Durability of boots

"GSV Three Minds in a Can" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

So how long do y'all reckon a pair of boots (decent quality) should last,
in months, miles, bootlace changes or whatever?? (I ask because I've just
about knackered my Brashers in 5 months),.

my army boots are still going strong after about 12 years. still using the
origional laces too :-D

GSV Three Minds in a Can said:

So how long do y'all reckon a pair of boots (decent quality) should
last, in months, miles, bootlace changes or whatever?? (I ask because
I've just about knackered my Brashers in 5 months),.

You're not alone with that problem - Istr several posts here about the
short life of Brashers.
I've had boots that lasted 6 or 7 years, but can't remember the make.
They were Italian, with Vibram soles, and the uppers split before the
soles wore out.

--

R
o
o
n
e
y

GSV Three Minds in a Can said:

So how long do y'all reckon a pair of boots (decent quality) should
last, in months, miles, bootlace changes or whatever?? (I ask
because I've just about knackered my Brashers in 5 months),.

I've had my Scarpa Fitzroy's since '93. I'm a bit
disappointed......I'm on my fifth set of laces.

The leather is well scuffed and scratched, but liberal coatings of
nikwax when polished give a nice patina, the dovetail joints still
look good and the cabriole leg are... err ..... sorry gone into
Arthur Negus mode for a moment then!

The stitching is still sound, but the sole units are getting very worn
now, the once sharp edges are very round and walking doesn't feel as
secure as it used to, but that could be due to my age rather than the
boots maybe?

Its fair to say they have had little use in the last 2 years as I have
not had the opportunity to walk and climb as regularly as I would
wish.

But prior to this they would have been used 3 weekends out of 4 for
walking and scrambling in the winter, less in the summer as I rock
climbed more in the summer. Judging that I did on average 12.5km per
route I would estimate in 10yrs at 25km per month the boots will have
travelled around 3000km

IIRC they cost £129 a bit hefty in '92 but have proved their price.

Regards Jeff.

www.astrecks.co.uk

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I noticed that Message-ID: <[email hidden]> from GSV
Three Minds in a Can contained the following:

Quoted message said:

So how long do y'all reckon a pair of boots (decent quality) should
last, in months, miles, bootlace changes or whatever?? (I ask because
I've just about knackered my Brashers in 5 months),.

Hmm, I noticed a slight crack on my Trezetas the other day. Soles are
fine though. I can't win, the uppers on my Merrills are fine but the
damn soles are worn out

--
Geoff Berrow (put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs http://www.ckdog.co.uk/rfdmaker/

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the wonderful person
Dave Pickles <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

GSV Three Minds in a Can said:

So how long do y'all reckon a pair of boots (decent quality) should
last, in months, miles, bootlace changes or whatever?? (I ask because
I've just about knackered my Brashers in 5 months),.

The only thing holding my Brashers together is the Goretex lining...

OK I've had them for about 3 years, but the distance covered in that time is
only 500 - 1000 miles. That makes 10 - 20p per mile in boot wear! It would
be cheaper to drive.

Still looking for boots with good ankle support that don't crack across the
toe flex.

Ah, snap - that's exactly where my FMB2's have gone. The Goretex and
fabric inner is still fine (so far), but the nubuck/suede/leather (pick
your label) has cracked on both feet, on the 'big toe' side. Laces still
OK. Soles virtually unmarked. 600 miles on the clock (5 months!).
Methinks I shall [censored] at the vendor, since, as you say, 10p a mile
makes driving look cost effective. 8>.

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
SC recommends the use of Firefox; Get smart, or get assimilated.

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]
says...

Quoted message said:

So how long do y'all reckon a pair of boots (decent quality) should
last, in months, miles, bootlace changes or whatever?? (I ask because
I've just about knackered my Brashers in 5 months),.

I've got a pair of Hawkins boots I've had for 15 years, the Vibram sole
is very worn, they've covered a lot of miles, but the uppers, while very
scruffy, are still good.

I've just bought a pair of Berghaus Explorers and looked/tried a pair of
Brashers at the time. I liked the Brashers very much but the leather
uppers were very soft, I thought that they might not be as tough as I'd
like. Looks like my instinct was right!
--

Regards

Nick

Scarpa Dom's 1979 approx £100 then. Still useable but a bit heavy for me now
I'm old so shuffle around in some Scarpa Peaks.

They don't make um like they used to (old git)!

Jon

"Nick" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]
says...

Quoted message said:

So how long do y'all reckon a pair of boots (decent quality) should
last, in months, miles, bootlace changes or whatever?? (I ask because
I've just about knackered my Brashers in 5 months),.

I've got a pair of Hawkins boots I've had for 15 years, the Vibram sole
is very worn, they've covered a lot of miles, but the uppers, while very
scruffy, are still good.

I've just bought a pair of Berghaus Explorers and looked/tried a pair of
Brashers at the time. I liked the Brashers very much but the leather
uppers were very soft, I thought that they might not be as tough as I'd
like. Looks like my instinct was right!
--

Regards

Nick

GSV Three Minds in a Can <[email hidden]> wrote :

Quoted message said:

So how long do y'all reckon a pair of boots (decent quality) should
last, in months, miles, bootlace changes or whatever??

Hmmm how do you define decent quality ? ;-)

Neebee Phoenix ~1,500 miles, and yes, the suede/nubuck on the big toe crease has
split. Soles have the main groves to a depth of 3-5mm, some of the minor groves
have worn away. £70 so 4.6p/mile.

I've not used any treatments and given others experience I wonder if they have
any significant effect. ISTM that the quality of the leather/suede/nubuck is the
most important factor. Which is just about impossible for the average punter or
gear tester to determine until they've worn them out, by which time the boot is
no longer in production.....

Daytona

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the
wonderful person Daytona <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

GSV Three Minds in a Can <[email hidden]> wrote :

Quoted message said:

So how long do y'all reckon a pair of boots (decent quality) should
last, in months, miles, bootlace changes or whatever??

Hmmm how do you define decent quality ? ;-)

Bought in a proper boot shop for £50 and up, rather than 'off the back
of a market stall for £10, with a label that says 'Salmonmen''. 8>.

Quoted message said:

Neebee Phoenix ~1,500 miles, and yes, the suede/nubuck on the big toe
crease has
split. Soles have the main groves to a depth of 3-5mm, some of the minor groves
have worn away. £70 so 4.6p/mile.

I've not used any treatments and given others experience I wonder if they have
any significant effect. ISTM that the quality of the
leather/suede/nubuck is the
most important factor. Which is just about impossible for the average punter or
gear tester to determine until they've worn them out, by which time the boot is
no longer in production.....

Daytona

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
SC recommends the use of Firefox; Get smart, or get assimilated.

"GSV Three Minds in a Can" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

So how long do y'all reckon a pair of boots (decent quality) should
last, in months, miles, bootlace changes or whatever?? (I ask because
I've just about knackered my Brashers in 5 months),.

My old Brashers finally gave up the ghost last summer, after about 8 years.
When I shopped around to replace them, a couple of places told me that
nowadays Brashers aren;t made to the same huigh quality that they were years
ago, and there are better boots on the market for similar money. In the end
I came out with a pait of Akus, which seem nice and sturdy, but are taking a
little bit more breaking-in than my Brashers did.

"GSV Three Minds in a Can" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

So how long do y'all reckon a pair of boots (decent quality) should
last, in months, miles, bootlace changes or whatever?? (I ask because
I've just about knackered my Brashers in 5 months),.

I've had my Scarpa Mantas donkeys years and they won't wear out. I'm
thinking of downgrading them to a summer only boot so I can justify some of
the even nicer modern Mantas.

Roy.

On Sat, 19 Feb 2005 22:21:05 GMT, Jeff C <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I've had my Scarpa Fitzroy's since '93...they cost £129 a bit hefty in '92 but have proved their price.

I've also got a pair of vintage Fitzroys in good nick, but you need to
be pretty damned fit to just lift them off the ground. They were
always sold as 4-season / winter boots and the build quality reflects
that. There days I prefer something lighter on the foot, even in
winter.

--
Pete Bland

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the
wonderful person pete bland <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

On Sat, 19 Feb 2005 22:21:05 GMT, Jeff C <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I've had my Scarpa Fitzroy's since '93...they cost £129 a bit hefty
in '92 but have proved their price.

I've also got a pair of vintage Fitzroys in good nick, but you need to
be pretty damned fit to just lift them off the ground. They were
always sold as 4-season / winter boots and the build quality reflects
that. There days I prefer something lighter on the foot, even in
winter.

That's my concern about something like Scarpa Mantas .. I'm looking for
something in which I can (comfortably) walk 20+ miles through water and
mud (more than 25 times!), not something suitable for kicking holes in
glaciers.

I'm sure 'durable' should be possible without going to '5mm thick, and
bullet proof', although I suppose that if they don't flex, then they
won't crack at the flex point. 8>.

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
SC recommends the use of Firefox; Get smart, or get assimilated.

GSV Three Minds in a Can said:

So how long do y'all reckon a pair of boots (decent quality) should
last, in months, miles, bootlace changes or whatever?? (I ask because
I've just about knackered my Brashers in 5 months),.

Leather preparation and care makes a huge difference. In 1962 I bought
a pair of soft suede lightweight boots/shoes, think they were called
"kletterschoen". Cost #25. Vibram soles. These days they'd probably be
called "approach shoes". I slathered them in neat's foot oil, poured
some into the boots, wrapped them in very oily rags, and put them into
a cooling down switched off oven overnight. Then I tipped the oil back
into the can and kept stuffing them with paper until they'd stopped
being oily inside, which took about a week.

I wore those boots nearly every day for five years, and then for the
next 25 years I always wore them on hills, in the garden, and
whenever the weather was uncertain, which was probably about three or
four months nearly every day in the winter. Once a year. or maybe
twice, I'd paint them with some neat's foot oil. I regretfully threw
them away after thirty years good service when the almost totally
flattened vibram soles finally cracked open. It wasn't worth having
them resoled because cracks were beginning to appear in the uppers,
and some stitching holes had torn out. In other words, the soles,
uppers, and stitching all failed about the same time, after thirty
five years hard use. Good design :-)

I spent six months looking for something like them and failed, so I've
regretfully, and hopefully only temporarily, joined the modern
disposable boot culture of rubbish which falls apart before the sole
is even half worn down.

--
Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

I wear Brasher Hillmasters 15 months old and they are showing similair
wear as described elsewhere, uppers going and tread thin. I think I
will get them retreaded at LSR and then next time buy new.
Wife has Brasher Fellmasters 17 months old and seem in good condition
and do not need retreating yet.
Daughter (10) has "suede" child scarpas and they had to be replaced
because of(no problem) however they seem to be going again after 4
months but originally bought 13 months ago.
Son (8) has childs Gelerts and he has just grown out of them, still in
good condition an never had wet feet, and we have bought the same
again after 13 months.
Average walks are High fells 8 milers one week, Dales 8 milers
Alternate, with me fitting in extra mid week so around 400 miles a
year.
Son is very similair to his mother though and quite light footed and
the daughter is like me a clumsy beast, so perhaps walking styles have
a large bearing on things.

In message <[email hidden]>

GSV Three Minds in a Can said:

So how long do y'all reckon a pair of boots (decent quality) should
last, in months, miles, bootlace changes or whatever?? (I ask because
I've just about knackered my Brashers in 5 months),.

I have different boots for different uses. For general low level
and summer walking I use fabric boots (or Teva sandles) and have used
Karrimor KSB2s. I'm on my third pair and they last about a year to 18
months each. I didn't pay full price having purchased them in various
sales. I guess I average about 10-15 miles a week so that's less than a
1000 miles per pair.

However for tough conditions e.g. high mountain use in the Alps on mixed
terrain, and winter conditions in Scotland, I used to use Koflach
plastic boots. They are more than 15 years old and completely trashed
now. The vibram soles are worn out and also the inners are falling to
pieces. I guess they had no more than 2-3 weeks use each year in that
time.

For general high level walks and summer alpine use I have worn either
Scarpa Fitzroys or more recently I have Manta M4s. They seem to last
several years but that is perhaps helped by the fact that I use the
fabric boots a lot of the time.

My experience is that I wreck boots by wearing out the tread towards the
toe area and also by bending and cracking the uppers of the boots just
behind the toes. It seems to me that this is a by-product of the way I
walk. On all gradients except for very gentle ones, I tend to walk on my
toes, whereas I notice some others put the flat of their soles down and
flex at the ankles. My calf muscles, tendons and ankles don't let me do
that. I seem to wear out my boots at about twice the rate that my wife
wears out hers.

--
o/ \\ // |\ ,_ o Mike Clark
<\__,\\ // __o | \ / /\, "A mountain climbing, cycling, skiing,
"> || _`\<,_ |__\ \> | immunology lecturer, antibody engineer and
` || (_)/ (_) | \corn computer user"

GSV Three Minds in a Can <[email hidden]> wrote :

Quoted message said:

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the
wonderful person Daytona <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

GSV Three Minds in a Can <[email hidden]> wrote :

Quoted message said:

So how long do y'all reckon a pair of boots (decent quality) should
last, in months, miles, bootlace changes or whatever??

Hmmm how do you define decent quality ? ;-)

Bought in a proper boot shop for £50 and up, rather than 'off the back
of a market stall for £10, with a label that says 'Salmonmen''. 8>.

Just wondered, as I had ordered, and just this minute received, some Karrimor
KSB 300 GTXs for £50 bought online <g>

Daytona

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the
wonderful person Daytona <[email hidden]> said
<snip>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>So how long do y'all reckon a pair of boots (decent quality) should
>last, in months, miles, bootlace changes or whatever??

Hmmm how do you define decent quality ? ;-)

Bought in a proper boot shop for £50 and up, rather than 'off the back
of a market stall for £10, with a label that says 'Salmonmen''. 8>.

Just wondered, as I had ordered, and just this minute received, some Karrimor
KSB 300 GTXs for £50 bought online <g>

Nope, sorry ... Karrimor definitely qualifies as 'proper'. So (to steal
from another thread) do 'Peter Storm' and 'Blacks'. Even Hawkshead's
leather (Lowen?) models, although I'm not sure about their fabric/suede
or rubber (snowboot) jobs - probably quite 'proper' in the right
context, but afaiac that isn't mud-plugging around the Marches.

I was actually looking at the Karrimors today - looked fine, although
nobody had my size (10. I mean how come everyone stocks 6, and 12, but
never has popular sizes like 9 or 10??). I won't say what I actually
bought (snigger), until/unless they outlast 5 months.

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
SC recommends the use of Firefox; Get smart, or get assimilated.

Roy said:

"GSV Three Minds in a Can" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

So how long do y'all reckon a pair of boots (decent quality) should
last, in months, miles, bootlace changes or whatever?? (I ask because
I've just about knackered my Brashers in 5 months),.

I've had my Scarpa Mantas donkeys years and they won't wear out. I'm
thinking of downgrading them to a summer only boot so I can justify some of
the even nicer modern Mantas.

Roy.

Another vote for Mantas, I have a pair of Scarpa Manta Trionic Attacks
(or some such nonsense name) that must be 12 years old and although they
haven't had much use in the last 5 or 6 years they got used at least
every other weekend before that. The uppers are still in good nick apart
form the odd cut (probably from scrambling) although the soles are
starting to wear a little now. I can't fault them really considering
they've been mostly used for walking in the Welsh Mountains in all
conditions except heavy snow when I used to use plastic boots.