Pros And New Boots

Broke in during the week before race day.

For myself, I’ve always worn my new boots around the house for a week or two to break them in before the first ride. Helps with those new boot missed shifts.

Man friends break them in while cutting pro riders lawns….

A lot of dudes have them broken in by someone else

If they wear fox there’s 0 break in time. AJ got a fresh pair or tech 10’s race day last year on his vlog. He put them on and shoved the toe under a truck tire and rocked back and forth to loosen them up.

A lot of top pros that have contracts with the boot companies have custom lasts (the foot shaped mold they build a shoe/boot around) and their boots are purpose built for them. Alpinestars builds their consumer boots in Croatia but pro boots come out of their factory in Italy. The boots the pros use are not “off the shelf” and presumably fit and feel much better when brand new.

I was told that last year Tomac only had 3 sets all year. Obviously they were resoled but only 3 'shells'.

A lot of teams send new boots to Localriders for "break-in" services.

Here is a pair of the lace up booties that some pros have for better feel than the stock booties.

So basically the booty out of the Supertech roadrace boots it looks like.

Fox Instinct's are pretty much ready to go out of the box.

I don't remember exactly what model they were but the last few years I raced I always wore these red, white & blue Alpinestars boots and every new pair would break in almost immediately. Then one day my Dad got me some black & white Tech 10's and after 3-4 weeks of walking around the house I still couldn't shift or feel my rear brake worth a dam. Those became "emergency backup" boots from then on.

They're not new boots; just super clean. They have a guy in the UK who does a kick-ass cleaning job.

There used to be a dude around here who was willing to do anything to your boots and other gear if you sent them to him.