Alt Bike Culture - No steel toecaps!

Hi all,

This thread is not strictly on-topic, but seeing as I am a lover of all things with two wheels, both human-powered and petrol-powered, I hope you'll forgive me :)

I recently bought a 125cc scooter because it is is fun to ride and has fantastic fuel economy and a tiny little carbon footprint; I hardly ever drive my car anymore now that I have the scooter! It's bike or scooter everywhere :)

Anyway, I digress. When I did my CBT (Compulsory Basic Training - required by law in the UK before they will let you loose on the public highway on any kind of motorbike!) they told me that I should not wear steel-toecapped boots while riding a motorbike ... why do you suppose this is? I would have thought that steel toecaps would be just the very thing if you didn't want the expense of buying proper biker boots (and let's face it - I would look like **** riding a scooter in biker boots and full leathers! Lol!).

Now that is really strange because I must've done almost all of my motorcycle riding miles wearing steel toecapped boots :innocent:
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa276/Sianelleofavelorn/Annie3.jpg?t=1218323823

the reason for this is cause steelies can get stuck under the clutch, and cause you to wreck. though i doubt your scooter has a foot clutch.

If the steelcaps are mounted inside the boot under the leather it's Ok. I never liked those boots with the steelcaps on the outside that much anyway because they would catch in things.

i meant shifter. and my doc marten steelies, even under the leather would stick. right at the crease/where the steel ends.

I got told that too.

Was going to wear my rigger boots to the cbt
but wore normal boots instead

Yep, that makes sense! My scooter is twist-n-go, so I will prob buy some steel-toecap workboots to ride it with (it may be only a little scooter, but it will happily do 60mph! I think I need a bit of protection!).

On the subject of motorbikes, I had my first "tank slapper" yesterday - was riding into a headwind at about 60 and because the scooter is so light, the whole thing began to blow around in the wind and before I knew it the whole thing started oscillating violently! I did as I was told on the CBT and just took my hand off the gas, and the tank-slapping went away.

Eventually I will progress to a bigger bike, I wonder how you deal with a tank slapper on a big bike at higher speeds? I can imagine a really nasty accident happening; I wouldn't fancy taking a highsider at 85mph on a big bike!!