Tank Slap - Motorcycle Forum

In response to a comment Spudda made in another thread.

Spudda wrote: .... the doctors told me that had i not had my boots on, then I wouldve lost my foot ... I'm never wearing anything else apart from Sidi's

I have seen many comments like the one above (often related to helmets). I honestly don't get that point of view.

Why?

Maybe if you had a pair of Daytona's or another make of boot the foot might have had less damage. It does however support the 'get the best gear you can afford' comment. If you can afford to upgrade gear to a better model/manufacturer then do it.

I agree mate the last few years I've worn alpine stars leathers but when I wanted new leathers I found the fit and the armour on my new rst one piece race suit far better but at nearly half the price, but when they showed me a pair of rst race tech boots at £100 there was no way I'd want them on my feet and although my Astars boots probably cost more than the suit they are four years old and still in perfect condition and I wouldn't leave home without them.

I'm not brand specific. I crashed in Puma hypersports boots and I'm sure they reduced the damage to my ankle. Those boots are better designed than the sidi as they've got a feature to prevent your ankle from snapping back, which Sidi hasn't (oir hadn't).

A proper fit is all important. No point having a £2,000 race suit if it's too large.

Having crash tested my rst one piece im very happy with it, held up well and did its job, small marks on it but noting too bad, I currently use TCX boots and Dainese gloves and they both held up really well to meeting the tarmac, the boots were especially good as all the bits that got ground away were replaceable so look pretty much new still!

Helmets I would only use a decent brand but its the fit that is most important to me, my 1st helmet was a shark lid as nothing else seemed to fit me properly at the time but since then Ive had a couple of AGV's as they seem to fit better now I have less hair, the AGV's actually fit me a lot better than Arais and Shoeis and thats why I went with them in the end

Fit is the most important.

That said the Dainese leathers i treated myself to this year are far better quality than anything else i have seen on the market bar the even more expensive made to measure stuff. And i looked at all the options.

I've crashed in TCX boots and despite somersaulting off the track and breaking a wrist, my feet and ankles were completely unscathed. Boots took a battering too.

I had a look at some rst boots and they looked very good quality but were a narrow fit,I can only just get into my Alpine Stars boots

I had a pair of rst boots years ago but they fell apart after a week when all the lining came out, sent them back and ended up with a pair of diadora boots of all things that were actually really good, I think their boots and gloves have come on loads now though and are actually decent value for money.

I think the main difference between them and a higher brand is how they hold up to a crash in that I feel you could crash once in RST gear and be fine but they wouldnt survive it to well where as Dainese/TCX/Astars stuff seems able to withstand mutliple offs before they are completley ruined

My Dainese leathers are at least 12 years old. If not older. I've crashed in them. They are excellent quality.

I bought BKS leathers because they were the only ones that fitted me,they are made by Frank Thomas but im happy with that because i think FT is good quality kit

Godzilla wrote:In response to a comment Spudda made in another thread.

Spudda wrote: .... the doctors told me that had i not had my boots on, then I wouldve lost my foot ... I'm never wearing anything else apart from Sidi's

I have seen many comments like the one above (often related to helmets). I honestly don't get that point of view.

Why?

Maybe if you had a pair of Daytona's or another make of boot the foot might have had less damage. It does however support the 'get the best gear you can afford' comment. If you can afford to upgrade gear to a better model/manufacturer then do it.

I think if you've had a crash in something and it worked, why change? How do you know if the Daytona boots would have been better? There's no way of knowing that. However, you do know what has worked,

It then gives you confidence whilst wearing it that at least you have a chance.

It's almost like wearing a pair of shitty pants on a night out and pulling an amazing bird. All of a sudden they becomce lucky pants, and you wear them every night on the town. Because you feel invincible in them.

Agree with the comments regarding fit and sticking to what works. I've had my dainese leathers for 14 years and they still feel good today (taken in ince to remove the sack of spuds shape from the arse). Just had to get new boots as I've lost my old TCS Evo ones so went with Alpinestars Supertech R. Seem to fit and feel good from the off, no breaking in required. Used to work in motorcycle clothing in my younger years and have seen the state some lesser quality items end up in, even after relatively mild incidents.

I would always rank fit as being top of the list but it always amazes me when you see top level racers riding round with leathers flapping in the breeze WTF is going on there

I don't really have a brand loyalty TBH. I buy the best kit I can from manufacturers that have a good reputation, IMO the specific item I m buying is good quality and the price is right. If Astars SMX Plus were in the sale £60 cheaper than TCX race boots and both fitted me well I would buy the SMX Plus. Case in point is I crashed in an Arai helmet with a head impact and thought the helmet served me well. I would happily replace it with another identical helmet for the simple reason that like D6 says I know it works, however I bought a Shoei X-Spirit which is their top of the range lid simply because it was redcued from £600 to £200 was brand new, never used and from an official UK shoei dealer with full warranty.