Once upon a time, I didn’t think there was anything different between a purpose-built motorcycle boot and a regular walking shoe. I thought it was basically a money grab, so of course, I was wearing my regular leather hiking boots when I was out riding. Inevitably I dropped my motorcycle on my ankle and crushed it in the process, this is why motorcycle boots are important.

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I do realize that there are differences between purpose-built motorcycle footwear and regular walking shoe or walking boot and I’m going to try to break down a few of those for you here. To start off with I’m going to talk about safety, this is probably the most important aspect of a motorcycle boot.

First of all, you have armor paneling on a purpose-built men’s motorcycle boots, you also have abrasion-resistant materials. There are heat resistant materials which are really important if you have a crash with all the friction.

You have souls that are abrasion-resistant and exoskeletal rigidity. The rigidity makes sure the boot isn’t going to be crushed in an impact and also makes sure that your ankle isn’t going to overextend.

After safety comes the function of the boot. Thee is the toe shifter panel on the toe of the boot together with the rigidity in the upper part of the boot. That will give you tight quick gear shifting and really tight quick braking.

The sole is also going to communicate a lot of touch sensitivity which is good for controlling and connecting with your motorcycle.

The soles of your boot are also quite rigid, quite stiff, more so than in a walking boot. That helps when you’re sitting on the footpegs which gives you a good solid stance, that’s a really good functional advantage of motorcycle boots over a regular boot.

I think the most convincing argument for why motorcycle boots are important is the argument of longevity. A regular walking shoe just can’t withstand the oils and grease and the heat that’s coming off your engine, that’s would degrade a walking boot very quickly over time.

Whereas a motorcycle boot is made to withstand the heat and oil and probably most evidently the sole is made to withstand the footpegs sitting in the same position over and over and over again without wearing away.

So hopefully I’ve convinced you to buy a purpose-built piece of motorcycle footwear, save your regular walking shoes for other uses and get all the benefits of wearing good quality motorcycle boots.