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 ??

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

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!

Cheers,
Noel

Or spray on PTFE grease... Or a wax furniture polish..

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

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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UK to Mongolia 2009, on a DR350

Simply... Yes.

If you're going proper adventure riding then you will be going off road at some time. Riding and pushing a heavy, loaded bike around in uncertain conditions over unfamiliar terrain. Most of the roads in the third world are full of pot holes and undulations and off highway, even a campsite entrance can be a paris dakar event... It's just day in the life of adventure riding.

I test ride bikes all day long in my workshop boots, cotton pants and crappy gloves. I ride around the south of France in flip flops to go to a restaurant etc.

It's stupid yes, but It's an assessed risk that I've decided to take myself. I'm a very experienced rider and I don't take chances..

So, I'm not just being a jobsworth here..



The biggest consideration 'for me' is that I don't want to be slowed down, stopped or stuck in the third world with broken ankle in the middle of country where healthcare is either unavailable or at a standard that you want to just curl up and die..

Breaking your ankle in the mountains of Ethiopia etc is a major event... You will survive no doubt and have an amazing adventure in the process but walking around the rest of your life with your foot glued on backwards by a doctor who is using a Haynes manual is something I'd like to avoid if possible..

I've escaped major injury a few times due to protective kit. I've so seen/ heard some horrendous injuries and stories of people who though hiking boots are going to help them. Ask any doctor about ankles. They are one of the most complicated and fragile parts of the body. Why wouldn't you protect them all you could ???

Now of course, having the best kit is no guarantee that you won't hurt yourself but good kit DOES WORK... I know it does. You can DRAMATICALLY reduce chance and severity of ankle and foot injurys with decent , protective boots. The same goes with all your riding gear.

I think they are the third most important piece of kit after a helmet and a back protector.


But when it all comes down to it, you do what you want and what you feel comfortable with. And long may it be that way..

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Statistically, the highest chance of injury while riding a bike is feet and ankles (the highest consequence is for head injuries, but that's a different story). More protection is better.

Everyone decides how to weigh the odds based on their own riding style and where they go. The fastest I've ever dropped a loaded dual sport was only about 15 mph, but I was on a deserted dirt road somewhere in the Andes, alone. The bike landed on my ankle. I was very glad my ankle was encased in a proper motocross boot at the time, not a hiking boot--no broken ankle, but some serious pain and bruising.

Make your own choices, but don't do it based on wishful thinking.

Mark

I dropped my loaded DRZ trying to climp up a cliff face track in Ethiopia after camping down on a lake. The bike bounced off the toe of my boot and trapped my ankle under the progressive joint on my rear shock.

On the Ruta 40 in Argentina, in the same boots I crashed on the stones and again, my ankle ended up under the bike.

I was wearing AlpineStar Tech 10's which are SUPER beefy and I still broke my toe and had some strain and bruising.

I swear, both occasions my ankle would of been facing backwards with unsupported boots.

In the UK I wear W2 Adventure boots as the Tech 10s are too restricting...

Overlanding, I find it hard not to wear MX boots... However, they do slow me down a lot during the daytime stops. But when you stop in the day for lunch, petrol etc, you never really want to leave your bike alone.

Sidi Couriers were very popular before the Adventure came out. A lot cheaper...

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

It's not about wishful thinking or misunderstanding the importance/vulnerability of your ankles. I would probably prioritise boots at the top of my own personal list of protective clothing, helmet would be third behind gloves as well for me.

I'm just not convinced that all the plastic and metal of motox/enduro style boots makes any difference short of getting run over. I put the question out to see if anything had any thoughts other than the standard two lines.


Personally, I just splashed out £177 on a pair of Altberg 'Desert Riders'. They offered them as an option when I phoned up asking how durable their desert military style boots were. It's only now I've realised that they came up with them after a request for custom boots by Chris Scott! Finally off for some fun again after 4 long years, I'll let you know if I end up breaking my ankles then you'll be able to say I told you so.

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UK to Mongolia 2009, on a DR350

My name for this is "wishful thinking."

Two of us have described situations in which we believe we would have done serious damage in the absence of MX boots. Neither involved getting run over.

I have no wish to say I told you so. Besides, the fact is that most riders will not break feet or ankles no matter how they're shod. That's not the way I weigh risk.

In risk analysis, which is what we're doing here, there's an almost universal phenomenon in which the negative event--in this case, absence of foot or lower leg injury--is used to justify continuing to do what's been done in the past. But risk is not composed of probability alone--it's a combination of probability (likelihood) and consequence. Even a low probability if combined with a serious consequence amounts to a high level of risk. That's why I wear a helmet and that's why MX boots on overland trips.

YMMV. Good luck with your choices.

Mark

The key word there is 'believe', you cannot prove or indeed know yourself that you would have suffered serious injury had you not been wearing motox boots. It could be viewed that your belief is wishful thinking, justifying the money you spent and discomfort experienced from traveling with your motox boots.


This is the 'debate' that I'm not interested in having, where you assert something that's purely opinion, then I assert a contradictory opinion, then we keep repeating ourselves ad nauseum.


But to an extent you are doing the same thing, by choosing to conclude that when you have had an accident whilst wearing motox boots and not suffered injury, that the boots have prevented an injury you'd have otherwise experienced, and therefore you should continue wearing motox boots in order ensure that you are similarly protected in any future accidents.

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UK to Mongolia 2009, on a DR350

Nath, if these differing opinions and their underlying rationales seem to you equivalent that's ok with me.

I call it "wishful thinking" because it appears to me contrary to both objective evidence and my confirming direct experience. I'm not holding out for an exalted standard of "proof" before acting. Nor do I feel a need to defend the validity of my conclusions. I'm merely offering my perspective for consideration, with which readers can do as they please.



Safe journeys!

Mark

I agree with Nath here

To walk round in motocross type boots is hell, I brought some thinking I would need this but to be fair I felt it would not be comfy for walking once off the bike so I brought a pair of standard boots.

You could say take another pair of boots to walk in but then packing gets bigger.

I got my bike stuck in mud offroad in Slovakia in the Tatras mountains and in the end had to ditch it and walk for around 6 miles to get help to pull it out.

Would of been hell in motocross "type" boots.

I will also travel in "lighter" boots and I think Altberg will be my next boots

Everyone will always have their own opinions on this matter.

Mine changes literally hour to hour..

I see or hear of an injury and I start wearing all my safety gear for the next week. Then I get fed up of being hot and constricted and start being lapse. It's getting that balance isn't it.. Some are prepared to suffer the heat and discomfort for that added protection. I'll nip down the shops in my shorts and t-shirt but I'm armoured up like a mutant ninja turtle when I'm riding off-road in Africa.

For all out there who think that reinforced, armored safety gear doesn't help in an accident I really do think you are on cloud cuckoo land. You need your head banging against a wall (without a helmet on lol). Was that irony ??

If you get your leg stuck under a bike or twisted in a rut, solid boots WILL reduce twisting and the armour will reduce the change of a fracture/break from impact. I can't believe people will argue this.

A back protector WILL reduce shock and impact to your back if you land on it as will armour for your other joints.

I find most people who don't wear the gear are the ones who have yet to come a cropper on a bike or don't really ride anywhere challenging. Enjoy it while it lasts.

HOOOOWWWEEEVVERRR...... Do what you want. That's your choice. And I firmly believe that people should be left to just get on with it. Free wprld and all that.

Just don't come on here whining about your permanent limp from a 180 ankle break or gangrene infected stumps that got bluetacked back on in Zimbabwe because you were wearing trainers.

However they probably won't be able to type due to brain damage because they were also wearing a flower pot on their heads.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

For me a real "Adventure" boot is a boot you can wear on your bike and it will give you reasonable protection in the event of a fall

You can walk long distances with no issues and also wear in a bar/nightclub with jeans on and not look out of place

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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Beware the dark, mechanical bird.