Need to repair or replace the sole on a pair of motocross boots? Read on to find out what actually works.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had many serious side effects, not only on peoples health but also on many industries. One of the industries that is been hugely affected by the pandemic is the motorcycle business. While people were locked up and unable to travel or gather in large groups this was obviously not good for the business of running adventure tours but strangely it triggered a boom period for motorcycle sales during 2020. There was a lull in sales for a few months and then right around the middle of the year things went nuts with many people coming back to or getting into the sport of motorcycling because it’s largely a solo pursuit. Plus the government stimulus money of course helped feed this frenzy!
The knock on effect was sales of bikes and accessory items like MX boots went through the roof and distributors and manufacturers have simply not been able to keep up with demand.
So it was when I eventually wore through the sole on my trusty Alpinestars Tech 7’s I was sh*t out of luck in trying to get a new pair of my favourite boots. No matter what colour or style I chose there was no stock in my size. Even when I asked about a new replacement sole to repair my boots I couldn’t get the original black colour, but they did have white soles available. I grabbed those quickly before someone else clicked “Buy Now”!
It’s A Stick Up!
Previously when I lived in Melbourne and worked at one of the big motorcycle retailers there was an old school cobbler in South Melbourne that we used many times to repair customers boots. He did great work.
Trying to find an authentic cobbler to repair boots nowadays is hard and heading down to your local shopping centre and asking ‘Mister Minit’ to fix your stinky MX boots is probably going to result in getting a “You’re f*%king kidding aren’t you? I’m not touching those manky things” look.
I’m usually not scared of a challenge and certainly when it comes to being ‘Mr Fixit’ I like to learn new skills. So I did some research on what would be the best glue and method to repair my boots myself.
The Right Gear
Obviously one of the key elements you will need to resole your boots is a new sole! Any of the quality name brand motorcycle boot manufacturers should be able to sell you a replacement sole for your boots. Don’t expect your local bike shop to have one sitting on the shelf but if you ask them nicely they should be able to order one in from the manufacturer/distributor for you.
In my case, I got a replacement sole for my Alpinestars Tech 7 Enduro boots for $64.95. When you consider the boots themselves are worth $499.95, it is well worth extending the life of your boots by resoling them at least once in their lifetime.
The other key element is getting the right type of glue. Your boots get subjected to an extreme environment with heat, flexibility, abrasion, dirt and water all factors. A trip to my local Bunnings saw me spend about 20 minutes studying the backs of tubes and it surprised me how few of the adhesives mentioned “rubber” as one of the suitable substrates. Selleys Shoe Fix was about the only one that appeared to be fit for purpose, but I wasn’t convinced by this consumer grade product. I wanted industrial strength, not just repairing a blown out sneaker.
I went home and did some research online. Lots of riders on forums were saying “Liquid Nails” or “Sikaflex” to stick their boots together but the reality is when you look on the Sika website there are like 20 different variations of Sikaflex and none of them really mentioned rubber as a substrate. So, after not finding a clear solution I went against my better judgement and bought a couple of tubes of Selleys Shoe Fix.
With glue, soles and boots in hand I set about doing the job.
Stuff you will need:
- Replacement boot soles
- Glue – read below for further details of what glue we actually recommend!
- Heat gun or good hair dryer
- Flat blade screwdriver
- Pliers or multi grips
- Wire brush – ideally a wire wheel on bench grinder or in a drill
- Isopropyl or “rubbing” alcohol – Bunnings and most hardware stores stock this
- Clean rags
- Duct tape
- Weights – use bricks, hand weights, bags of rice
Repair Process For Resoling
- Wash boots and give them a good hard scrub with Jif, Gumption, Power Paste or some other type of cleaner. Give your boots some love inside and out.
- Let the boots dry.
- Use a heat gun on low setting to warm the soles up and soften the glue underneath. You could also leave them in the sun or near a heater for a few hours but heat gun is best.
- Starting at the heel or toe work a flat bladed screwdriver between the sole and boot and start to lift it off. Compare the new sole to make sure you are separating the correct bits!
- Keep heating the sole as you work the layers apart. This is hard to do and I used a variety of tools including screwdriver, pliers & multi-grips to help me coax the sole away from the boot.
- Once the sole is removed from the boot you have to clean up the bonding area on the boot by using a wire brush to remove all traces of the old glue and roughen the surface up. I actually used a wire wheel on my bench grinder which is exactly how we saw them do it in the Alpinestars factory a couple of years ago!
- Also roughen up the bonding area of the new sole with the wire brush.
- Clean and prepare both the boot and new sole by wiping them clean with isopropyl alcohol and a rag.
- Preheat the sole and boot with your heat gun to get them warmed up and ready to accept the glue.
- Liberally apply glue to both surfaces. When I say “liberally” I ended up using a whole 50ml tube of glue per boot and I could almost have used more.
- Bring the boot and sole together being careful to line everything up. Pay particular attention to the outer edges to make sure glue squirts out all the way around so there aren’t any vulnerable spots where dirt can work its way in. Add a bit more glue if need be to get a complete bond all the way to the edge. You may be able clean up excess glue with citrus cleaner or acetone but I was careful and just wiped up the little extras.
- Once you are happy with the alignment, wrap the boots and sole with electrical or duct tape to apply all over pressure. At the Alpinestars factory we saw them place the boots in a type of bag moulded press that put air pressure evenly around the sole, I was trying to replicate that by using tape wrapped around the boot and sole.
- Stand the boots upright and place some weight on top of them. I ended up putting some bricks on top and inside trying to balance the weight out evenly across the sole.
- Leave the boots alone for a minimum of 24 hours but ideally for 72 hours.
- Remove the weights, unwrap the tape and go riding!
Easy right?
Fail!
Ok so after carefully following the steps above my boot repair lasted all of about 1.5 days! Miserable fail.
After making the repair I ran a two-day rider training course over the weekend and by mid-way through the 2nd day the front of my boot was flapping about like President Trump on inauguration day!
Despite my best efforts, the glue let go and starting peeling from the front towards back. I hastily wrapped some electrical tape around the toe of my boots and that was enough to get me through the last few hours of riding.
Take Two
So after that failure and after throwing an internal hissy fit, I went on the hunt again for a glue that was up to the task. Again, I searched some forums and found a couple of suggestions for “E6000” glue which is sold in Australia through Spotlight and Lincraft stores amongst others. Now I was a bit dubious about going into a craft store but the packaging said “industrial strength adhesive” so I purchased a couple of tubes and redid exactly the same steps above again.
This time around I was up against it time wise and to be honest I was only able to let the boots dry for 1 day rather than the recommended 3 days. I was that nervous about the repair I took another pair of old retired Alpinestars boots with me in case the 2nd repair didn’t take!
Big Success!
After changing to E6000 glue the repair has held strong. I have since worn my repaired boots for probably more than 12 days riding over the last 3 months and they have held up strong in all weather conditions without a problem. I’m confident this new sole will likely see out the usable life of the boots.
So, with the right adhesive and a little invest of time you can successfully replace your MX boot soles and extend the life of your boots for years more riding abuse!
*Full disclosure – we are fortunate that Alpinestars have sponsored Maschine and looked after us with safety apparel for many years now. They originally provided the Tech 7 boots to Nick as part of ongoing sponsorship deal and we were supplied the replacement sole from them too. Regardless of this sponsorship we would still be buying their gear because we love it and trust it!