Custom White's Boots ... Thoughts?

[Chupacabra]

EDIT: Nice leather – is that Bison?

Yes sir.

 

[chicken1616]

Yes sir.
View attachment 1313327

The Bison is very nice.

 

[Jpto]

Greetings all...on week six waiting for 2 MTO pair of BH's...Reading and rereading this thread and drooled on pix since

I think you'll get yours soon. I just got a shipping notification from Bakers on a pair of HH BH that I ordered through the Black Friday sale

 

[dogman2377]

I think you'll get yours soon. I just got a shipping notification from Bakers on a pair of HH BH that I ordered through the Black Friday sale

Great news! Not a peep here yet and did get through the BF sale as well. Got 2 tone brown FC on one pair and black FC and WB on the other. Real excited and wearing on my patience with the wait

 

[hoppy_IPA]

@iamntbatman - how are your getting along with your Cykel boots? Have you thought about posting an update?

 

[Rymanocerous]

MP Distressed Smooth Roughout.
Commando sole and unstructured toe.

Execution on these is almost perfect, they are stunning. However, having some minor issues and keep going back and forth on sending them back or taking them on the trip I bought them for this upcoming week. Can’t decide how much of it is due to Distressed Smooth being a ***** to break in or construction/lasting differences.

 

[hoppy_IPA]

Of the 2 pairs I have in Distressed, I’ve found it to be a pleasure to break in. Although very thick & rugged, it’s quite supple out of the box. The RO is an indigo sponge

 

[Rymanocerous]

Of the 2 pairs I have in Distressed, I’ve found it to be a pleasure to break in. Although very thick & rugged, it’s quite supple out of the box. The RO is an indigo sponge
View attachment 1314423

Well ****, not what I wanted to hear. I'm thinking the left got lasted tighter than the right. Had the alcohol out last night and I have a socked shoe tree doing some work. If I can get it to stretch just slightly, I think I have a shot of making it through the day until the footbed molds.

Im stubborn and impatient. I'm pretty sure these are hitting the snow with me next week and if I still cant deal with them, Ill have Bakers do some professional stretching. I think the heel wear will solve the balance issue in short order. Cant stop looking at pictures of these on my phone though. Safe to say I am smitten with these.

 

[iamntbatman]

View attachment 1314400
MP Distressed Smooth Roughout.
Commando sole and unstructured toe.

Execution on these is almost perfect, they are stunning. However, having some minor issues and keep going back and forth on sending them back or taking them on the trip I bought them for this upcoming week. Can’t decide how much of it is due to Distressed Smooth being a ***** to break in or construction/lasting differences.

To be completely honest, your left boot there does look like it was lasted crooked.

 

[Rymanocerous]

To be completely honest, your left boot there does look like it was lasted crooked.

Now that you point that out...it seems really obvious. @sambam are you floating around here this morning?

 

[Turns31]

To be completely honest, your left boot there does look like it was lasted crooked.

Is that because of how off-centered the laces are? How they are more towards the inside of the boot? I had a pair of Red Wings that were like that on the left boot as well and they just never felt right.

 

[iamntbatman]

@iamntbatman - how are your getting along with your Cykel boots? Have you thought about posting an update?

Sure, an update! I haven't really seen anyone else on this thread who has these so I may as well.

First, gripes: I really do think I should've shelled out the extra few bucks for the Nomad instead of these Cykels. I guess a lot of people covet stitchdown construction, which these are, but I do miss that beautiful rolled welt of the classic White's construction when I wear these. Also, these are in the black smooth oiltan leather. For actual motorcycle riding, I'd actually very likely go for these over the Nomad, as this leather is tough as nails and would serve its purpose as protective footwear far better than a CXL boot. However, I don't ride motorcycles (apart from the odd motorbike here and there in various Asian locales), so I don't really need a real motorcycle boot. Though CXL has its detractors here, and deservedly so, I think I'd've been happier with the tea-core patina potential of black CXL over the struck-through workboot leather that is black oiltan.

Second gripe: sizing. There's no E width available in this last, so it jumps from D to EE. My Bounty Hunters and MPs are both sized at 11E left, 10.5EE right (though I think I'm going to try 11E for both sides on my next pair). Kyle sized me at 11D left, letting it stretch out, and 10.5EE right. I was really worried about that left boot being unwearable, so I asked to bump it up to 11EE. These came with the Ortholite insoles. For a great many wears, it was really tough even getting my feet in the boots, and the right boot in particular was super tight around the instep. I opted to take out the insoles and see how I fared. The right boot is now just about right, but the left is just a bit too big - it'd probably be fine with the insole, but I think the right boot would still be too tight with it in.

So the left boot being just slightly too big, I can feel my foot slide just a little bit with just about every step. The other issue I have with this pair is that there are two distinct hot spots in the left boot: right under the ball of my foot, there's kind of this bump in the sole from who knows what. That has caused a callous and sort of blister on the ball of my left foot that gets aggravated every time I do a fair bit of walking in these. Also, on the outside edge of the inside of the left boot, there's a place where there's a small gap inside between the vamp and the sockliner. I guess my skin kind of pushes down into this small gap, which abrades and creates something of a hotspot.

All in all, the boots are absolutely fine for standing around in all day, but they're among my least favorite picks for lots of miles. Better sizing or insoles could largely alleviate this issue, but there would still be a bit of foot slide and heel slip. I have wide feet that are fat around the middle part, so it could be that pull-on boots just work less well for me than lace-ups, but the fit on these is not as good as my other White's. With more normally proportioned feet, you'd likely fare far better than me.

I'll still stick with my guns that this last lies somewhere between the 55 last and the Barrie last in terms of arch support. Again, I've been fine with these for standing around all day, so the arch support is enough to really make a difference for my flat feet.

Talking about build quality and aesthetics: the stitching on these is pretty darn good if you ask me, and while I was unsure if I could pull off the engineer look, I think they work really well with straight leg jeans or work pants. They don't have that sleek collapsed toe look of a lot of desirable engineer boots, but they're not the big bulbous classic Wesco toes either - I think these fit somewhere right in the middle. I dig the look for sure. The leather is certainly tough stuff, but kind of featureless. It's just a plain matte black that's relatively lacking in definition. Again, I would've liked the black CXL on the Nomad a bit more, or likely a distressed RO version of this boot, but black engineers just seemed so quintessential to me, I had to go with black even if the leather wasn't super interesting.

Overall quite happy, especially with the price I paid, and with the right insoles these would probably get even more wear. But, I still wish I'd gone for Nomads.

 

[hoppy_IPA]

thanks for the detailed writeup, @iamntbatman! very helpful & answers a lot of questions i had about this boot. i like how they look with your indigo denim. the black oil tanned work leather is a great choice. my wife says i can't pull off engineer boots but I can't help but want to get a pair. id have to get soft toe bc I love that collapsed/flat profile they develop with lots of wear.

 

[sambam]

thanks for the detailed writeup, @iamntbatman! very helpful & answers a lot of questions i had about this boot. i like how they look with your indigo denim. the black oil tanned work leather is a great choice. my wife says i can't pull off engineer boots but I can't help but want to get a pair. id have to get soft toe bc I love that collapsed/flat profile they develop with lots of wear.

Sure, an update! I haven't really seen anyone else on this thread who has these so I may as well.

First, gripes: I really do think I should've shelled out the extra few bucks for the Nomad instead of these Cykels. I guess a lot of people covet stitchdown construction, which these are, but I do miss that beautiful rolled welt of the classic White's construction when I wear these. Also, these are in the black smooth oiltan leather. For actual motorcycle riding, I'd actually very likely go for these over the Nomad, as this leather is tough as nails and would serve its purpose as protective footwear far better than a CXL boot. However, I don't ride motorcycles (apart from the odd motorbike here and there in various Asian locales), so I don't really need a real motorcycle boot. Though CXL has its detractors here, and deservedly so, I think I'd've been happier with the tea-core patina potential of black CXL over the struck-through workboot leather that is black oiltan.

Second gripe: sizing. There's no E width available in this last, so it jumps from D to EE. My Bounty Hunters and MPs are both sized at 11E left, 10.5EE right (though I think I'm going to try 11E for both sides on my next pair). Kyle sized me at 11D left, letting it stretch out, and 10.5EE right. I was really worried about that left boot being unwearable, so I asked to bump it up to 11EE. These came with the Ortholite insoles. For a great many wears, it was really tough even getting my feet in the boots, and the right boot in particular was super tight around the instep. I opted to take out the insoles and see how I fared. The right boot is now just about right, but the left is just a bit too big - it'd probably be fine with the insole, but I think the right boot would still be too tight with it in.

So the left boot being just slightly too big, I can feel my foot slide just a little bit with just about every step. The other issue I have with this pair is that there are two distinct hot spots in the left boot: right under the ball of my foot, there's kind of this bump in the sole from who knows what. That has caused a callous and sort of blister on the ball of my left foot that gets aggravated every time I do a fair bit of walking in these. Also, on the outside edge of the inside of the left boot, there's a place where there's a small gap inside between the vamp and the sockliner. I guess my skin kind of pushes down into this small gap, which abrades and creates something of a hotspot.

All in all, the boots are absolutely fine for standing around in all day, but they're among my least favorite picks for lots of miles. Better sizing or insoles could largely alleviate this issue, but there would still be a bit of foot slide and heel slip. I have wide feet that are fat around the middle part, so it could be that pull-on boots just work less well for me than lace-ups, but the fit on these is not as good as my other White's. With more normally proportioned feet, you'd likely fare far better than me.

I'll still stick with my guns that this last lies somewhere between the 55 last and the Barrie last in terms of arch support. Again, I've been fine with these for standing around all day, so the arch support is enough to really make a difference for my flat feet.

Talking about build quality and aesthetics: the stitching on these is pretty darn good if you ask me, and while I was unsure if I could pull off the engineer look, I think they work really well with straight leg jeans or work pants. They don't have that sleek collapsed toe look of a lot of desirable engineer boots, but they're not the big bulbous classic Wesco toes either - I think these fit somewhere right in the middle. I dig the look for sure. The leather is certainly tough stuff, but kind of featureless. It's just a plain matte black that's relatively lacking in definition. Again, I would've liked the black CXL on the Nomad a bit more, or likely a distressed RO version of this boot, but black engineers just seemed so quintessential to me, I had to go with black even if the leather wasn't super interesting.

Overall quite happy, especially with the price I paid, and with the right insoles these would probably get even more wear. But, I still wish I'd gone for Nomads.

Nice write up. Perfect chance for me to chime in. Over the last 6 months, we have been in the development of a new engineer last. We are almost there. Final fit trial boots are in the factory and if all goes well, we will get the lasts ordered by the end of January. We tried to use the 55 last arch and heel but the heel slip was still there. So we went to the 4811 heel and arch and a sleeker engineer toe shape. Feels great and you don't need the insert to hold your heel down. Black waxed flesh is about 1 month out. These are all Nomads that can be customized.

 

[iamntbatman]

Now those are looking really sharp...