Prexport 596 Boots
Roadracers know it. So do aggressive sport riders. Protection. If you're going to ride fast, you need the best in outerwear protection. In this day and age of heavily-armored leather suits and strong, lightweight composite helmets, what is available for the racer and sport rider to protect those vulnerable (and valuable) appendages at the end of our legs?
...we can honestly say these are among the most rugged, heavily-armored boots we've ever slipped a foot into.
Enter the Prexport 596 Roadracing Boot. Prexport has been making riding boots for the European market since the early seventies, and for a time was the OEM supplier of boots for AGV's line of street and roadracing gear. Now Prexport is branching out in an attempt to establish its brand name abroad, both to obtain a "market awareness" and to establish distribution agreements for the Italian company.
Besides standard racing boot features like gear lever strengthening pads and replaceable toe sliders, the 596's feature full-grain leather uppers with shock-absorbing front and rear heavy rubber plates and a special gel-filled pad covering the susceptible ankle bone. Double layers of leather are stitched in at several key areas, and the boots feature a stiff, reinforced toe-box area, a soft fabric lining and a gel-filled soft calf pad at the top rear.
The boots feature Prexport's patented dual-density shock-absorbing soles that wrap high around the toe and heel areas, and incorporate a rail mounting system for the replaceable wedge-shaped plastic toe sliders. We found the rubber in the soles to be quite hard compared to other high-profile Italian-made boots and should translate into longer sole life. Also, they should prove to be safer during a crash, sliding easier than a softer rubber sole that might grab or catch on the tarmac, resulting in broken bones.
Motorcycle Online Rating:As a Roadrace Boot - ****
As a Sportriding Boot - ***
Prexport 596 Boots are available in nine colors, and retail for $165 (U.S.) plus $32 handling and shipping costs to the U.S.
Unfortunately Prexport does not as yet have full distribution in the USA, but you can direct order any of their products through their website at http://www.motorcycle.com/cgi-bin/redirector?www.prexport.com. The website also features Euro to U.S. size conversion tables. According to a company spokesperson, Prexport has lined up a couple of distributor prospects for the U.S. market and hope to have their complete line of boots widely available sometime later this year.
More by Tom Fortune
Comments
Join the conversation