Bike Boots

 

I went to a birthday party Friday night for one of Surly's friends who was also a neighbor of ours back when. Nice party with most of the people I knew there being motorcyclists. That being the case, the conversation naturally turned to cycling. Surly mentioned we should start getting together on a regular basis to get the BSA we inherited from my brother road worthy. Since my brother's vision for the bike was a cafe racer, I mentioned I'd like to have a pair of custom-made boots to go along with it.

I posted these Gasolina boots in 2011 and the price was $189.00. Current price is $399.00 - I should have bought them then, it would seem. I normally wear a pair of steel toe work boots when I ride. They're Thorogood boots that take a shine that I wore at the high school. Just fine for riding the Himalayan and the Sportster when I get it out on the road, but a cafe style BSA should have some cafe style boots. I normally don't give much thought to my appearance as far as my wardrobe is concerned. Safety and comfort are my primary concerns, but I wouldn't mind looking like one of the ton-up boys on the way to the Ace Cafe while astride the BSA sporting a pair of the Gasolinas. 

A sentimental alternative would be these jump boots from Thorogood. They're 2" taller than my Thorogood work boots and they're dressier. I used to buy combat boots from the Army/Navy Surplus store because they were a reasonable price and they looked nice for a shop teacher. I shined them at least once a week and with the steel toes, they were a good option working around high school kids who were always dropping steel plates. The Army/Navy store eventually stopped carrying them and sold the jungle boots as a replacement. Not the best for working in a welding shop.

I should probably spend more time working on the bikes than shopping for shoes like I'm Imelda Marcos, but I need to spend my Social Security raise on something.