I've a pair of Daytona Arrow Sport GTX and they took a bit of getting used to because of the size. They are way bigger than the Alpinestars SMX 1 I had before. They broke in quickly and are super comfy. Had to adjust the gearshift on the Scrambler a bit. SPOILER. Cheated breaking them in by wearing them in the office for 3 or 4 days with a heavy pair of hiking socks. Worked a treat.
I like that you can get Daytonas in a wider foot sizes and they can be repaired. I used to think the same about the style (German porn star?) but once you get old enough you take comfort and practicality over fashion.
To be honest I cannot remember, however, I every pair of shoes I've ever owned I've ended up with blisters as first while I bed them in. I don't honestly recall any real discomfort, nothing more than I would expect.
See, I bought a pair of SuperTech R's when they first came out, very comfortable but ended up breaking my ankle in them which I'm convinced my previous Sidi's would have saved me from. Needless to say the SuperTech's although only slightly scuffed went straight in the bin and I went back to Sidi's. I love Sidi's but by god they're tight and awkward to get on.... Now onto the Axials and it's night and day.
My Axial seem very well made and the protection seems good. Getting cramp in one foot is a bit distracting and I thought 600 miles would have been enough to bed them in (although they aren’t leather so there’s only so much that can happen). I think I’ll give the Security Evo G3 a go. Extended forefoot protection or not? GP boot or standard?
I always break in boots using a tried and tested method. Fill up the bath to above ankle height with tepid or warm water. Stand in it. (with boots on of course) Do your kneeling and bending of foot etc. Do this for 5-10 mins. Then walk around for 5-10mins. Remove boots, stuff with newspaper and allow to dry naturally. Job jobbed. This was how we would do our DM's back in the day. (I'd choose standard unless your going racing tbf)
I get that for boots made of leather - shoes these days generally need next to no breaking in compared to those of our youth (the all-leather golf shoes of my youth would make your feet bleed until they were broken in, which took a while, but they’d also last for years). I’m surprised this would help with man-made materials used in, for example, the Axial. I think the Axial might be a narrower fit than the Daytona. They felt perfectly comfortable walking around and I was quite surprised when one of my feet cramped up, but it’s happened consistently. I think you’re right about the standard outer boot and I’d probably go for the standard inner boot but the one with additional protection isn’t much more money over here. More protection of the front area of the foot seems a good idea as long as it doesn’t restrict movement or make a particularly significant difference to feel or operation of the brake and gear levers. Apparently I can even have a different design for each foot to go with the different colour legs on the new suit… Tarty!
It seems that they do half sizes as well, which could be useful. I’ve had a good discussion with a very helpful supplier who is going to send two sizes of inners so I can be certain of the size before returning one and ordering the outer to go with it. I’ll try the inner with extra protection but probably stick with the standard outer rather than the GP, although the GP isn’t much more money.
Had the Dainese "In" boots with the carbon fibre brace. Of all my Dainese kit (leathers and gloves - top pf the range), the boots were the only item made in Italy. Nice kit. But I digress... One foot was pretty uncomfortable and used to rub when off the bike. Initially, I found the soles too grippy on the pegs and they also felt quite chunky, but I got used to it. On the bike, with the long Dainese shin protectors, they felt pretty good. I moved to RST for their 4.1 Airbag suit, so switched to Supertech Rs with the inner bootee. The ankle bracing feels pretty flimsy by comparison with the Dainese and I am seriously thinking of the Spidi options or Gaerne perhaps. Might look at TCX or whatever they are called.
I agree that they seem well made and offer good protection. I find them fine until suddenly I get cramp in one foot. It’s not something I have found with any shoes or boots before. I tried the Supertech but didn’t really fancy them. I’ve no idea about the Spidi or Gaerne boots. The protection on the Daytona looks very good and I should have the two different size innners to try by the end of the week, plus I can have them made to match the new suit, so I might as well go full tart. If I was in the UK then I’d have been talking to RST about the new suit as well.
I bought Daytona EVO Sports GoreTex boots some years ago for use on track, very secure feeling when wearing them. Crashed in them twice, once on the track and once on the road, the track crash had minimal effect on the outers, a pull on a couple of seams so still wore them. Then the road crash pulled on them a bit more!! Having said this they were still rideable. The inners are perfect and so are my feet! So in the end rather than repair I bought some new outers to fit the inners (Daytona Evo Voltex), its like having a new pair of boots again, they do need a bit of breaking in but again give hugh amounts of security should the worse happen!!
I bought some daytona boots probably 20yrs ago, just dug them out after a 10 year break from bikes and they are really comfy and OK to walk about in when you stop. Had new soles fitted during lockdown but are still great ill probably buy some more this year no1 boots, 1st time I wore them I thought they were awful and left them until a bike trip to Spain, when I'd used them for a good week they had bedded in. No hesitation to buy some more.
I’ve had Daytona boots with their inner shell (the Gore-Tex version) and Dainese In boots. I preferred the Daytona’s leather construction but swapped to Dainese because of the fit. ^ this. I find Daytona boots too wide, but I suit Italian sizing. Indeed. I recommend Dainese for narrow-to-normal width feet, and Daytona for normal-to-broad feet. But if you can get Daytona boots in half-sizes, it improves your choices.
I was sent the inner boots with extra front foot protection in 43 and 43.5 to try, along with a pair of outer boots so I could try them on the bike. The 43 were fine on the width but I could just about feel the end of the boot with my big toe, so I went for the 43, which feel super-comfy and still don’t slip on the heel. I could probably have got away with 43 but with heat, foot swelling potential, etc, the 43.5 felt a safer bet and it’s great that they do half sizes. I remember when all shoes came in half sizes… Custom colour outer boots are now ordered and the wait begins… I think I’m going to be very pleased with these and I got a great service from Tim Bartsch at TT’s Bike Shop in Germany, who couldn’t have been more helpful, and a price I was happy with. Brexit doesn’t help for those of you stuck in the UK of course… Thanks for the help in this thread.
Yup, I gave up trying to get my Daytona's resoled by the factory after they were returned unopened because I had used the wrong post-Brexit "export codes" with the courier service. Ended up just buying a new set of outers
The getting in a bath of water thing is such an old wives tail… it might work short term for leathers but degrades stitching etc and weakens the suit, just like continual rain riding would do. boots nowadays are mostly man made leather, with perhaps some small leather parts, like leather around the tops where your legs touch, the exception is goretex boots generally as they have to be real leather to allow breathing, I had a pair of Smx Goretex (still do somewhere) and they took a while to bed in buy have been good since, but I wear supertech on track, for those who had bad experiences with supertech years ago, it’s like any product, they develop and get better and better. Friends in the the trade who don’t even sell Alpinestar tell me that the supertech, and Daytona evo are really the benchmark/halo products everyone is striving to beat
The boots arrived within a few weeks of being ordered and I’m very pleased with them. The quality is obvious and they are immediately comfortable. I went a half size up from my normal size - having the full-protection inner boot might have contributed as I got a couple of other Daytona boots (Dry and Classic) and they were fine in my usual size 43. If you are in the EU and want some Daytona boots then I highly recommend Tim at TTs Bike Shop - great deal, excellent communication and a perfect buying experience.
Phil is talking out of his proverbial. Rot the stitching, what a load of tosh. Honestly that is plain nonsense. Experience proves you otherwise. The world is littered with bits of all season riders kit strewn all over the roads.
Gear does deteriorate over time even when stored in dark dry environments. This may take some time but I’ve had a Rukka Jacket split around the chest zip when I tugged at the stuck zipper a little too hard, and the missus had a pair of A-Star trail boots actually fall apart as the plastics around toes/ankle just split and shedding chunks. Both the jacket and boots were over 15yrs old but looked nearly new as they weren’t worn that often, Rukka barely used cos it didn’t vent at all & I got a Klim badlands not long after , & A-Stars were only used for a 2 week tour or the Picos and barely worn again as she said there were too bulky. Both spent the rest of their time in a bedroom cupboard.
