Fox’s Warren Johnson shows off the all-new Instinct boot. Proper adjustment is an easy way to ensure that your feet remain happy well after a boot has been broken in.
Simply put, if you’re not taking the time to adjust a brand new set of boots before you start riding in them, you’re not getting your money’s worth in terms of performance. Proper boot adjustment allows a boot to break in perfectly for your foot and provide years of solid use, while just putting on a new boot and going riding without any adjusting can lead to binding, hot spots and improper break-in. Dirt Rider asked Fox’s Marketing Communications Director Warren Johnson to take us through the right way to adjust a brand new pair of kicks, as demonstrated on the new Fox Instinct boot. Here are his top tips:
“First thing, you want to adjust your boots while wearing your riding pant, knee braces and the socks that you typically ride in. I think a moto-specific sock is more conducive to performance in terms of moisture-wicking capabilities, so hopefully you have something that suits your preference. To start with, you want to undo all the buckles and open the boot up as far as you can to accept your foot. The reason why you open it up all the way is so you can get your foot in nice and easily. What I do is to take my heel and kick the foot down heel-first into the ground to set your foot into the boot. When you buckle it, your foot will seat back into the boot where it naturally should be, but a little extra tap helps you to seat it.”
“Once your foot is fully seated, fold the gaiter back into the boot so you don not have any binding there. Again, keep your foot in its natural position.”
“Now, you want to start adjusting the boot to your preferences. I recommend you start with the bottom buckle and work up. Keep these loose at first so that the boot conforms to your foot, and just buckle all of them, from the bottom to the top. You’ll notice that our buckles have a pivot, so that the boot has some flexibility but no restrictions—this is the inherent comfort built into the boot.”
“Once you’ve fastened all of the buckles, go back through and tighten each on to what you feel is the proper tension for your preference. A hinge boot isn’t going to give you that much break in—it’ll give you the linear movement that you want but with lateral stability—which in plain terms means that the buckles are not going to loosen up as you wear the boot for the first few times, because the boot is essentially already broken in.”
“Again, with a hinge boot you don’t have to crank down on the buckles too much. I recommend running the bottom strap a little bit snug, with the second strap neutral. I then go tighter with the mid strap and then tightest with the top, because I don’t like my knee braces to move. We actually found that Velcro up at the top restricts movement, so we actually don’t use Velcro. This allows the rider to get even more flexibility out of the boot, and the top strap doesn’t restrict movement if it’s too tight. With a standard leather boot, part of the rigidity you felt was from the buckles. If a buckle is too tight, pull the buckle out, up and slide them back—don’t just yank on the end. Our straps are designed to be long for guys with big calves who wear knee braces.”
“Once the buckles are tightened to a proper tension, your boot should be fully set up and comfortable with no binding or pinching. One thing you can do to help you out is put a little Teflon spray on the inside of the buckles, and make sure that they are clean so that they fasten correctly.”
“Once you have one boot dialed in, repeat the process with the other side. If you feel any odd pinching out on the track, go back to the truck and adjust the buckles a bit more so that the boot is comfortable.”
To learn more about Fox’s new Instinct boot, check out www.foxhead.com.
