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Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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  #1  
Old 25 Sep 2013
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I used the Sidi boots last year for 8 weeks solid and 18000kms, they were very comfortable and water proof (well at the beginning but I never cleaned them or polished them so that probably didnt help). They did develop a squeek, will have to do some oiling of them. The soles are hardly worn, wonder if they had some issues with a batch?
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  #2  
Old 26 Sep 2013
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Been wearing Sidi Adventure Rain (Gore Tex) boots for 3 years, 30,000 kms + still looking good, had plenty of falls in them, including a high side at 80 mph, some wear on toe caps and on leather on sides, but other than that they have been excellent, plenty of tread left, they have been are still are 100% waterproof and are super comfy riding or walking. They get cleaned and polished a couple of times a year.

Oh Yeah, Im wearing them to my friends wedding on Saturday - id better clean them

All footwear has its compromises, I cant walk far in my motocross boots and I need better ankle/heel protection than a high leg hiking boot. Unless a Leather boot has a (good quality) waterproof membrane they will never be 100% waterproof, despite what anyone says, you can seam seal the stitching and us a shed load of dubbin, leather impregnation cream etc but at the end of the day leather breathes and will eventually let water through as the polish/cream/coating wears off from the outside and dissipates from the heat generated by your feet.

Ted, those W2's look pretty good, but how stiff are they around the ankle/heel ? Id definitely wear them on short rides around town or locally, but for a longer dirt trip (for me) I need somethining with an external brace/armour on ankle
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Last edited by Gipper; 26 Sep 2013 at 16:31.
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  #3  
Old 26 Sep 2013
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Spare soles for the Sidi's are available here. It is a german store but they deliver world wide.

Greetings
Dominik
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  #4  
Old 26 Sep 2013
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Thanks Dominik, good to know!

I must say having just looking at the Toucans mentioned by Harty, they look quite a bit more substantial with better external armour than the Sidi's how are they to walk in ?
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  #5  
Old 5 Oct 2013
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I looked at these then bought Alt berg boots instead.

The sidi boots just don`t seem durable for the cash.
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  #6  
Old 5 Oct 2013
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Originally Posted by brads View Post
I looked at these then bought Alt berg boots instead.

The sidi boots just don`t seem durable for the cash.
Wait a sec.... . Unless they've just changed their design, Altberg have ZERO crash protection.


They're traditional heavy duty leather only !!

Unless they have some new models out ??
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Old 5 Oct 2013
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Originally Posted by *Touring Ted* View Post
Wait a sec.... . Unless they've just changed their design, Altberg have ZERO crash protection.


They're traditional heavy duty leather only !!
Going mildly off-topic, do people actually think that 'Crash Protection' and armour and the stuff on enduro type motorcycle boots is really necessary?

I can certainly see why you'd want it for racing, especially motocross, as there's a high risk of falling from height, and having other riders running you over. And I can see the logic for serious recreational off-road riding - You're going out to spend a day riding off-road and anything else you do will be of secondary importance, so might as well wear the enduro boots. But I'm not at all convinced that even when trailriding somewhere fairly knarly you're ever going to crash hard enough that standard tough leather boots with good ankle support won't be protective enough.

Same for gloves, I don't get this whole obsession with 'kevlar knuckles'. Probably a daft question because people who wear this kinda of stuff will swear blind that they aren't safe without it, and people who don't (like me) will swear blind that they ride hard and crash without special boots gloves whatever and survive perfectly fine.
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Old 17 Oct 2013
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Originally Posted by *Touring Ted* View Post
Wait a sec.... . Unless they've just changed their design, Altberg have ZERO crash protection.


They're traditional heavy duty leather only !!

Unless they have some new models out ??
Altberg have numerous different models of boots Ted. I think I'm right in saying they were one of the the first manufacturers to gain CE safety certification for certain designs.

I'm guessing you're thinking of the Hogg design, which is the traditional, lace up "dual purpose" walking/biking boot. They obviously don't have the same protection as MX or enduro boots but they do have built in ankle protection to the same standard as most road boots & also crush resistant soles.

Check them out, you might be surprised. I just wish I could afford to replace my ageing, slipper-like Oxters with a pair..
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  #9  
Old 5 Oct 2013
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Originally Posted by mark k View Post
I used the Sidi boots last year for 8 weeks solid and 18000kms, they were very comfortable and water proof (well at the beginning but I never cleaned them or polished them so that probably didnt help). They did develop a squeek, will have to do some oiling of them. The soles are hardly worn, wonder if they had some issues with a batch?
My Sidi Adventure boots are great but the squeak while walking was driving me nuts. I went as far as buying Forma Adventures but they are crap compared to the Sidi's and I sent them back. So I searched the web and found some pointers as to how to heal my squeak. Most advise mink oil but there was no consensus of what the final resolution is. I could not find the mink oil so I tried something else. This is what I did and the squeak is 99% gone;

- take the upper closing binder/ankle hinge off by prying out the little holding clips. You can completely remove the hinging part.

- treat the leather parts with ample boot wax (I took horse riding boot wax, black)

- what I found is actually that the gore-tex lip in the shaft is rubbing on the leather and I think that is responsible for 50% of the squeak. So I waxed the leather side very well and applied silicone spray on the gore tex lip!

- then I cleaned the plastic parts on the inside and applied spray SKI wax on the inside of the plastics! The stuff that is intended to go on the bottom of your skies! Also put some on the inside of the fixed binder plastic parts.
-put it al together and you can go stealth mode!

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Noel
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