Cowboy Boots on a Motorcycle

Over the years, I have written posts on this blog expressing my opinion about wearing cowboy boots while operating a motorcycle.

Like other guys, I like to wear cowboy boots. I began wearing them at age 10 and didn’t stop. Over many years, I developed quite a large cowboy boot collection.

Most traditional, dress western, and older cowboy boots have smooth leather soles. Such soles are a bad choice to wear while riding a motorcycle because the soles provide no traction at all. The slightest amount of water or oil on the road makes these boots slide on those soles.

Back in 2013 or so, more boot manufacturers began applying rubber soles, Vibram soles, and/or lug soles on cowboy boots. I bought my first pair of Chippewa cowboy boots with a Vibram sole that were perfect for using on my Harley.

Nowadays, many boot manufacturers offer a cowboy boot / work boot with rugged rubber soles.

As an experienced rider, I choose …
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Styling Boots with Jeans in 2023

Way back in the day when I wrote my “how to wear boots with jeans” tutorial on my website, I once said that a guy should “stack” his jeans, which means

the jeans are long enough to come down to the foot of the boot, but not so long as to drag on the floor behind the heel. The jeans may form a soft fold along the foot of the boot. That is “stacked jeans” — simply, the jeans are long enough to stack (or fold) on top of the boot foot.

Usually that was done with straight-leg jeans.

I never recommended or wore “boot-cut” jeans. A “boot-cut” has a wider opening, which looked like old-style flared jeans. It never was necessary to have a wider leg opening to accommodate a traditional western boot. Straight-leg jeans would stack just fine.

These days, most men (including me) choose tapered-leg jeans. Why?
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Suits and Boots 2023 Update

I have written posts on this blog about wearing boots with suits. Over the years, I have received questions from men who had concerns that “a man does not wear boots with a suit!” Poppycock.

I have provided gentle counsel along the lines of “wear what suits you best.” Generally along the lines of “wear what you like; to heck with the opinion of some style queens or your mother. Be your own man!”

During my working career, I wore suits for important and high-level meetings with the Big Cheese and his direct reports. However, I admit, I never quite felt comfortable in a suit. To me, a suit felt confining and hot. I felt ill-at-ease, and that would show on my face.

After I retired at the end of 2019, I donated the suits I had to charity, and thought…
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Which Boots to Bring on a Trip to Canada?

I have the great fortune to be planning a two-week trip to Western Canada in July. The tour will begin in Vancouver, then a train will take me to Jasper. There I will transfer to a small group that will go on a photo tour in the Canadian Rockies, and includes Lake Louise and Banff. The tour will end in Calgary where I have tickets to attend and watch two days of the Calgary Stampede — described as “the greatest outdoor show on Earth.”

I have a “boot dilemma” on what boots to wear while viewing this event that perhaps my readers can help me with.

Three pairs from my cowboy boot collection are staring me in the face. Each pair is screaming, “wear us! wear us!”

Here are my conditions of wear, and three choices:
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Rujo Boots Review

Rujo Boots entered the cowboy boot market in 2020 with a slogan of “Be Brave.” The word “rujo” means “roar” and certainly this company has a superb product line that unto itself roars with quality.

A lot of guys, especially in the Eastern U.S., are hesitant to wear cowboy boots. All I have to say about that is, “get over it.” No one, no one, will say anything, except perhaps “nice boots” when they see you wearing them.

I own and wear four pairs of Rujo Boots and soon will buy some more. My review and personal opinions follow…
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Cowboy Boots and Suits

After all these years, I still receive inquiries like this:

I am attending a wedding and have to wear a suit. I usually don’t dress up. My job doesn’t have a dress code, so I wear jeans and khakis with cowboy boots. My girlfriend doesn’t want me to wear boots with a suit to the wedding. Since I am not in the wedding party (just a guest), is my girlfriend making too big of a deal about this? I have some nice pairs of dress boots, but as of now, she won’t budge from her opinion against my boots. Signed, Rob

While I am not “Dear Abby,” indeed I do have experience wearing cowboy boots with suits in my lifetime. Read on for my answer…
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Update on BHD Gear Sales

I mentioned on this blog that I am downsizing my leather and boots collections. I have made more adjustments to the BHD Gear Sales Site in response to some visitor feedback, as well as listed more items.

What changes have been made to my sales site? Why am I selling my gear & boots? Why am I doing this via my own site instead of existing merchandise sale sites? If you see some of my boots or gear not shown on the sales site, is it available? Will you sell boots or gear beyond the U.S. or Canada? Read on…
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2022 Plans

Hey there… long time no see! I am doing well, though tolerating the below freezing weather here in the Mid-Atlantic has not been that easy after spending a month in Puerto Rico from mid-December through January.

With it being so darn cold, full leather (shirt, jeans, boots, and even a leather tie for closing the gap at my neck) and my favorite Schott or Langlitz jackets are keeping me warm. Also helps to allow me to turn the heat in my house down a bit to save on home heating costs.

While I was in Puerto Rico, I totally “reset myself” and feel much more positive moving forward in my new life. Mind you, I still miss my husband; the grief is less acute, but still there.

For my “2022 reset,” I made plans related to my boots and leather gear. Interested?
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Tecovas Blew It

Readers of this blog and viewers of my website are probably aware that I became a fan of Tecovas boots. They emerged onto the “cowboy boot scene” in 2015. At first, they offered a limited lineup of men’s traditional western and roper boots. But by now — 2021 — it is my opinion that Tecovas is “too big for their britches.”

I had become more and more wary of the company as they expanded with more styles of boots, additional non-boot products (bags, jeans, belts, swag, and the overpriced boot jack), and began opening a number of brick-and-mortar stores in several U.S. southern states. I was getting concerned that this once small, well-targeted and focused company had been expanding beyond the core concept that I once admired.

However, as a result of a significant March 2021 marketing blunder, I no longer…
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Boot Naming Conflict

I have not been amused… for several years now… that boot manufacturers decided to give names to their boots that are truly meaningless. “Dean, Clayton, Wyatt, Landon, Rutmann, Lor, Devin, Brady, Billy, Rootytootytootoo…” whatever, you look hard enough, you can probably find a boot by whatever name you want.

Personally, for me, I have gone by …
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