I have a pair of Meindl Bhutan Pro MFS boots I’ve worn on the vast majority of my SOTA walks since August 2014. Not exclusively, I was wearing out one pair of the previous Meindl boots and I’ve broken in these boots replacements. But mainly I have worn these boots.
The Vibram soles are worn now. There’s still some life in them but due to how I walk there are well worn parts of the sole and others are just worn. The Goretex is still OK and the leather is generally in good condition with the odd crack and scuff. A good “doing” with Grainger’s Wax keeps water out of the cracks.
A new pair lists for £275 so it does seem these may be worth resoling. Assorted online guides/suppliers suggest resoling and shipping is around £65-80. As the boot itself probably has another 2 years at least in them and looking at the new price, resoling seems to be reasonably worthwhile.
I can remember there was discussion on here that at least one resoling/repair outfit were not as good as their publicity would have you think but I can’t find that now.
So should I have them done or put the money towards a new pair? And if yes, who would you use?
I use the fella in our local market hall for boot re-soling! its certainly a worthwhile endevour, there is nothing worse than wet feet and mis shaped soles! im sure your local town will have a cobblers who can do the job
Hi Andy,
If the leather is in good nick, defo get them re-soled ! They are broken in and will have loads of life left. I have a pair of boots on their third soles and still going strong, still waterproof (despite a few cracks and many scuffs), but the oiling routine works. Will probably make it to a fourth resole.
I always put high rands on my boots when resoling.
I seem to recall the previous discussion about having boots resoled included a negative comment about LSR. I’ve used their services twice, but only for fitting replacement lace eyelets. The work was excellent and not that expensive so my experience is as yours Tim… no problem. I guess if the resole fails, then they get them back for the work to be corrected. I’m sure they’ve a reputation to uphold.
I’ve used LSR to repair a rucksack; they took almost three months to do the work and after eventually getting it back from them, their repair failed the first time I used the rucksack…!
I didn’t bother sending it back for their warranty repair, as I couldn’t wait another three months to have another useless repair. I fixed it myself for about a tenth of the original repair cost, by using a yacht sail repair kit from Amazon.
The LSR resole costs for my Mammuts are just shy of £100. Plus the inevitable wait for LSR to do their thing. New Mammuts from Go Outdoors (other shops are available) are about £140.
@MM0FMF if your boots are much more expensive, then the resole probably makes more sense. Personally I wouldn’t use LSR, but as Tim & Gerald seem to have had better luck with resoles by them, you may be happy with their service.
Going back a few years (about 30) there used to be a place between Warrington and Widnes (no idea of name either) that did resoles. It was reckoned to be so good with climbing shoes and the replacement rubber, that it was oft debated that it may be better to get the resole done even on new shoes. Not sure what the job was like on walking boots as I didn’t ever walk far enough to wear them out.
I remember now Simon you said you had had issues with LSR. It’s probably one of those things… sometimes you get a bad job. Possibly the wait was because their bag fixer was off ill or something, then a number of jobs stack up and suddenly there’s a big wait.
The list price on the Bhutans is £270-£280 and LSR want £110 for the resole and another £29 for a re-rand but the rand on mine is perfect so probably just £110.
I got the same boots re-soled a couple of years ago, by the importer Bramwell. They offered a fixed price job sending them back to the factory. New soles, rands and even came back with new laces.
At that time it was slightly more expensive than LSR, but included the return carriage so I concluded it was a similar total cost.
The down side was the time issue, they were away for 4 or more weeks. I had already bought a second pair so not an issue for me, still have them and use them in dry conditions as the goretex lining has since gone. Their website seem to be down tonight so cant check current price.
As a 6ft 3in and overweight man who is out walking in his boots several times each week, it matters not how much I spend on boots, I’ve bashed them into submission within 12 months. I’ve settled into a routine of buying a new pair of reasonable budget boots around the £60-70 price point, every year. I’ve just bought a pair of Hi Tec boots for £65 (special offer price at Go Outdoors) and very pleased with them.
This time last year I shelled out a bit more and bought a pair for around £160 at Cotswold in Belfast. A year of supporting the pounding of M1EYP took them to the point of uselessness just like all the others. With them being a “good” and more expensive boot, I took them to the cobblers for repair (new eyelet hooks, resoling) and was swiftly told it would be uneconomical, and I should just buy a new pair of boots!
(Same thing happened when I treated myself to a £230 pair of Meindls after completing the Pennine Way!)
Lesson learned. I’m back to my annual investment of £65 boots, and that’s the way it will stay!
Bramwell is the UK Meindl importer and as Gavin said their website is misbehaving. However, LSR is where Meindl boots returned via retailers will end up for resoling. So I could take these to Cotswolds Outdoor (now in Edinburgh as my local store closed), send them to Bramwell (as Meindl UK) or send them myself direct to LSR. LSR must do enough good jobs that the importer is happy with them.
At LSR, a resole is £110 including return postage and it will cost about £8 to send them to LSR. Whether they need a new rand or not is an unknown, I think not. So I’m looking at approx £120 to £150 for a resole or resole&re-rand. £120 is 43% of the cost of a new boot. That’s a lot TBH. However, these boots have been used gently in 2014 with use ramping up massively since. If we say lots of use for 8 out of the 10 years I’ve had them and they cost £190 new then that works out at £23.75 a year… not bad really if they were binned today. Also LSR are saying resole can take up 14weeks at present.
I did some serious Google-fu looking for boot resolers outwith the known names. I found one in Stockton Heath, Cheshire Shoe Repairs who do a resole £69. (They resole rock shoes/boots, is this the company someone was thinking of?) and there is a local upmarket cobbler in Edinburgh who do hiking boot work, I’ll contact them later for info.
During this I found huge numbers of people selling the same boots (Bhutan MFS GTX Pro) for £275 and then one company who had them on sale for £209 including free next day delivery. That seemed a deal not to miss and my new boots are now on their way.
What to do with the old boots? Well I have a pair of soft fabric Keen Targhee III which are 2yr2mth old and are now wearing fast. These are worn mainly for dog walks so they see, forest tracks, beaches, tarmac roads, pavements etc. but they are also used for lightweight SOTA walks when on vacation. The Goretex is leaking on one side and the tread is wearing thin but they have already seen at least 1200km of use. The tread is very soft on them but they are oh so comfortable, like slippers. There’s lots of dog walk life left but you can feel rocks through the thinning soles now. The oldest Meindls will get pushed into dog walks and reserved for walks that trash boots such as Creag nam Mial GM/CS-102 which involved kilometres of knee deep heather that really gave an old pair a good seeing-to!
One thing I do with boots was something the late Brian G4ZRP told me to do. That is always wash the mud off when you get home and also rinse the boots thoroughly if you have been walking on soft moors/peat/boggy ground as the water in such places is acidic and if left can speed up the rotting of stitching and leather etc. So boots were washed cleaned and then regularly waxed. I think that has certainly helped prolonged their useful life.
Once more thanks for your opinions and experiences.
Advice I picked up when I bought my first decent pair of boots in 2008, Kayland Contact 1000s which lasted me 7 years. I decided to replace rather than resole them, but later regretted the decision as the new pair of Kaylands Ferratas are unfortunately not the same quality. The Vibram soles are wearing okay, but the fabric tops aren’t and that’s with them only coming out spring to autumn. Any chance of winter conditions and out come the Kibos.
Its possible and its in the right area, but my experience of the place is 30 years old and ive no idea if they are upto the same standard or even the same place.
I know used to advertise in the small ads section of the climbing and rambling mags of the day(late 80’s) but probably way too much effort to verify if its the same company.
Cheshire Shoe Repairs, Stockton Heath, Warrington, may be the shop you’re referring to. I had a pair of P.A. type rock boots resoled there many years ago, but they are still advertising a boot resoling service on their website.
If the sole detaches, then this is often/usually cause by chemical degradation of the urethane midsole (hyrolisation) which becomes crumbly, generally at some random time after 5 years. The glue did not fail - what it was glued to failed. When the cobbler reglues it, the next layer of urethane just crumbles off. (often on day 1). If your cobbler has done this a couple of times and gotten unhappy customers come back, he will likely be reluctant to repair boots with detached soles. The manufacturers keep schtum about this until you complain and then it’s like “Oh but everyone knows that. Did you expect your boots to wear out or something?”
If you have more expensive boot model, the manufacturer can supply the whole sole unit for resoles. Your Meindls might have full sole units available, my Lowa’s did, and given the age of the urethane, that would be my choice if available.
Getting an edge back on your boots makes a resole worth it. If I have a good fitting pair of boots I would resole. Few pairs of boots have been a good fit on me, so personally I think fixing a comfy pair is money better spent than the lottery of a new pair.
I use Hoka Kaha 2 Gore Tex for uneven ground and which are the most comfortable boots I’ve worn in cooler weather. The Gore Tex version I can vouch for having traversed a closed mountain peak alone in 90mph winds, horizontal rain, snow and fog through 9.5hrs.
They have Vibram soles which I’m no longer a fan of as any man made material under foot wears them quicker than an orbital sander, or at least on these they do. I say this but am on my third pair as they’re so comfortable and are akin to having caterpillar tracks under your feet. Vibram suck but I can’t ignore the prime qualities of these boots.
I’ve been using hiking boots for over 40 years and not just for jollies. I don’t re-sole but instead repurchase what works until something new/tech proves itself.
What a terrible website… won’t load if you have an adblocker. I can understand a newspaper wanting you to see ads for free news or to subscribe, I can understand Youtube wanting you to see ads for free videos. But this is their catalogue of products they want to sell. If I have to see ads to look at your catalogue then you can jog on. I’ll never be spending any money with these goons.
For who appears to be a moderator, I as many others will find your post quite offensive. I simply apply experience to those who are asking for such, rather than jumping in with a half ars*d excuse to post something abrasive and irrelevant to the original question. Your ad-blocker is obviously as paranoid as the user.
Not to say you shouldn’t be proud of your personality. All community situations will have people who’s opinions mean little, so thank you for standing up and making this obvious.
