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Back in Spring 2006 I bought my DRZ400s and eventually my Strom in the Fall.
Not having owned a bike in years, and never having "proper gear" as a teen, I bought a pair of heavy duty hiking boots for use on the DRZ. Later touring on the Strom I bought a nice pair of Matrix II boots, to handle wet weather and offer a motorcycle specific protection. I'm now on my second set of Matrix II boots and I've put 53,000 miles on my Strom.
My wife road the DRZ around the lawn and then took the MSF course to get her license a few years ago. After getting her license and riding my Strom she wouldn't get on the DRZ again, so we bought a second Strom, which she's put 11,000 miles on. Our last trip upto the Gaspe Peninsula went over a lot of road construction and she now feels pretty confident on he Strom. I was impressed when she road diagonally across four inches of steaming unrolled fresh pavement just outside of Quebec City, when a road crew decided that was when we should be entering the road. I went through it first and thought I was roosting her with hot tar.
This year I decided we both still had more to learn on the "dirt bike", and I bought a DR200s so that she would have a "smaller" offroad bike and the extra confidence that goes with it. I intend for us to do more schooling offroad this summer and build up a strong skill base for both myself and my wife.
Last weekend we went out and purchased a his and hers pair of my first real offroad boot. We tried breaking them in around the house, and although stiff they are very comfortable.
So this morning I decided I would give them a test ride in on the bike. With tempuratures just below 30F, I had my HT2.0 pants and liners on. They just fit over the boots and I found that limited my movement somewhat. However the real problem is upshifting. The sales guy warned us that the rear break would feel overly strong, so I was careful with that. Breaking and downshifting didn't seem to be much of an issue at all. But getting my foot under the shifter proved nearly impossible.
Not being smart enough to first test while safely on the center stand, my first shift was heading up the road. The first few gears I shifted using the edge of the sole. Then I just twisted my foot around to hook under the shifter and tap it up, not really on the peg. Eventually I discovered I could twist around and get my foot under the shifter while still on the peg. However when it was in the "correct" position I couldn't really release the shifter low enough to get multiple shifts in. So each gear involved a shift and then extracting my toe so the lever could fall back down enough for the next shift. Standing didn't seem to offer me a significant advantage, although it was slightly easier to get the toe down. Another problem I found was that the top of the boot provides no feeling, so it was easy to be applying enough pressure to speed shift while getting into position for my next upshift. So twenty miles later I'm at work and thinking how much that felt like I was a complete newbie.
On my DRZ I assume I will adjust the shifter a little higher, and that the boots will loosen up more as they "break in".
Anything else that might make this a little easier on me, or more importantly my wife! Lets just say that she wasn't for buying a fourth bike, and is just now coming around to think it could be fun to do some "trail riding". Having her feel awkward is really the opposite direction that I was looking for. But I also want to ensure we are using reasonable safety gear, as I'll feel horrible if she breaks a leg or ankle.
So am I just being a wimp and need to suck it up and learn to cope, or are there some tricks I should know that will help? Obviously I could go buy even better boots, but lets assume that I'm too cheap to spend more than what I just bought. In case it matters because somehow I've chosen really poorly, I bought Answer MODE boots.
Not having owned a bike in years, and never having "proper gear" as a teen, I bought a pair of heavy duty hiking boots for use on the DRZ. Later touring on the Strom I bought a nice pair of Matrix II boots, to handle wet weather and offer a motorcycle specific protection. I'm now on my second set of Matrix II boots and I've put 53,000 miles on my Strom.
My wife road the DRZ around the lawn and then took the MSF course to get her license a few years ago. After getting her license and riding my Strom she wouldn't get on the DRZ again, so we bought a second Strom, which she's put 11,000 miles on. Our last trip upto the Gaspe Peninsula went over a lot of road construction and she now feels pretty confident on he Strom. I was impressed when she road diagonally across four inches of steaming unrolled fresh pavement just outside of Quebec City, when a road crew decided that was when we should be entering the road. I went through it first and thought I was roosting her with hot tar.
This year I decided we both still had more to learn on the "dirt bike", and I bought a DR200s so that she would have a "smaller" offroad bike and the extra confidence that goes with it. I intend for us to do more schooling offroad this summer and build up a strong skill base for both myself and my wife.
Last weekend we went out and purchased a his and hers pair of my first real offroad boot. We tried breaking them in around the house, and although stiff they are very comfortable.
So this morning I decided I would give them a test ride in on the bike. With tempuratures just below 30F, I had my HT2.0 pants and liners on. They just fit over the boots and I found that limited my movement somewhat. However the real problem is upshifting. The sales guy warned us that the rear break would feel overly strong, so I was careful with that. Breaking and downshifting didn't seem to be much of an issue at all. But getting my foot under the shifter proved nearly impossible.
Not being smart enough to first test while safely on the center stand, my first shift was heading up the road. The first few gears I shifted using the edge of the sole. Then I just twisted my foot around to hook under the shifter and tap it up, not really on the peg. Eventually I discovered I could twist around and get my foot under the shifter while still on the peg. However when it was in the "correct" position I couldn't really release the shifter low enough to get multiple shifts in. So each gear involved a shift and then extracting my toe so the lever could fall back down enough for the next shift. Standing didn't seem to offer me a significant advantage, although it was slightly easier to get the toe down. Another problem I found was that the top of the boot provides no feeling, so it was easy to be applying enough pressure to speed shift while getting into position for my next upshift. So twenty miles later I'm at work and thinking how much that felt like I was a complete newbie.
On my DRZ I assume I will adjust the shifter a little higher, and that the boots will loosen up more as they "break in".
Anything else that might make this a little easier on me, or more importantly my wife! Lets just say that she wasn't for buying a fourth bike, and is just now coming around to think it could be fun to do some "trail riding". Having her feel awkward is really the opposite direction that I was looking for. But I also want to ensure we are using reasonable safety gear, as I'll feel horrible if she breaks a leg or ankle.
So am I just being a wimp and need to suck it up and learn to cope, or are there some tricks I should know that will help? Obviously I could go buy even better boots, but lets assume that I'm too cheap to spend more than what I just bought. In case it matters because somehow I've chosen really poorly, I bought Answer MODE boots.
