Boots

Dellortoman said:
I suppose you medical guys don't approve of wearing thongs (flip-flops) on a bike either, even if they're double-pluggers. :rolleyes:

When I was young and stupid (now I'm old and stupid) I wore thongs while riding on a very hot day. I was also wearing shorts and a T-shirt, but let's not go into that. I only ever wore thongs that one time because I had two footwear related mishaps on that ride.

The first mishap was when I stopped at the lights in the city and put both feet down on the road while waiting for the green light. It was such a stinking hot and sunny day that the bitumen on the road surface had partially melted and was sticky. When I took off, my thongs stayed stuck to the road as my feet were yanked out of them. I pulled over on the other side of the intersection and tiptoed back in bare feet on the hot tarmac to peel my thongs off the road. I put them back on my feet and continued on my way.

A little while later I ended up giving my toenails an unexpected trim while cornering. The toe of my right thong touched the road and got folded under the footrest, pulling my toes down onto the road. Luckily no permanent damage was done. Just slightly ragged looking toenails, some gravel rash and a bit of blood. It all healed OK.
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Yes, many years ago, while in the full blossom of youthful stupidity, I wore a pair of sandals while heading out for an evenings entertainment riding my Honda Elsinore 250. Turing right at the bottom of a steep hill I lost the rear wheel in loose bluemetal and ended up on the ground with the chunky rear wheel taking bites out of my right big toe, down to the bone. I have never ridden without enclosed footwear as a minimum since, and later years spent as per the post above convinced me that just "enclosed" was really still not enough. Still stupidly risk normal shoes when riding to work but think about the possible consequences all the time.
 
At the end of a Chrirry holiday in The Bush with relos I headed home to Sydney on my 76 T140v, somehow I got a pillion. My brother wearing thongs, kinda stupid, waste of time saying anything. We ended up doing it in 5 hours1/2 cruising at 140 plus, you could get away with that back then, that included 80ks of horrible 35k corrugated corners through Broke, not fun 2 up in the dark, it was dirt back then. That bits bitumen now but not much better, north of Dr Jurds for the locals. It's a good 6hrs plus now even with 1000% better roads.
 
I feel safest in my high SIDI race boots with the external articulated bracing and skeleton and replaceable armour. I wear those when on my Kawasaki H2 Supercharged or my Kawasaki ZX14, with full leathers, and the AlpineStars TechAir 5 airbag vest. My SIDI boots are about tennish years old, maybe a bit more. Looking at the SIDI Canada web site, the closest boot presently available looks like the SIDI "REX", but my older pair have even more external armouring https://sidimoto.ca/collections/rex

The SIDI race boots are challenging to walk any significant distance in. For being able to walk when taking breaks on more casual rides, I bought Daytona boots only a couple of years ago, really like them, and wear them when riding the vintage bikes. An observation concerng the fit of the Daytonas, I am told I have "high arches" whatever that means. Fortunately the local to me motorcycle mega store had a full stock of the Daytona boots, and when I tried on my usual size, the same size as my SIDI race boots, I couldn't even get the Daytonas on my feet. I wound up going up 3 or 4 European sizes to get a decent fit. If you are going for the Daytonas I would suggest you try and find somewhere to try them on if possible before purchase, or maybe I just have weird feet........:rolleyes:
 
Dellortoman said:
I suppose you medical guys don't approve of wearing thongs (flip-flops) on a bike either, even if they're double-pluggers. :rolleyes:

When I was young and stupid (now I'm old and stupid) I wore thongs while riding on a very hot day. I was also wearing shorts and a T-shirt, but let's not go into that. I only ever wore thongs that one time because I had two footwear related mishaps on that ride.

The first mishap was when I stopped at the lights in the city and put both feet down on the road while waiting for the green light. It was such a stinking hot and sunny day that the bitumen on the road surface had partially melted and was sticky. When I took off, my thongs stayed stuck to the road as my feet were yanked out of them. I pulled over on the other side of the intersection and tiptoed back in bare feet on the hot tarmac to peel my thongs off the road. I put them back on my feet and continued on my way.

A little while later I ended up giving my toenails an unexpected trim while cornering. The toe of my right thong touched the road and got folded under the footrest, pulling my toes down onto the road. Luckily no permanent damage was done. Just slightly ragged looking toenails, some gravel rash and a bit of blood. It all healed OK.
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Don't worry, medical guys also did silly things. Well, I did.

Paul
 
My sidecar passenger decided that it looked cool to wear Frank Thomas paddock boots on our Grass outfit- which was ACU legal to do . Long story short, his foot went between the rear wheel and got dragged through the gap in the swinging arm- he got dragged like a plough until I stopped.
I had to remove the wheel to get him free, severe burns, plastic surgery, not good.
IF he had been wearing a real boot his foot would be In better shape and may not have been supple enough to go through the gap. I still remind him of how he lost me that race.
 
I like sidecars, they're a crazy form of transport and a lot of fun to ride, but I've never raced one or been a co-pilot in a race outfit. I was quite keen to have a go at it until a couple of guys I know had really nasty prangs and were critically injured.

The most recent incident was only a few years ago. A friend of mine had the front mudguard of his race outfit break loose. It dropped onto the tyre and got dragged around the wheel until it jammed and locked the front wheel at the fastest part of the track. The outfit flipped end for end, sending riders flying into the air. Outfit and the 2 men were bouncing down the track at around 200kph when the outfit landed on top of my mate. His chest was crushed. He suffered a broken back, broken sternum, and many broken ribs that punctured both lungs and ruptured his aorta. Not to mention a few other peripheral injuries to limbs. The ambos barely managed to keep him alive until he could be rushed into emergency surgery to patch his aorta and lungs. He also had a busted arm and dislocated shoulder with nerve damage. It was 12 months before he was well enough to return to work on light duties (he's a motorcycle mechanic). He eventually made a full recovery, although I'm sure he still has physical and mental scars. The sidecar passenger only suffered minor injuries.

The other guy I know lost his leg above the knee in a sidecar racing crash. I don't know the details of how it happened.

If you come off a solo bike, more often than not the bike and rider follow separate trajectories, and you just slide or tumble through the kitty litter until you stop. If a sidecar outfit flips, it's likely to pin one or both of the pilots underneath and mash them into the ground.
 
No such thing as a full recovery from injuries like that.
I think most known brand boots today are very good safety wise. It seems the waterproofing is the main concern. All the boots I have had have been fine for walking in.
 
Tippie said:
No such thing as a full recovery from injuries like that.
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I reckon you're right about that. Although he looks healthy enough, I'm sure there are bits of him that don't work as well as they did. He did eventually return to sidecar racing. I don't think I would have had the motivation to go back to it after being so badly mauled by the bloody thing.
 
My grand claim of not needing new boots died a death after The Snowy Ride. After 7 years I checked my Alpine Stars in the last year almost developed a gear change hole in the right toe, fixed my replacing the knurled nob with a smooth custom-made alloy replacement, glueing the sole back on the right boot and discovered the left boot sole had separated a couple of days back. There toast. So today I went looking, at Motorcycle Accessory Supermarket. The only Alpine Star Gortex touring boot they had was useless. Bearly above my ankle, much shorter than the old ones and with a flick would not be covered by my wet weather pants. So I walked the 20m down the road to the other shop, and they had a 100% better Alpine Star Gottex touring boot, what a change. They now have the opening on the outside of your leg much easier to get at than before. And armour in just about everywhere comparable to a race boot plus $50 cheaper than what I played 7 years ago at just under $400. What I really liked was both the right and left boot has gear lever protection on top so my right change bike and left change work great
 
Dellortoman said:
If a sidecar outfit flips, it's likely to pin one or both of the pilots underneath and mash them into the ground.
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Very true, I saw the slowest crash ever, sidecar hit back of another and stood on its nose, then fell on to the crew upside down. Driver had broken collarbone, jaw, lost teeth and was sitting in a car feeling shit waiting to go to hospital when some old fart with a Lincolnshire accent pipes up “ Can’t make Omlette with owt Brekin eggs!”
 
Vince said:
My grand claim of not needing new boots died a death after The Snowy Ride. After 7 years I checked my Alpine Stars in the last year almost developed a gear change hole in the right toe, fixed my replacing the knurled nob with a smooth custom-made alloy replacement, glueing the sole back on the right boot and discovered the left boot sole had separated a couple of days back. There toast. So today I went looking, at Motorcycle Accessory Supermarket. The only Alpine Star Gortex touring boot they had was useless. Bearly above my ankle, much shorter than the old ones and with a flick would not be covered by my wet weather pants. So I walked the 20m down the road to the other shop, and they had a 100% better Alpine Star Gottex touring boot, what a change. They now have the opening on the outside of your leg much easier to get at than before. And armour in just about everywhere comparable to a race boot plus $50 cheaper than what I played 7 years ago at just under $400. What I really liked was both the right and left boot has gear lever protection on top so my right change bike and left change work great
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400 bucks for boots is bloody outrageous. Profiteering really.
I bought my current boots for $150(NZD!), nothing special, just basic calf length, comfortable to ride in, fairly waterproof, reasonably comfortable to stand and walk in.
What do you get for an extra $250? Brand and bugger all else I suspect.

Sorry Vince, not having a go at you mate, I just get a bit annoyed at some of the margins these critters put on motorbike accessories
 
My Alpine Star Tech 7 dirtbike boots cost $500 about 15 years ago. The dirtbike boots I wanted as a 16-year-old were Sidis, couldn't justify the cost as a poor apprentice so I bought a pair Of Ashmans for half the cost and with zero the armour. If I get the same 7 years and 10s of thousands of ks it's worth it to me. I am confirmed as a user of Gortex gear after decades of Sking in rainy Oz, wet and cold I now don't do. And it's constantly wet these days
 
Waterproof boots in the UK range in price between fifty quid and 800 quid but with discount a mere £624 for top of the range Daytona. I guess even the fifty quid boot offers a minimum amount of protection and might keep your feet dry for a short time in the rain, but a bit like with helmets, "you pays your money and you takes your choice".
As for sidecar racing, the two crashes at the TT this year are more than enough reason why I have, and never had any inclination to go anywhere near them. However, full respect to the crazy guys and gals that have the desire to participate.
 
No one asked but here is my priority for wearing boots and protective gear in general:
1. Crash protection (Numero UNO!!!)
2. Thermal conservation (keep my toetsies warm and snuggly)
3. Moisture repellent (keep my toetsies dry - well dryish)

I realize items 2 and 3 are closely allied and probably interchangeable.
 

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I did at one time ride in wellies (Denmark 2006) remember the rain JWC? but since then I have learned that "Duckwax" (not made from ducks) is a 100% leather waterproofer, it is just fantastic. I use high leg miltary lace up boots with big leather compressable flaps behind the laces, got a UK army set and a german army set, both are waterproof as are the leather bits on my pants, but sadly not the elasticated bits and even my gloves, if I remember to rewax every now and then (and stop to put the sleeves of the jacket OVER the gloves so that rain does not run down the arms and INTO the glove, limits speed to about 50/60MPH as well, otherwise the rain is driven up the opening.
CLEM
 
military boots may keep your feet dry on your bike Clem, but try doing a river crossing in them.. ☹️
oh, and wellies won’t help either....
 
I think the off-road Alpine Star Tech 10s and 11s come with separate waterproof bootys you wear inside the shells, there much stiffer and cost a lot more that the Tech 7s I have.
 
Who remembers the sheepskin-lined flying boots that were the cutting edge of motorcycle footwear 50 years ago?

They were warm when dry, but that's about the limit of their beneficial features. No armour and no real structure to them, so they'd go out of shape pretty quickly if you walked around in them. They were hygroscopic too. If you rode past a puddle on the side of the road, they'd try to suck it up.

When I was a young bloke. I rode about 300km in the pouring winter rain with a pair of those old flying boots on. If I'd had any sense, I would have started the ride with plastic bags between my socks and the boots to keep my feet dry, but I thought the boots would be OK with Dubbin on them. They weren't. About 100km into the ride, the boots were just squelchy lumps of soaked sheepskin on my feet, with ice forming on the leading edges of the boots and on my knees (air temp was hovering around 0°). I stopped at a service station to fill up with fuel, and my feet were so cold that my toes were in pain. I figured if my boots were going to be soaked anyway, they may as well be soaked with warm water, so I went into the bathroom and filled them with hot water. The relief to my frozen toes when I pulled them on my feet was blissful. The warmth would last about 50km before I'd have to stop and fill them with hot water again. By the time I got home the skin on my feet was wrinkly like I'd been soaking in the bath all day, but at least my toes weren't frostbitten.
My hands were OK because I had waterproof mittens over my gloves.
 
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