New Boot Day

[Gone in 60]

Ok, I just purchased the most expensive single item of riding gear that I think I’ve ever done.

Alpinestars V2 GTX Air boots. I wanted something better than the papier mache Tourmaster Echos that I’ve been wearing. I purchased those on EBay a while ago as emergency backups in case my Nice, leather Tourmaster Epics ever failed. 

One of the Epics is at a shoe repair shop having a broken zipper fixed. I heard the guy is good but that I’ll be lucky to get them back in a few months. (I’m told his work is worth the wait).

On week one, a stone put a divot in the front of the back-up boots, made of whatever Tourmaster uses now instead of leather. Needless to say I’m not counting on them to provide much protection in an emergency.

The Alpinestars fit nice, are vented for summer, and I had a stack of gift cards that the museum found- a few years’ worth of birthday and Christmas cards included- that had apparently fallen behind my boss’s desk.

That lessened the impact of nice, full-price boots. Test rode them on Bike #5 and they feel very comfortable. Had to size up to a 46 from my usual 45 to get the width I need, but dimensionally in length and width the are the same as my Epics, so no “clown shoe” effect.

[Cormanus]

Well, Gone, they look like proper boots.

[peterbaron]

Nice, but to be nicer these needs some green flashy accents 

[Gone in 60]

No, no I don't need green flashy accents, but thank you. It was hard enough finding boots that fit that were all one color.

[the Ferret]

They do look like proper motorcycle boots.

[Gone in 60]

Well... shoot.

Never mind. Played shell game with bikes today. Rode out to the boss' house to swap the bike I just finished repairing for a bike he just put new tires on. Took that one to visit one of our riders and swap his bike to bring it home for an oil change. About 100 miles round trip with about 30 minutes of standing around. About 20 minutes from home my right toes started cramping to the point that I wanted to pull off the highway, pull the boot off and stretch my foot for a bit.

I'll clean 'em up like new and return to Revzilla, and continue the search.

[Cormanus]

What a pest.

[Nachodaddy]

Gone, I know it may sound unrelated, but could you have been dehydrated? That could contribute to muscle cramps.

[Gone in 60]

Thanks, Nacho, but it wasn't dehydration. Dehydration hits my brain first and I get very head-spinny quickly. It was warm, but I'd downed three bottles of water, one with that powder that super-hydrates water.

I went back to the Revzilla store (very helpful folks if you ever get a chance to visit one). The same guy who sold me the boots the day before was there. He sensed my frustration at trying to find boots for wide feet, and asked if I'd tried Indie Ridge. He was wearing a pair and said he'd never go back to anything else. Rdprdp01 put up a post about the brand recently, and well, heck, I'm just going to give them a shot. Nice to support a local company as well.

My only other known option is to go back to Tourmaster, and their non-leather build quality is pretty junky these days.

[peterbaron]

Gone, the boots static-story is getting too long, put them on and start riding, so we can read how comfy these are..  
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