I have a set of Altberg Hogg motorcycle boots. Altberg are fairly local to us - about 90 mins ride - and they make boots for police and army, and will make to measure if necessary. I already had a pair of their walking boots. Both are leather, goretex, vibram - they have been superb and never let in a drop of water: The bike boots in all day torrential rain with road water spraying up from the front wheel onto my bike boots, the walking boots on soggy wet peaty moorlands. I can keep them on all day, both are comfortable to walk in and my feet have remained warm and bone dry on the bike or on the moors.
Their current version - picture shown - has their own brand of oil resistant sole rather than vibram. They are not a company to skimp on quality, so that must be an improvement.
I have Uk size 11, wide feet and high arches. Uk size 11 is 11.5 - 12 US, 46 EU. It makes boot selection a trying process - most boots I find difficult to get the top of my foot ‘around the corner’. With the walking boots style soft folding leather ‘tongue’ sewn in between the laceholes, the Hogg is relatively easy to get on. Or it was until old age started creeping in !. I bought a size 12Uk, extra wide fitting. It doesn’t look as tall as that photo suggest - but it has the same number of lacing points, so it must be.
People come from all over the country to buy their boots and to get fitted and have them made to order. And with an army base nearby, and Altberg being the main supplier, they have a pretty sound customer base. The model used by Uk police bikers - the clubman roadster - I couldn't get my foot around the bend, although they are widely used and liked by many.
On the other hand - I had a friend who bought some, and he liked them, but stopped wearIng them because of the time taken to lace them up each morning, compared to the faster methods offered by other boots - eg simple zip and Velcro strap. I find that zips fail and Velcro stops working. I think I had 4 pairs of boots from 2000 to 2012. Not really happy with any of them. My last pair were warm, easy ish to get on and were still up to the job when I bought the altbergs in 2011. They were Hein Gericke - grey were warm and waterproof but rather like a leather ‘welly’, and didn’t offer a great deal of protection. Since getting the Altbergs, I’ve never worn anything else on my feet since.
I will not touch Sidi boots again. I bought a pair of their Sidi Black Rain Evo boots and they leaked like a sieve through the sole / upper joints. Absolutely ruined our tour. It suggests poor quality control to me, as that would have been an easy test to carry out. I returned them and didn’t get them replaced - if that can happen to one pair, it can happen to another - and I wasn’t prepared to be a product tester and risk another tour being ruined. 8 hours in Scotland’s torrential rain with wet cold feet is no fun.
Other people probably have different experiences, they are a respected company and still make the Black Rain - but at the time I was out most days in all weathers. When a company makes a claim that a boot is waterproof and the name of the boot backs up the impression, I expect not to get wet feet the first time it rains heavily. I pay hard earned money and if it doesn’t match what is claimed then they don’t get another chance. I let them know, I don’t suppose they care much about one customer, but my custom goes elsewhere.
