Drill air holes to cool motorcycle boots

If like me, you find your motorcycle boots get too hot, then you might feel the yearning to drill air holes to cool those big hot motorcycle boots down.

I can already hear you screaming about ruining the boot and quips about weakening its structural integrity, but really, it's just a few small holes in a very sturdy structure, that is in a way perhaps a little too sturdy for its occupants, my poor sweltering feet. I already wake before sunrise and finish my driving by 11am, the scenery is more beautiful at that time and I'm feeling cool enough to enjoy it as a consequence. If I drive into later hours than that, both my feet and head begin to pulsate and pound on the sides of my closely fitting boots and helmet. With the helmet I can spray the interior with water, that works wonders as the helmets built in ventilation design passes air across the water drops inside, but if I do that in my unmodified boots, which have zero ventilation, the humidity just exacerbates the heat problem.

Before I took this drastic measure of drilling holes in my expensive Sidi Cross Fire TA mx bike boots, I asked myself the question that always crosses my mind when weighing up the pros and cons of what to do with protective gear.

"Am I more or less likely to get hurt taking this path?"

If I drop the bike on my legs or have an accident, those little holes probably aren't going to make a big difference, but I'm way more likely to be uncomfortable if my feet are hot, which could cause a lapse in concentration that might lead to having an accident in the first place.

Yes, if it rains my feet will get a bit wet, but with the modified boots and their added ventilation I reap a cooling award. I concluded that in a hot country I'd rather be a bit wet than hot all day long. If I was designing a new boot, maybe I could devise a system to open and close the ventilation holes, with a simple slider or something, but for now I've just got to take fast action to bring remedy to my screaming feet. 

With global warming this is becoming an increasingly prevalent issue, but this was my first experience of boot heat becoming completely unbearable, across the various deserts and bush under the searing heat of the Australian sun. Finally, whilst crashing a few days with fellow biker, Sean Geary, we got chatting across his kitchen table, about my desire to attack the boot inferno. Sean being a creative DIYer himself was encouraging of giving it a go. So, I accepted his invitation to make use of his workshop tools to take a final swipe at those boots I'd been having harsh words with for thousands of miles.

I figured I needed to drill holes in the top

and in the sole below

for there to be reasonable airflow of any kind.

My first ride with freshly drilled boots was to Uluru, that some uncultured people call Ayers Rock.

I was thrilled to feel any air pass through between my toes, and so I had already had some modicum of success, but I couldn't help feeling some further improvement should be made.

After one day’s drive I sat by my tent with scissors to cut the last straw, so to speak, of plastic tubes to keep the passages in those holes a little more clear.

It worked, airflow had increased, and I've never looked back, accept in my mirrors to see a road train chasing me of course.