Riding Boots
While sometimes the last thing that riders think about before jumping on the hog and taking her for a spin, riding boots are an important part of safety gear that often gets overlooked. Not only can they keep your toes warm and dry in the rain, but in the unfortunate event of a wreck, they’ll keep your ankle from getting all twisted up and won’t fall off your feet like a pair of tennis shoes exposing your soft flesh to the unforgiving cement. The right riding boots will also help you shift through gears easier, and help protect you from the heat coming from the engine or exhaust, making sure you don’t burn yourself.
Leather and Other Materials
While leather, in one form or another, is still the most popular material being used today by riding boot manufacturers, other textile materials are being used as well that are comparable in strength and abrasion resistance. With these materials, it’s good to keep in mind that there will be a “breaking in” period where the fabric and leather will be stiff at first. Either by using oil, or just walking around the house, you’ll get the most comfort out of them after they’re broken in like a good baseball glove.
Sizes and Fit
Riding boots also vary depending on the activities you’ll be doing. If you’re looking for something for just normal riding conditions, it wouldn’t be a great idea to buy boots that go up to the knees and feature sliders on them. The same thing, vice versa — if you’re going out on a track day, you don’t want to have riding boots with a short neck. As far as fit goes, each manufacturer is going to be sized slightly different. It’s always better to get a boot slightly bigger than your normal tennis shoe size to avoid any uncomfortable toe squishing.
Brands to Look For
Some of the main manufactures of good riding boots are Frank Thomas, Alpinestars, River Road, Teknic, O’Neal, Answer Racing, Gaerne, and Joe Rocket, to name a few. As with a nice pair of shoes, remember that riding boots should fit comfortably and allow for full range of motion in your foot, but should be difficult enough to take off that they won’t fall off in a crash.
Read all of our boots reviews below:
If these boots were made for walking, they probably wouldn't make very good motorcycle boots. I'm not saying that they're uncomfortable to walk in, but I would suggest breaking them in a little bit before walking a marathon in them. My experience has always been that if you don't ...
The Harley-Davidson Men's/Women's Rain Gaiter Lug Sole is designed to keep you dry during those times when you're out on the road and a mysterious rain storm hits you. Well, actually these will work even in a small sprinkle too. They're compact and can easily fold up and fit into ...
There's a lot of research that goes into every bit of riding gear that ends up on the market. From testing materials for their abrasion resistance to actually testing the product on the track, there are a lot of steps that manufactures take before they put their names on the ...
A friend of mine was riding her scooter through Portland on a nice summer day a couple years back, when out of nowhere an unleashed dog jolts across the street. She swerved to avoid hitting it and dumped the scooter going over 35 mph. The scooter suffered some damage ...
Thundering from the heavens, the mighty Thor thrusts his magic hammer towards his foe. Mjölnir flies towards its target at unparalleled speed and force, but bounces off of the foot of the enemy. As his mighty jaw drops, the God of Thunder lets slip one word from his ...
The Sidi Discovery Rain Boots feature some state-of-the-art footwear technology. They're designed so that they don't need to incorporate inner "booties," making the actual design of the boot smaller and less cumbersome, and also making shifting easier because you can feel the shifter peg. The buckles themselves have ...
There isn't a job in human history where the person on camera can be wrong 90% of the time and still get paid like that of a weatherman. I know there is a lot of schooling, and meteorology is a science, but it can get really annoying as a ...
Shoes are an important part of everyday life. Sometimes they dictate what the rest of your outfit is going to look like (nice shoes nice clothes, and vice versa). They keep your feet protected from all of the small debris and discarded chewing gum that's littered throughout the city streets. ...
Perhaps the most annoying thing about living in the Pacific Northwest is the ever chance of downpours or immediate weather change. Sure the land has green rolling hills, there are trees everywhere, and in general people are nice to each other. But for the riding enthusiast (or even the fair ...
Xelement is a manufacturer and online retailer of a wide array of motorcycle gear. Their line features items that are made well, not top-notch, but at an excellent price. The Tall Tornado motorcycle boots are a stand-out for Xelement. They feature a variety of extra touches ...
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