it must be a sign of old age when you forget all about a thread you started LOL
While up in the Gold Coast in July getting married I ended up getting a pair of Shark Leather Predator boots
After a few rides, including a few thousand k's to Normanville and back I think I can now give an honest review of the boots.
> having the usual problem of trying to fit Blunstone shaped feet into ballerina shaped boots I expected it to take a while to get my feet properly comfortable in new boots. I decided to get a pair that was too tight across toes but not to long in length as they are all leather and with some persuasion can stretch where needed. To help blood circulate to ALL my toes I had to remove the hard plastic toe sliders in the beginning but after several hours of wearing in they stretch just right and now feel great even with toe sliders back on
> Some boots can be very restrictive in foot movement under the guise of "protection". While I know that the foot needs supporting in case of an off you also need to be able to walk while wearing them. I never liked watching, or being, one of those riders that seem to hobble like a scarecrow with stick shoved up ass just because my boots are too inflexible and stiff. I found these boots to have good movement for walking while maintaining lateral support to stop foot flopping sideways.
> I wanted to go away form the "cruiser" style boots into something that looks more like a racer and found these are nice looking boots. They can come in a variety of colours but I stayed with black cause it's more universal and I don;t want to change boots cause I changed bikes LOL.
> Over the years I have had everything from $59 - $599 boots for riding. While each price range has it's benefits I personally think that these boots for about $189 are very good value for money for what they are!!!!
> So far the only down side with these boots seems to come from a very unusual design flaw. The ankle pivot point is held together by a small screw which allows the hard plastic casing of one part of the boot to move with the foot while still being attached to the rest of the boots hard casing. Unfortunately I, and my mate that also bought the same boots, found that this screw is slightly proud of the pivot socket and has slight burs on the phillips head inset which WILL rub on the bike while riding if not covered by riding trousers. I now have a patch of very noticeable scratches on my new 99's black frame near the gear lever. This cam e about form just one ride where I was wearing my work trousers, not my draggins, and the bottom cuff rose above the pivot point on the boots.
Over all, I would recommend these boots as a good, money conscious, riding boot in a racing style