Sendra Motorboots: “World’s Finest Motorcycle Boots”
Having grown up the son and brother of cobblers, I’m exceptionally familiar with motorcycle boots. I know which brands hold up under serious use and which peel apart under pressure. In my experience far more fell into the latter than the former. Groups like the West Coast Shoe Company (Wesco), Chippewa, Carolina have consistently crafted the highest quality motorcycle boots money can buy. Wesco’s custom boot program is so extensive, it deserves its own post. Meanwhile, once venerable names like Frye and Redwing began to experiment with overseas manufacturing with a decided slant towards style over durability that shoved them into the ranks of the “fashion boot”. Fashion boots look great and are often very affordable due to the use of a hot-glued sole in lieu of the traditional “Goodyear” configuration characterized by a hand sewn welt and nailed or screwed sole.
image courtesy GQ Magazine
When I first heard about Sendra in the 90’s I’d only associated them with high end, hand made cowboy boots from Spain. It wasn’t until this now infamous pic of David Beckham pulling on a pair of Sendra Motoboots in his closet appeared in GQ that I realized they made an engineer boot. And what about that moniker stitched into the side: World’s Finest”? Sendra had succeeded in garnering my attention. Buying a pair was a whole other story.Turns out these “World’s Finest” motorcycle boots aren’t imported into North America. It took over a year before I finally found a pair on Ebay.
That was six years ago. I’ve since ridden those boots from one end of the county to the other, through a 20 degree snowstorm with 30 inch drifts in Albuquerque to to an asphalt melting 113 degrees in Dallas. For a few years, I wore them daily: working, playing, hiking, climbing and generally doing my best to destroy them. The more I beat them, the better they look. Sendra had had the foresight to sew in an impact resistant soft crepe mid sole, so the boots genuinely feel as comfortable as trainers. Even more remarkable, they’re the first steel toed boots I’ve ever worn where the rigid toe goes entirely unnoticed. In short, Sendra’s Motorboots are the hands down the finest pair of riding boots I have ever owned or worked on. I used to worry where I’d find another pair when they eventually wore out. They way these boots are holding up, I think my kids will be fighting over them. If you can find them, BUY THEM.
Twisting the Wick 