A motorcop spoke with me in November, asking about Dehner boots.

Cop: “My co-workers tell me that you know a lot about boots. I have some questions about Dehners.”

Me: “yeah, I have some experience. What do you want to know?” — not really indicating what my experience is quite yet.

Cop: “I’ve heard that regular (aka “stock”) Dehners sometimes break in bad or crack. The thing is, I need a new pair of motorboots and I can’t afford to get Dehners made of all leather. Is it true what they say about the regular Dehners being easily damaged?”

I looked at the motorboots he was wearing, and it was obvious that he needed a new pair. His old boots were badly beaten up, sagging, and were damaged from years of wear. And they were some off-brand that I couldn’t even tell who made them.

During our discussion, I gently inquired if he might consider alternative brands like All American boots, but he said that “everyone around here wears Dehners, and we can get a great deal on them, so that’s what I want.”

I have a number of pairs of Dehner Boots purchased and owned since the late ’80s. I had been reading information from The Dehner Boot Company that they changed the composition of the material from which they make the shafts of stock patrol boots.

In the past, stock Dehner patrol boots were made of leather only for the foot, and a material that they call “Dehcord,” a synthetic material, on the shaft. That Dehcord (Clarino) stuff had developed a reputation — one good thing and one really bad — easy to maintain with a quick spray of furniture polish, but also easy to damage when exposed to heat (such as from a hot motorcycle pipe) and that the shafts would crack and break with regular wear, exposing a white material underneath.

The only way to determine if Dehner Boots claim that they improved the material that they use for the shafts of stock boots was to get a pair and put them to the test. I offered to the cop to do a personal test and give him the results before he bought a new pair of boots. He was willing to wait.

Said new pair of boots arrived in mid-December. However, with my spouse being so ill from a relapse of his infection, I did not have much time to test the boots as promised. I finally had some time yesterday (and today… see below).

I began my test as I usually do by manually breaking in the boot shafts. I noticed while I was bending the boots at the ankle that they seemed to be more flexible from the get-go. The shafts are still quite sturdy, but do not seem quite as stiff. The manual break-in was easy.

I shined them up — as they come from the factory, the surface is a bit dull, so I applied a thin coat of wax and shined them. They shined well, but again the surface of the shafts seemed to be different from earlier pairs of stock Dehner boots. The shine was good, but not glossy/brilliant like the other stock Dehners that I own. That indicated to me that the new material was much more like real leather than plastic (synthetic.)

I pulled them on. It was too darn cold to hop on my Harley on 31 December to test them out, so I had to do my test by walking in them, bending, squatting, stretching, flexing, and otherwise really moving the foot around to flex/bend the ankle.

I was impressed. The boots felt great and quite comfortable. After I pulled the boots off, I looked carefully at the bends at the ankle, and the breaks were even (parallel to the ground), dimpled appropriately on the sides, and no damage was observed such as cracking.

I called the cop on the phone and explained my observations. He said, “great news; I am ordering a pair now.” I offered to sell him my new pair, already broken in. He said, “thanks, but we have to buy new motorboots through our PD’s contract, and I’m sure you personally aren’t on the list of approved vendors.”

Yeah, he’s right about that.

Oh well, so here I am — a new pair of really good-looking lug-soled Dehners have made their way into my collection. All for the purposes of providing an honest evaluation for one of our community’s finest servants.

1 January update: I couldn’t resist — I got out for a ride with these boots today. They worked well, and were very comfortable. Life is short: be willing to change opinions about Dehner boots and give them another try.