before it came to rest, I pushed the bike off got up and felt light headed, so sat down in the road, looked at my left foot, the boot appeared to be misshapen with a white patch on the left toe side. this seemed to quickly fill with a black fluid, then overflow to red onto the road, I passed out.

later I was to find the bike had ground my toe slider into the road, worn through it, through the reinforced base and the toecap and ground two toes and a section of foot away, this was in proper motorbike boots, toe slider and everything, but the combination of a concrete type surface and the weight of a 50 mph Triumph speed triple had effectively gone through 1/2 inch of plastic, two layers of thick leather and my foot.

the moral of the story? nothing is total protecting....

Cheers Mark.

WOW! That is actually sounds fecking painful.

[rictus01]

Originally Posted by femaleacid

WOW! That is actually sounds fecking painful.

I've had worse.....










and more over that's true as well....:-s