Raida TrailCraft Motorcycle Boots Review
Bought on: 25th January 2024
Bought from: https://raidagears.com/motorcycle/raida-trailcraft-motorcycle-boots/
Price: Rs. 17,450
Distance used for: ~2000 kms
After an extensive search for full size touring boots, I bought a pair of Raida TrailCraft Motorcycle Boots. Since I was going to use them exclusively for touring, I wanted zero compromises on safety so a CE certification was must. I also wanted them to be waterproof. I didn’t find a lot of of great options in my budget and narrowed my choices down to the Raida TrailCraft Boots and the Tarmac Adventure Pro Boots. The Raidas are better built, more rigid, have better buckles and certified to a slightly higher level of CE certification. The advantage of the Tarmacs are that they are listed as water resistant while the Raidas are not(more on this later). The Tarmac boots are also a little cheaper but spare part availability was non-existent for the Tarmacs and a dealer in Bangalore told me it’s gonna get more difficult as India has imposed new import restrictions.
Build Quality
Holding them for the first time, the boots seem really well made. They have good grip(3rd picture in the 7000km update) and are sturdy. They have shin, ankle, toe, heel and calf protection. They are CE Certified to EN 13634: 2017 (LEVEL 2) which is really important as this specific standard is for “Protective footwear for motorcycle riders”. A lot of other boots, for example the Raida Explorer Boots, are CE Certified to EN ISO 20345 which is a standard for safety footwear for general purpose which is not exactly what we want for motorcycle boots. There are 4 components to this EN 13634: 2017 - height of upper, abrasion resistance, impact cut resistance and transverse rigidity. The Raida TrailCraft Boots are rated Level 2 in all four components(last image in the gallery above).
They are made of some sort of synthetic material which seems sturdy. They have stretch panels in the front and the back which help with walkability. They are secured using a velcro at the top and 4 buckles which can be adjusted as per your preference. The buckles are replaceable and Raida does sells them separately as well which is great. They’re designed to be off-road boots but I have used them for touring and they seem to work great.
There is no mention of them being waterproof or even water resistant on the website. I emailed Raida about this and they say the boots do have a membrane(you can see it in the 5th image in the gallery above) but it loses effectiveness overtime so they don’t advertise it. I was okay to compromise on this as I did not find other good waterproof boots in this range. Some do offer water-resistance but were lacking in other aspects. I do not plan riding a lot in the rain anyway and I can use some waterproof socks and boots covers if needed.
Here they are compared to my other riding boots (RE x TCX Cabo WP) and some regular sports shoes from Decathlon.
Using them
Here’s me wearing them and bending them bend them forwards and backwards to show how you you can walk or change gears in them.
My feet are a bit wide in the front so I wear size 11 shoes and these are 11 as well. When I put them on for the first time, they felt a bit tight. But after adjusting the buckles and wearing using the boots for a few rides, they got comfortable. They are a bit heavy and rigid but you get used to them eventually. They have a soft padding inside and are comfortable. At first they will feel too awkward to change gears in. Moving your toes up and down takes some practice and if you place your foot incorrectly, you could activate the rear brake. All of this takes some getting used to. It gets much easier once you ride a few hundred kilometres in them. They have decent walkability as well. There is enough space in them so that can wear your riding pants inside the boots as I have in the pictures above. I have used them for 2 long rides totalling around 2000 kilometres and they have held up well. There’s only some minor cosmetic deterioration where the Raida logo has started peeling off. It’s only surface level so it’s not an issue.
I use them with knee length socks from Raida and with my riding pants, my entire leg from the knee down is protected. The knee armour sits perfectly above the boots.
I’d say these boots are a great buy for the price. No other riding boots in this range offer such great features.
Note: Raida does offer exchange on these boots if you need a different size but you have to send the boots back to them by courier on your own dime. However, they will ship the replacement boots to you for free.
Update 1 - 7000 kms | 6 Months
The only cleaning I’ve done is wipe them down with a damp cloth after each tour.
Since I’ve posted this review, I have done another 5000 kms with these boots, most of them during my Ladakh trip. I’m happy to say these boots are still holding up well. Visually and structurally they’re still solid. Although I do now have proof that these are not waterproof. While crossing some water in Ladakh, I felt that maybe a little water might have seeped it. I could not confirm this since I had a lot of riding remaining for the day and I did not want to take them off. I couldn’t feel the water on my feet since I was wearing waterproof socks. Later when I rode in some heavy rain, the boots got damp on the inside. It wasn’t like there was a pool of water in the boots but rather the inner walls were a little damp. So I would say these are water resistant because nothing seems to seep in during light rain but if they’re exposed to water for a long time, water will seep in and wet the walls on the inside.
I will add an update when I test it again in some water crossings with prolonged exposure but as of now I am still really happy with them. I feel they will last me a long time. And as long as I am using waterproof socks(the Rynox ones work really well btw), I don’t really have to worry about water.