On my last ride, I had found that my boot was squeaking when I walked. It became annoying, so I took it off to have a look to see that the whole sole of the shoe had fallen apart.
I’m on a budget so getting another pair of boots wasn’t something I wanted to do. At the same time, I didn’t want to ride in my converses or casual shoes.
A while back, while in New Zealand, I decided to go hiking – I didn’t have any appropriate shoes for the bush – I needed boots that were both grippy and waterproof. Once again, I hopped to the local op shop to see what they got on the budget. I found a brand new set of Timberlands (6’inch boots). I guess someone didn’t like them or got the wrong size and couldn’t return them. Their loss!
The cost was under $100 (AUD).
They were great hiking (although they gave me a couple of blisters at first) – but they covered quite a few KMs going over parts of New Zealand.
When I came back to Sydney – they were sitting there as I had a set of hiking shoes that I use already.
I decided to repurpose them for motorcycling – stylish, rugged, waterproof, plenty of grip and much safer than your casual shoes.
The last thing to do was to protect the left shoe from the gear level, which would damage the leather very quickly if not protected. (I tried and I quickly discovered that the leather was getting scuffed pretty badly)
I took the boots to my local cobbler to see what he recommended. We cleaned the shoes; he then used the protective patch from my broken boots and glued it onto the boots. We sealed the boots once again to protect them from water/moisture.
The result is a pair of comfortable, grippy, unique pair of motorcycle boots that I’m sure will last me for a long while – at a bargain when compared to brand new ones.
Don’t underestimate the goodies you can find at your local OpShop. People throw out things for various reasons – sometimes with the tag still on. You can still keep yourself safe and not donate your kidney in the process.
