318: New Sidi Boot Parts for Me

I think I've mentioned how the boots I currently wear off-road are some well-used (AKA just about worn-out) Sidi Vortex boots, and I've had some brand-new Sidi Crossfire TA boots waiting in the wings which I've owned for a year.
Why am I still using the old ones?
Basically, after wearing the new ones on two off-road rides, I decided I did not like a feature on the boot:
Like all of the latest motocross boots on the market, the ankle area pivots on metal hinge pins.
There are, naturally, parts covering the pins so that they can slide more easily across the side of the bike while riding, and also to protect them from damage.

I did not like how the new boots felt like they had a half of a golf ball glued to the inside of my ankles.
It felt a bit too bulbous around the ankles, something that annoyed me since squeezing the bike while riding is what I do.
Because of this, I decided to keep wearing the old boots until a solution came up.
Well, it has (hopefully) come.

Sidi just introduced the latest version of their Crossfire motocross boot, and the ankle pivot covers are much less bulbous-looking, and, instead of a hard plastic cover, it has a softer, grippier rubbery covering.
The rubber cover is spread over twice the area, so it seems to stick out less and is less abrupt in the way it rises above the boot, and (I hope), easier to slide over the bike and grip the bike while riding.
Basically, instead of half a golf ball glued to the inside of my ankle, there is now a rubber-covered miniature pork chop there that seems to stick up less.
I saw how Sidi was also selling these new parts seperately, allowing you to make last year's Crossfire TA boots like the latest version at the ankle pivot cover area.
So, I just bought the new parts and installed them on my worn-twice boots.

The swap of the parts went easier than I thought it would, requiring what are called by Sidi new boot uppers, and new pivot pins.
The pins are the hinges the boot pivots on, and the uppers are the soft plastic part of the boot that hooks onto the pins and wraps around your calf.
(In case you don't know, boots for the past 20 years are less and less real leather, and more and more man-made materials like plastics and leather substitutes, probably because real leather is expensive although it gives excellent feel to the rider and is very rugged.)

The way that Sidi improved the ankle covering is by no longer using a circlip to snap into a groove on the outside of the pivot pins to keep the pivot together.
Now, the pins simply engage with slots in the boot uppers, eliminating the circlips and the bulbous golf ball covers that used to protect them.
In fact, unlike before, you can no longer see the pins or the circlips because they are now beneath the slimmer-looking rubber covers.

I'll be using the Crossfire TAs this weekend in the rock pile.
I'm hoping I like the change because the boots otherwise feel very good.

Off to jerk,
-John