Boots and Bags

[onlyJaz]

Hi guys,
Pretty new to the forum, pretty new to biking! I passed my CBT a few weeks ago and bought a 2010 Yamaha YBR 125 about 1-2 weeks ago (much to the amusement of some of my non-biking friends regarding its design - I thought it was ok?).

But anyways, I need to buy some good boots to travel with, but I don't wish to break the bank, you probably know the start-up costs of newbies. So instead of specific motorcycle boots, I was thinking to buy some ordinary boots that are waterproof so I guess my question is - what features/spec do you look at when you are choosing appropriate boots for riding? (Will be used for commuting 12-14miles each way into Central London)

Question 2 - Can anyone please recommend a good waterproof bag as I don't have a topbox?

Many thanks guys!
J

[Azoth]

Even if you don't like them, I think if you're changing out of these boots into an ordinary pair of black shoes when you get there, you should consider specific motorcycle boots that offer ankle protection. The bones in the ankle are exposed and vulnerable, and frequently they are a point where serious damage occurs if you get hit by a car.

If you really don't like motorcycle boots (to be honest, I don't either because they look so lame), the old school way is to wear tall army boots. If you know how to tie them, these will hold your ankle together in such a collision (which might be useful for medics) but won't protect them from impact damage.

Some people say that steel-reinforced boots that protect the toes are more of a liability than a boon, because, they say, they offer no sideways crush resistance, and can trap your toes in an accident, causing them to need amputation. I don't believe such admonitions, as the steel-toed reinforcement is designed to protect from a falling object weighing up to a few tonnes in some cases. I believe these boots can be useful in case when you're stopped a car misjudges the gap to your left and runs over your foot. But it's good to be aware of the other angle.
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Safety in numbers

[Loui5D]

Budget is kind of needed.

I'd guess your running a tight budget seeing as you've just spent monies on the bike.

The first year i had a pair of RST tractech evo's, you may want to get the normal non perforated boots.

Used an oxford aqua 30 for a backpack.

[Fizzoid]

You could always buy a second hand top box if you're on a tight budget?

I bought a 34l Givi, complete with mounting bracket, for £35. It would have been more with postage, but it was in London so picked it up after work.
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[colink98]

what's wrong with the looks of a 2010 Yamaha YBR 125 ?
looks perfectly fine to me.

Boots wise i run a pair of Richa Slicks at a cost of £65
i purchased then in Feb this year and they gets used daily. apart from being dirty and scuffed they look like they will last ages still.


my bike came with a top box and i was very tempted to take it off so i don't look like a courier. However its proven itself much useful over the last year and i would now consider a top box pretty high on the list of things to have.
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Ride it like you stole it.
ride sensible and not like an idiot and you wont get 6 points in one week.

[onlyJaz]

Thanks for all your responses guys, really appreciate it!

Tawny - That's really good advice, yeah I plan to change into my work shoes once I reach work so I will have a look for boots with decent tight ankle support!

Loui5D - My budget for boots I guess is around £40-50 which I can't tell is decent or not Those Evos look good but more than I'd prefer to pay unfortunately.

Fizzoid - I didn't know you could get second hand cheap Givi's for cheap, I will have a look and give some YBR sellers some offers.


Anywhere that you guys recommend I look for some motorcycle boots/bags ? Either online or in London..

[onlyJaz]

[ScaredyCat]

[tom_e]

Unfortunately the only thing you'll get in that price range in terms of motorcycle specific kit is shit that will be pissing in water and falling apart within the month.

I speak from experience. £60 Richa Zeniths started giving up the ghost within a month.

If that's all you can stretch to then head down to your local army surplus and see what you can pick up may even be able to grab a pair of second hand goretex issue boots if you're lucky.

[Fizzoid]

J&S have stores in London, that way you could try them on, see how they feel

You don't need a YBR specific GIVI top box, the universal fitting kit they come with (need to check it does if 2nd hand) fits the YBR's luggage rack
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Rogerborg wrote: It'd certainly make it easier to ego-find my own posts on pages, given the number of fags (gay like traps) who insist on putting my name in their .sig

[Rogerborg]

YBRs are fine.

I wear Gore Tex lined army surplus boots. eBay, £30 delivered.

In fact I wear them pretty much every day, for every purpose, on and off the bike. Ankle protection is lacking, but (with elastic triathlon laces) they're super convenient and mine have been totally water tight for over 5 years. They have solid toe caps and a steel shank. The uppers are still fine, but the soles are just about to give out.

Contrast that with the bike specific touring boots that I tried which wore the soles right through after just a few months of gentle walking.

Any bag can be made waterproof by stuffing a dry bag liner into it for a few , or a bin bag for a few
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GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[onlyJaz]

[tom_e]

[stinkwheel]

Lomo do cheap, tough, effective waterproof bags. Their bungees are some of the strongest (and cheapest at £2.75 a pair) I've seen too.

They're uk based and mainly make equipment for watersports. If a canoeist buys a waterproof bag, it has to be actually 100% waterproof becaue it'll be repeatedly immersion tested.

https://www.ewetsuits.com/acatalog/Motorcycle-Motorbike-Dry-bags-Accessories.html
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[ZX-7R]

[nitrosurf]

Oxford products normally get a bit of a slamming (rightly so in most cases), but I'm wearing a pair of Oxford shorties that feel very well made and are nicely armoured but are quite comfy. They profess to be waterproof, which is a bit of a lie; in a shower they're fine but a downpour they really are not. I have 'over-boots' that zip over my boots that have proper soles and whatnot, never had wet feet since. Boots were about £50, over boots about £15.

I use a 40L Givi tailpack which fits loads in, straps very securely to the bike and is a proper hold-all when carrying it around. That was about £50 too


🏍
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[Snowdonia Rider]

You can get motorbike specific boots quite cheap
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/122014511103
Not sure how long they'll last though but they're not that much more than non bike specific boots. I use a camping rucksack on the bike, it's water proof and has a chest strap which keeps it secure on me. Cheaper than bike specific ones and does the same job.
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[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

You'll probably think these are too dear, but I can vouch for them in terms of their hard-wearing, pretty damn water proof, comfort on and off the bike criterion:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Motorcycle-Tuzo-SK9T-Trail-Touring-Waterproof-Black-Leather-Boots-Size-UK-9-/141470158481


Prior to that I used to aha ahem rock the Aldi motorbike boots - which imo are fine for 125cc duties. Look out for those - they're about £35. But the soles aren't amazing and don't seem to like oil very much.
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"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

As for cheap bags what I do is this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131427751234?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&var=430773213701&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I got them for £12 inc. P&P - they've gone up now, so there might be even cheaper alternatives.

They 15 litres per side, so can take a relatively useful bit of shopping. I don't know how waterproof they are - but that doesn't matter because all items are always in waterproof carrier bags inside the panniers.

The panniers throw over the seat of my cb500 fairly well and don't look *too* geigh. You can get a couple of standard sized bottles of spirits in them, with room to spare for food etc. There isn't a great deal of securing straps but the one velcro tie at the back of the bags threads through the bike's grap handles fairly well and there hasn't been any incidents of them undoing themselves yet. However even if there was, I'd just make holes in the panniers and thread my own ties through. No biggie at that price.

To "complement" the panniers I also have an old cheap ass 20 litre rucksack crago netted to the back seat, over the "throw over" part of the soft panniers. This was £8 from Tesco iirc. I'm sure there's cheaper on eBay or at carboots. Having the rucksack just means if there are a few things that won't fit in the soft panns I can put them in the rucksack and cargo net them back to the bike. Actually, because the panns are also bungee'd to the bike seat, I could wear the rucksack on my back if needs be.

Anyway, the point is you can (literally) rack up a fair few litres of carry volume for not much investment - twenty quid. Yeah it looks pikey as fuck - but it does the job more than adequately.
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"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[onlyJaz]

Cheers for the advice everyone, I'm quite pleasantly surprised that everyone has taken the time to reply on my first post so thank you

I had a look on gumtree last night and saw someone selling a load of gear, I picked up Richa motorcycle trousers with armour and a pair of RST boots - https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_prod/36118 - Together for £65, boots were quite used but I figured it wasn't a bad price as it was £30 trousers and £35 for boots..

I think I may go down the topbox route for now, then I can carry a chain with me and my work trousers/shoes will be kept neat(ish). If my experience tells me I need to get a bag also, I'll consider further. I'll keep an eye out for a decent second hand boxes but if anyone knows of anyone selling any please let me know

[Teflon-Mike]

You are on CBT & L's.... rant incoming.
IF you are confident enough after that 'first lesson' that you can comfortably cope with dailly commuter traffic, then you aught be confident enough to take tests and pass'em. All thats required of you on test is to ride a simulated daily commute, not break any road laws, cause hazard or kill any one.... turn that on it's head; if you DON'T have teh confidence to think you could pass tests for a full licence, then you SHOULD NOT be trying to dodge tests commuting on L-Plates.
L-Plates is to LEARN, to practice FOR tests, not get to work dodging them!!!
If you have money to buy gear to commute in, and sort storage, you have the money to take tests. AND that should be where you prioritize the spend.
Going it alone on L's is the school of hard knocks, dont teach you how to ride, just punishes you for getting it wrong, and that usually hurts... and costs!!
Go learn how not to crash; before you tackle rush hour, where crashing is likely to hurt a lot more and cost a lot more! [rant over].

TOP BOX... you can get cheap top boxes of ebay for £30ish; what you need to fit one though is a rack. I beliebe Yamaha do one as an official accessory, though may be a rebranded Rentec, which are usually good if a bit pricey, though possibly a tad less pricey than a Yamaha branded one. Universal ones are cheaper but can be a pain to fit.

Your choice, but that would be my start point; get a decent rack, and I'd probably find that bit extra to get a rentec designed to fit the bike rather than the faff of a universal.

You can slap a cheap top box on that, and upgrade later if you wish; BUT you put weight on the bike, NOT you. Weight on you is more mass moving about over the bike, and more restriction to your own movement; it will be a lot more stable and a lot more comfy on the rack, whether in a bag bungeed to it or in a top box bolted to it. Also somewhat safer. Bad enough sliding down the road and banging your head on a lamp post, without being garotted by your own luggage or anything!

Boots? Dedicated bike boots tend to be pretty poor, or pretty expensive, and little in the middle. Cheaper dedicated bike boots in the £50 bracket I wouldn't touch; they are about as sturdy as a pair of trainers, probably offer little more crash protection and likely wont even last as long in every day wear. Sensible outdoor army boots or work boots are probably much better value for money and likely to last longer and possibly offer as much or more crash protection.....

Very little is EVER as water-proof as we'd hope on a motorbike; to which I offer the age old advice; 1/ spare socks 2/ carrier bags!

Keep spare socks to change into in your workday shoes.
Keep carrier bags in your bike boots and stuff in your pocket with a couple of push bike cycle clips or elastic bands to pull over boots and tie at your ankle to help keep water out when riding! no they wont last long... but they are 'cheap'! alternatively you can put them over your socks before you put boots on... which if boots are soppy wet from morning ride 'in' can be small comfort. Your call.

I have about £500's worth of boots in the wardrobe I rarely wear any more; 'sports boots' are absolutely NOT waterproof. Off-Road boots.. about £160's worth a decade ago, ARE.... but they aren't particularly comfy on a road bike, or flexible for changing gear and stuff. Good £100+ touring boots, calf length are water-proof to a point, and more every day useful on a road bike; but they are expensive; last pair died a few years ago after about a decade, I have yet to find anything to replace them with; for the most part I wear every day work-boots.

BUT, I dress to ride and ride to survive; advice is still to prioritize training and tests as best 'safety' you can buy, and not try commuting until you have that; so kitting up for the commute shouldn't be such an imperative.
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[Snowdonia Rider]

[onlyJaz]

[Fizzoid]

[onlyJaz]