Hard Parts on Boots

[5150ninja]

So do you think "Hard" bits in a boot are important?

A lot of "Tour" dudes will just wear a nice boot like the Daytona "RoadStar GTX" that doesn't actually have any significant "Hard Part" protection beyond maybe the shin, shaft of the sole, and a Malleolus cap thing, but a "Sport" dude will want a boot with more "HardPart" protection including ankle, achilles, and toe.

I find myself thinking that the ankle and achilles protection ought to be high on a guys list of requirements. Am I wrong? It seems "Tour" type riders think I am? What say you?

 

[S1KGSXR600]

Touring gear isn't built with riding hard and harder impacts in mind, at race-type speeds. Street rider gear does.

 

[Sharky]

Those hard parts are nice but if you are hitting things those "hard parts" might be protecting you probably have worse problems.

 

[Ironbutt]

A good all around riding boot should have a hard sole you can't feel the foot peg vibration through(avoids hot spots on your feet) and won't bend over the peg if you land hard, steel shank; beyond that, no special requirements for me.

I chose to have my steel shoe made for an Army Jump boot and they have very little in the way of protection. It's all a trade off. Its light, I can wear it for 8 hours, take off the shoe and keep using the boot to walk/ride with.

 

[louemc]

So do you think "Hard" bits in a boot are important?

A lot of "Tour" dudes will just wear a nice boot like the Daytona "RoadStar GTX" that doesn't actually have any significant "Hard Part" protection beyond maybe the shin, shaft of the sole, and a Malleolus cap thing, but a "Sport" dude will want a boot with more "HardPart" protection including anlke, achilles, and toe.

I find myself thinking that the ankle and achilles protection out to be high on a guys list of requirements. Am I wrong? It seems "Tour" type riders think I am? What say you?

You can hear any opinion in the spectrum of opinions .. On the internet..

What can be important is, "what say you"... it is your feet, they propel You through Your life.
You should want max protection, of those bones in your feet and ankle joints.

It takes serious stiff in the sole, to not fold under the weight of a bike falling on the pavement, and serious stiff on the sides, and serious armor pads to pad the stiff/hard parts.

This is all available in top shelf boot makers product lines.

It also costs far less than the Doctor and hospital bills incurred (and lost time from work)...
when You need the protection, but ... didn't buy it, cause your rationalizing came up with you couldn't afford it.

 

[Wicked4Racin]

Deffinatly have run over my foot before exiting a corner and glad I had a stout boot. With that said, its your feet and if you feel more comfortable wearing a prosthetic then get a "regular" boot and have at it. Plus hitting a log with your ankle isn't fun

 

[Zorgon of Mars]

So do you think "Hard" bits in a boot are important?

A lot of "Tour" dudes will just wear a nice boot like the Daytona "RoadStar GTX" that doesn't actually have any significant "Hard Part" protection beyond maybe the shin, shaft of the sole, and a Malleolus cap thing, but a "Sport" dude will want a boot with more "HardPart" protection including anlke, achilles, and toe.

I find myself thinking that the ankle and achilles protection out to be high on a guys list of requirements. Am I wrong? It seems "Tour" type riders think I am? What say you?

Actually, the RoadStar has inner and outer ankle protection but I understand your point. It all depends on where you're going to ride. A tour boot isn't as rigidly protective as, say, an off-road boot because a tour boot often has to remain comfortable for hours of riding and even be useful as a short distance walking boot. Sport boots contemplate a different set of needs. And then there's the differing aesthetic expectations. That said, the more protection is indeed better. I think you get what you pay for across all lines of boots.

 

[stangmx13]

"hard bits" are very important. without them, a minor crash can be one that sets you back for a long time. but they dont necessarily need to be on the outside. some of the highest regarded boots in the world are just a leather shell around a composite structure.

 

[ilikefood]

Hard parts are important, but even more important is how those hard parts are arranged. I've been shopping for boots for the past few weeks, and I've been very unpleasantly surprised by how flimsy the vast majority of even supposedly high-end motorcycle boots are.

Feet are fragile. A boot needs to protect your foot from several things:

1. Abrasion. Pretty much all motorcycle boots have abrasion covered with thick leather or plastic.

2. Impact. You need some hard parts to protect from impact. Most boots do well with this, but not all. In particular, most touring boots have very little impact protection.

3. Crushing. The boot needs to have a very stiff sole and reinforced heel and toe to protect your foot from getting crushed - hard parts again. This is where things get bad. Among street-oriented (as opposed to dirt-oriented) boots, only a few high-end racing boots have sufficient crush protection. Everything else is total soft junk that provides little more protection than tennis shoes.

4. Twisting. That's where the vast majority of other boots fail. Among street boots, I've only seen a couple Daytona and Dainese models with sufficient ankle support. Even the supposedly "racing" boots flop around like dead fish, because even if they have some ankle support reinforcements, they don't hold on to the calf tight enough and can't prevent your foot from rolling over. If you put on your boots and try to roll your ankle, and you can actually roll it, guess what will happen if your foot gets twisted in a crash?

Even most of the supposedly "adventure" or "off/on road" boots suck at this, and have no more ankle support than my hiking boots. Dainese Carroarmato adventure boots are a joke. TCX Infinity folds over in the ankle like a napkin. Gaerne Balance fold over too. Forma Adventure are basically tall hiking boots. All those boots try to look tough, but they are more like a marketing exercise: "let's make some adventure-looking boots with buckles". They actually offer very little protection.

Full-on motocross boots are of course very supportive, but they're more like ski boots, you can't walk in them and you probably wouldn't be able to ride anything other than a dirt bike. Among the less hardcore boots, I've only seen 4 that have good ankle twisting protection: Alpinestars Toucan, Sidi Adventure, TCX X-Desert, and BMW Gravel.

So yeah, hard parts in boots are very important.

 

[jwb]

Problem is if you make a boot as stiff as a battleship it becomes harder and harder to shift. I guess this is where electric motorcycles come into their own?

 

[stangmx13]

Problem is if you make a boot as stiff as a battleship it becomes harder and harder to shift. I guess this is where electric motorcycles come into their own?

thats what motion-limited hinges are for.

 

[LectricBill]

Full-on motocross boots are of course very supportive, but they're more like ski boots, you can't walk in them and you probably wouldn't be able to ride anything other than a dirt bike. Among the less hardcore boots, I've only seen 4 that have good ankle twisting protection: Alpinestars Toucan, Sidi Adventure, TCX X-Desert, and BMW Gravel.

Thanks for your great rundown on what boots need to do.

I use my bike on my job and make stops all over San Francisco and walk short distances many times a day, so I'd like something that is fairly comfy as well as very protective.

Of the 4 boots you mention, do you have an opinion as to which are the most comfortable for walking?

 

[ilikefood]

Thanks for your great rundown on what boots need to do.

I use my bike on my job and make stops all over San Francisco and walk short distances many times a day, so I'd like something that is fairly comfy as well as very protective.

Of the 4 boots you mention, do you have an opinion as to which are the most comfortable for walking?

I think this might depend on how a particular boot fits you, but in terms of my own experience trying those on, the Alpinestars Toucan and BMW Gravel were pretty walking-friendly. The Toucan in particular was ver comfortable, but it's super bulky and $500... The Sidi Adventure was really uncomfortable. The TCX X-Desert seemed OK, but I didn't try walking in it, just tried it on briefly (was going to buy them from someone on Craigslist but the size was too big so I didn't try them out further). Go try them on. Scuderia has Toucan and Adventure and any BMW moto dealer will have the Gravel. Unfortunately nobody in the area stocks the TCX boots.

 

[clutchslip]

3. Crushing. The boot needs to have a very stiff sole and reinforced heel and toe to protect your foot from getting crushed - hard parts again. This is where things get bad. Among street-oriented (as opposed to dirt-oriented) boots, only a few high-end racing boots have sufficient crush protection. Everything else is total soft junk that provides little more protection than tennis shoes.

4. Twisting. That's where the vast majority of other boots fail. Among street boots, I've only seen a couple Daytona and Dainese models with sufficient ankle support.

I was wearing "high-end" race boots when my ankle was crushed and I had a compound fracture. Catch 22: The racers want extremely flexible boots. As far as twisting, I don't think the Daytona or Dainese are any better than Sidi or AlpineStars. But, the Stars are actually worse than a previous model. Go figure.

My guess is that unlike other motorcycling or other extreme sports, the kind of injury you are concerned about are rare in asphalt racing. However, I don't think Stoner should have ruined his ankle at Indy, for example. It wasn't that bad of a crash. So there is room for improvement. But there will be trade-offs.

 

[Reli]

The problem with most high-end race boots is you can't feel the peg or the shifter, because the sole is too hard and doesn't flex at all.

Also, the distance between the sole and the top of the toe box is too thick, forcing you to push your foot down more in order to fit under the shift pedal to upshift.

 

[5150ninja]

Those hard parts are nice but if you are hitting things those "hard parts" might be protecting you probably have worse problems.

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying? It sounds as if you're saying if a guy crashes, they may have bigger problems than boot protection?

I guess this may be true, after-all I can only feel pain in one place at a time. arty

 

[LectricBill]

Also, the distance between the sole and the top of the toe box is too thick, forcing you to push your foot down more in order to fit under the shift pedal to upshift.

Uh... maybe a stupid response: why can't the shift lever simply be rotated on its shaft to accommodate a thicker boot?

 

[LectricBill]

Scuderia has Toucan and Adventure and any BMW moto dealer will have the Gravel.

Thanks again. I found several testimonies to the comfort of the Toucan on the advrider forum.

But the Gravels look less gnarly and sometimes I actually have to look "business like", but I try to avoid those situations as much as possible.

Also the Gravel didn't look like it would be quite a protective as the Toucan, but maybe that's because it may hide its technology instead of wearing it on the surface.

I'll try them both out next week. I wearing some 30 year old Corbin boots whose sole you can hold and twist and turn the upper like an old towel. NOT safe!

 

[5150ninja]

Basically I'm of the belief that the better the exo-skeleton is, the better chances a guy has at real protection. What I was really wondering was how the "Tour" crowd justifies less protection. I think it was answered, though. Comfort!

I opt for protection. Though, I was curious if there was some data that supported less hard parts, other than comfort?

I looked and looked for a boot with good protection and Gortex. Short of the Daytona Evo Sport and Voltex I came up short. I'm with other guys here in thinking the protection on some of the top shelf boots out there are merely window dressing. The Daytona have secure ridgid protection, but is that a good thing or does it just transfer the force to another part of the body?

The boot that has my interest at the moment is the BMW "SportDry" with genuine Gortex lining, genuine leather uppers and the hard bits that are actually rigid. The Daytona's had this, but unfortunately for me, at a much higher cost. And no, I'm not fond of the white BMW markings!

 

[Z3n]

The problem with most high-end race boots is you can't feel the peg or the shifter, because the sole is too hard and doesn't flex at all.

Also, the distance between the sole and the top of the toe box is too thick, forcing you to push your foot down more in order to fit under the shift pedal to upshift.