New Boots and.........

For some time now I had been considering buying a pair of quality motorcycle boots to replace my Oxford "Bone Dry" boots which were beginning to look rather sad - and certainly weren't bone dry any more! To be fair, they were inexpensive - but after only a year or so, the soles were paper thin, one of the zip tags had broken and there were splits in the material.

My first port of call was J & S Accessories in Watford - purely because they're local and I reckoned on them having a fair selection to choose from. I was approached by a young sales feller-me-lad whose first question took me completely by surprise - "do you want waterproof boots ?"

I had obviously appreciated that the degree of weaterproofing was to a price sensitive matter - but I wasn't expecting it to be optional ! It appears that today you have a choice between cheap plastic boots (like the Oxford Bone Drys), cheap non-waterproof boots and premium boots which cost you one of your legs anyway.

What I wanted was reasonably priced leather boots - where the degree of waterproofing was determined by the amount of polish/dubbin I applied, not some magical layer of clever material. I'm glad to say that after an inordinate degree of googling, I found them at: http://www.bikersparadise.co.uk/ . These are exceptionally good boots. One of the reviews on the site describes them as "probably the most comfortable bike boots in the world" and I'm not about to disagree. They are sturdy boots, a little stiff at first but the advantage of proper leather boots is that you know they will soften up over time and with a bit of care. They have proper soles and heels - unlike many bike boots which may be fine on modern machines with a metal stick for a footrest but are completely useless on a BMW with "old fashioned" rubber covereg footrests. In recent years I have often needed to take a Stanley knife to the heel of a boot to make it possible to ride (and change gear) on the K75.

They do have a rear zip which used to be considered a lesser option over a side zip for waterproofing. But there is a good flap behind the zip and I have had nop problems so far with water ingress.

Bikers Paradise have an interesting range of boots (and other leather clothing) - including "coyboy" styled ones and I'll admit to being tempted but one of my criteria for bike boots is to be wearable under a suit if I'm not carrying a pair of shoes with me and these ones fit that bill nicely.

Highly recommended boots - and an efficient service from Bikers Paradise to boot !