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How many years should riding boots last?

How often are you all putting your feet down and dragging and balancing on cement? Commuting grinds the sole down on mine, weekend fun rides not so much.
 
afm199 said:
I ride around 5-8k thousand track miles a year, and get 2-3 years out of my Alpinestar SMX Plus boots. I usually have three pairs I rotate, and get them resoled. They all end up wearing out at the little toe/ball area where I weight the peg. My street boots are both 10 years old at least.
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5-8 million track miles a year? holy shit...
 
I ride 30-45k miles a year.

sidi 'race' boots: oem soles will last me 2 years. zipper pulls will break for sure. after resole with a different sidi sole they last at least 5. I've got 10 year old sidi corsas.

all the tabs, cables, knobs are still good. this is amazing to me as I'm used to german/BMW plastics
 
You can get almost any moto boot resoled from any neighborhood cobbler. Most Sidis are designed to do this easily. The glued on soles are available for about $20. They basically rip off the old one and glue on the new one.

Some boots are designed badly where the front sole doesn't cover the upper enough. If your upper leather is worn through then it's not a good candidate for resole.

One other factor is leather vs synthetic. Leather can easily last 40 years. Some synthetics start to crumble after about 10 years.
 
i forgot to mention, ive got MX boot soles on my RR boots now. the lugs have been ground off and everything is super smooth. that why they have lasted so long.
 
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I got nearly 20 years out of my first pair of SIDIs. The second pair broke a zipper so they got returned. I then picked up some D-Boots. The first pair did a solid 5 years of nearly every day with lots of walking around. I picked up a second pair that now have about five very active years on them. Got both pairs re-soled at the SJ Vibram truck, and expect to have them around for quite a while.

Edit:
I also picked up the card from one of the Vibram cats since he works in SF.

Their shop info:

Anthony's Shoe Service Inc.
340 Kerny St. between Bush and Pine
SF CA 94108
415 781 1338
 
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stangmx13 said:
the repair i got from http://www.factoryresole.com has lasted about 3x as long as the original soles so far. im just about to toss the boots because of extensive crash damage, yet the soles are still great.
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+1 for these people

stangmx13 said:
i forgot to mention, ive got MX boot soles on my RR boots now. the lugs have been ground off and everything is super smooth. that why they have lasted so long.
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+1 again, the soles are way way better. I'm glad to hear an actual racer can use them, as a poser it makes me feel less bad about wearing them. :laughing


My follow on question was moreso around how soft the leather has gotten in my Sidis. Sidi boots are too narrow for my foot so it took me a solid 6 months to break those things in. I've had them for 11 years now so I've gotten my money's worth but I'm wondering how you can tell if the leather is still safe.
 
I got about 10k miles out of my smx-5 boots since 2013. The sole is completely worn away, right side to sliders keep popping off, and they don't smell super fresh. Replacements are in the mail.
 
NeverSayDie said:
How often are you all putting your feet down and dragging and balancing on cement? Commuting grinds the sole down on mine, weekend fun rides not so much.
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Unnhh? Why would I drag my feet? I ride with confidence. No need for Fred Flintestone training wheels.:teeth
 
Yeah, the only time I drag my feet at all is on a supermoto (or dirtbike/dual sport, which I haven't done in a while).

I've never understood the guys who drag their feet all the way across an intersection. I start moving and my feet immediately go on the pegs.
 
I've been wearing the same Aerostich Combat Touring Boots since 2003. For everything. Probably 200,000 miles on them with 1 resole. Thought I was going to have to replace them when a buckle strap broke and discovered they're not made anymore. Found some used ones online and bought them all. Good to go for another 200k.
 
Junkie said:
I've never understood the guys who drag their feet all the way across an intersection. I start moving and my feet immediately go on the pegs.
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Duck walking a bike is worse. Some of the guys riding big cruisers in parades tend to do that.

Although I have to confess that when I took a test ride on the big Moto Guzzi cruiser a couple of weeks ago, I felt like duck walking that thing a few feet to get it lined up before we left the parking lot. When you have forward controls and a bike that weighs more than 800 pounds, you don't want to take a chance of getting the thing leaning to the side at all.
 
The MSF course years ago taught me to put feet down at "walking" speed. Mainly I drag to see how slick the road is. A bad habit?
 
I believe that is taught to give new riders, with little/no control of the clutch and throttle to have stability. once you get going after that the feet stay up
 
Thank goodness for this thread! I just remembered I forgot to order new boots after my last off! To Revzilla I go.
 
I just re-soled my 8 year old vertigos for about $80 and replaced the yellowed clear plastic heel guards. rubbed some ballistol on the "leather" and they look practically brand new. Conversely, I had a pair of aerostich combat lites that had a ton of life in the sole but wore a large hole through the toe section after maybe 20k miles from up shifts.
 
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