John Lofgren (Speedway)
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Allow me to further complicate things by suggesting you take a look at Sugar Cane/Lone Wolf's engineers. A bit cheaper but they sure don't look it
http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/vintage/item/lw00300-119/
The things that make me love the Lofgrens are:
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Goodyear storm welt, it's really substantial and has pretty functional accent stitching. This is a heavy duty feature, I don't think it's common on engineers.
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The profile in general, I like the shaft width and length, the last, the toe, the heel, the double leather sole…
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The buckles are cool, and judging by VEB's boots, age well (though who knows if his are original)
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John seems like a good guy and he provides great service and believes in what he's doing
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I love vintage rubber soles, but this pair I got for winter and bad weather. The Vibrams look vintage and are figure 8 stitched, but are modern nonmarking rubber soles, more durable, probably more comfortable too
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CXL in a decent thickness (maybe 2.5mm from the pictures?). Love it or hate it, this is a known commodity. Evo pics in this thread show the promise of this leather on this boot
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Triple and double stitching all over the upper, seems overbuilt–which I love... double stitched straps, nicely hand stitched shaft seam
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IMO the PERFECT length for the ankle strap.
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I am also a fan of these Lofgren blue suede shoes, I've been eyeing them for some time.
http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/speedway-shop/item/lk-001/
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X2 on the blue suede shoes… If those get produced in my size I Will have a pair
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Allow me to further complicate things by suggesting you take a look at Sugar Cane/Lone Wolf's engineers. A bit cheaper but they sure don't look it
http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/vintage/item/lw00300-119/
thanks for the introduction mate, but what i dislike is the bulky toe box…i really love the RC's, the Lofgren's and all other engineer boots with that flat toe box. looks way better imo and not as bulky/clowny as some do...rest on those is ace though!
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Yeah, that's why I didn't go that route, though I suspect with wear it collapses a bit
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It will collapse over time… Most celastic will. The determining factors are how sturdy it is made originally, how much abuse (shifting on motorcycle promotes this collapse), as well as humidity getting to the celastic and eventually causing it to rot. However the initial profile dictates the profile after this takes place as the celastic gets close to the welt it becomes stronger and inevitably will hold up. the lofgrens toe is less bulbous allowing a very nice collapse. Mr. Freedom RCs collapse almost immediately even further than the lofgrens because of relatively zero support in the toe. Where more modern boots cn suffer the sane collapse but due to the already overly bulbous toe will never reach these sleek profiles but there are skilled craftsmen out there who can practically make any boot have a similar profile with a bit of magic elbow grease.
This waiting business is for the birds!!! Can't wait for these to arrive!
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I know tat. Waiting won't be easy.
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I'd like to see how the blue lofgren badalassi ages but can't find any evo pics
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Nvm…. Tracked it down and I actually really like these
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Not a fan of the look out of the box, but as I suspected, they do age gracefully.
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Out of the box me either… That's why I was curious about the evo and the results are nice... Don't know that I'd drop the dough for that color though much rather go for the other badalassi
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Yeah that cognac is feckin siiiiick
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I ordered via Rakuten global from Speedway's shop. Wish I could read Japanese, but that or proxy are my only options, the Speedway shop doesn't seem to have an Engrish page.
http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/speedway-shop/item/lk-003/
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John just sent me a invoice via PayPal.
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Not sure where all the CXL hate comes from, but I'm pretty sure it's not one of their cheapest leathers. Cheaper than shell cordovan, sure… but it's a full grain leather with an intricate, 89-step, 25-day human tanning process that they've had for a century: http://horween.com/101/chromexcel-2/
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Fugg it…Different strokes for different folks as far as I'm concerned I love em
