Chippewa Hi-Shine Pride of Boots
Four motorcops from the Orlando, Florida, PD were wearing Chippewa Hi-Shine Engineer Boots, model #71418. These are tall engineer boots made in the traditional style with a large round toe and single strap across the instep, and a buckle closure at the top of the boot shaft. Many motor officers choose this style of boot over patrol boots with a bal-laced instep.
My opinion?
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Chippewa Trooper Boots on Motorcops
Two outfits — one from Florida, and another from Georgia — were wearing Chippewa Trooper Boots, model #27950. These are standard-style tall police patrol boots with a bal-laced instep.
My opinion?
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Cops at staging area
I gathered and rode with a large group of bikers who are cops, retired cops, or are in some way related to a law enforcement professional or work in the profession. We rode to join an event that is held around the same time as “Police Week” in Washington, DC. Motor officers from only seven (7) jurisdictions joined that ride this year, which was disappointing.
Anyway, I digress… what two worlds?
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Today, Monday, marks a holiday in the United States. I have the day off from work. It also marks the end of “leather weekend.” While I did not attend any of the Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend events, I did have some time yesterday to take some photos of me in a new-to-me pair of Dehner patrol boots that arrived on Friday.
I was going to take a short ride on my Harley yesterday to break these boots in, but it was too darn cold, so I just leathered up, posted photos to my website, and enjoyed my partner’s company.
What’s special about these boots, and don’t I have enough Dehner Boots already?
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One would think that with the extensive boot collection that I have, I may spend a lot of time shining them. Actually, I don’t. Most of my boots are worn “as is” and perhaps the boots show a little dirt. To me, that is “character.”
However, some boots are made to shine and be kept shiny — Chippewa “High-Shines”, Trooper Boots, and All American Patrol Boots are some examples. How do I maintain the shine on these boots — especially if I don’t have much time (or like to spend time) shining them?
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Santa is getting ready to make his rounds. Have you been naughty or nice?
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I was the lucky winner of an eBay auction a couple weeks ago, and scored, rather inexpensively, a new-to-me pair of Bates Patrol Boots.
I have not seen any cops wearing this particular brand of boots in a long time, so I figure that this style of (tall patrol) boots haven’t been made for several years. I visited the Bates website, and found that this style of tall patrol boots is not made any more. They only make short tactical and military boots these days. Further internet searching indicates that Bates was bought by the same company that makes boots under the Wolverine brand in China… so there goes another quality bootmaker down the drain.
But I digress…. These Bates patrol boots are similar in construction to Chippewa Motor Patrol Boots. That is both a good and bad thing. The boots are made of all leather, which is good. However, the leather is rather thin. I estimate the leather is of 4 to 5oz weight. Perhaps that makes a lighter-weight boot, but it also poses some problems with durability and creasing with wear. (Notice in the photos how the boots are crinkled — and they should not be that way when worn with motor breeches.)
The boots have a bal-laced instep. They also have lacing on the outside of each boot shaft to adjust the fit. A different feature of these boots is a leather-covered expansion band found at the top of the inside of each boot shaft.
What I dislike most about these boots is that they have a seam both down the middle of the front as well as the back of the boot shaft. To me, that seam is both unnecessary and unsightly. The boots also have a cheap nitrile rubber sole, so the traction offered is not all that good. Fine for a dry day, but probably not when the roads are slick with rain.
Oh well, I got these boots inexpensively. They are okay, but I can understand why Bates does not make these boots any more. They were cheap to make, and look it.
More photos of these boots are here.
Life is short: know your boots!
It is not surprising to me, but I remain amazed at the sheer volume of interest in my motorcycle police galleries that I posted on a photo gallery software system on my website.
I announced it on this blog, and probably had a few hundred visitors come from here.
I announced it in the “what’s new” section of my website, and also saw a few hundred visitors originate from there.
Google is bringing lots of visitors, too. Amazing how quickly Google indexes this blog with its search engine, and sends people searching “motorcycle cops” and related key words to that gallery.
I announced it on the “Boots on Line” board on hotboots.com, and man, oh man, the “visitorship” went … zing! Not a minute after I posted a message there, someone from from my home town immediately followed that link to check it out. (Hmmm… interesting… another follower of hotboots.com where I live? Well, I’m glad there is at least one other Bootman besides me in my hometown where boots are rarely worn except by real bikers.)
Throughout the day, hundreds and hundreds of visitors explored that gallery. By 5pm yesterday, my website logged the highest number of visitors and viewership it has ever had in one 12-hour period — over 20,000 page views. Wow! All that in just a half day!
Well, I’m glad there is so much interest in those galleries. And if you are among those who have gotten tired about the prattling I have done about cops, boots, and this gallery, this blog will resume with a different line of thought tomorrow.
Life is short: enjoy the view!
Over the last several evenings, I have been experimenting with using a new-to-me software tool that allows for easier management of photo galleries on my website.
I think it is working — Check it out to see the galleries from the recent Police Motorcycle Competition that I attended last weekend.
I have had a recently retired cop friend check it out for me. He has nothing to do but ride his Harley and give me grief (using his witty charm) by sending ransom demands. He and another local cop who I have known since grade school both said that the new gallery seems to work for them. Yea! It will take time to integrate it throughout my website, but I’ve done a quick-n-dirty redirect to make it “go live” already.
Life is short: use new products that can help make life easier (especially if they’re free! Thanks, Coppermine!)
I guess it was bound to happen. When a guy like me who is particularly fond of tall motorcycle patrol boots and cops in uniforms surrounds himself with … cops in uniforms wearing tall patrol boots — like the situation in which I found myself at the recent police motorcycle competition that I judged — I no longer thought anything other than “nice boots, good looking breeches, now how are you riding?”
I know a lot of guys in a certain group have a “passion” for this stuff. I did, too. Sure, I still like to put on my tall black patrol boots with leather or fabric breeches when I ride my Harley, or on occasions to wear around the house. I might even don a uniform to wear privately to play with my partner. Fun stuff — like “arrest” him when he gets home from work for the crime of being too good to me. That kind of thing.
This past weekend, I saw lots and lots of uniforms and boots. After a while, I heard myself saying, “oh, there are a pair of Dress Instep Dehners. There’s another– that pair has a double sole. That pair has lug soles. Oh those are Chippewa Hi-Shine engineer boots. Those are Chippewa Patrol Boots.” Then more Dehners. Lots of Dehners.
You see it so much you stop looking. Well, let’s say you stop gawking. Sure, I admire a well-kept pair of tall patrol boots on a fit cop in uniform. I am a healthy, red-blooded, gay man. But that’s it. I have no fantasies, no thoughts in any way about what I’m seeing.
I guess that comes from being in a monogamous relationship so long. I don’t think “that way” about anyone other than my partner. And also because I have over a dozen pairs of tall black patrol boots of my own, seeing them on someone else is … just … seeing the same thing again and again. Further, I have several friends who are motor officers. I ride with them regularly (when they are not on duty). No.big.deal. They’re nice guys — the good guys whose service protects us every day.
Okay, I am “desensitized.” That doesn’t mean, however, that I don’t stop taking pictures and working on a new photo gallery for my website. The gallery should be ready tomorrow. Look for the announcement soon.
By the way, why is there a copyright overlay on these images? Unfortunately, I have observed that some unscrupulous people have downloaded images from this blog or my website and reposted my images as their own elsewhere. So overprinting a copyright statement is one way to try to stop that bad behavior.
Life is short: know when it is no longer overwhelming.