All good bikers have a pair of bike boots that they love like crazy....and if that's not the case, they should try and get some. Dressing from the feet up is wise advice that we should also apply to bike gear.
There are sport road boots. They might not be the most comfortable ones for walking, but if the endurance riders can run with them in the Le Mans style start, we can assure you that you can walk in them. And, most importantly: they are the ones that provide the most protection. You can use them on your more sporty getaways on rounds on the track, as many of them are perfectly homologated for riding on the track. In fact, we can agree that the best way to test them out is to graze the asphalt with the slider until it wears out. An important aspect of a bike boot is the ventilation. At the end of the day, motorcycling is a sport and your feet are going to need to breathe better whilst practising it. Also you can use them as summer boots.
The versatility comes with the touring boots. Devised for long distances and for walking with them once off the bike, they'll do for popping to the corner shop as well as for going half way across the continent. And when the cold comes, its time to use the winter boots. Brands like Dainese, Alpinestars or Sidi incorporate the most advanced materials, such as Gore-Tex, D-Dry or Drystar, in their membranes which afford great protection against inclement weather, including water ...it's nice to know you can use the same footwear to go to North Cape or to pick up the kids from school.
Some might think that for using the bike around town you don't need special footwear, but the truth is that the manufacturers, lucky for us, don't agree. The urban boots are a much more discrete and functional footwear than classic bike boots but provide greater feel, protection and even visibility than conventional sports shoes...it's just as Nancy Sinatra sang "these boots are made for walking", but also for riding!
Above all, road boots are footwear, so remember: you have to choose those that best fit to the morphology of your foot. If you have the chance to try them on, the best thing to do is to get a pair of thermal socks and another pair of thin ones and see how they fit.
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