Duchinni Quest Adventure Boots

RRP: £139.99 / www.thekeycollection.co.uk / Tested by: John Hanson

Making a great adventure boot is a tricky thing to achieve. Like no other style of boot, it must be all things to all people. Not only must an adventure boot offer excellent levels of rider protection, but it must be comfortable to wear all day, comfortable to walk in, be tough, waterproof, and ideally quite cool to look at. With all of that in mind, I was keen to get my hands on, and feet into the Duchinni Quest Adventure boots.

In the flesh there’s no escaping the fact that these are tall boots. They come up just below the knee and offer reinforced shin, ankle and toe protection along with gear shift pad reinforcement; a high-vis panel at the heel; full grain leather upper; quick-fastening buckles; incredibly strong Velcro fastenings; and an oil-resistant, anti-slip sole with deep chasms of tread. They have something of a military look about them, and as soon as I slipped my feet into the boots I felt like a storm trooper ready to take on anything.

Two thousand miles of mixed riding later, and I can attest to the Duchinni Quests being supremely comfortable to ride and walk in all day. They shrugged off all of the abuse I was able to throw at them over the course of a typical tour, including many hours of walking. During an unexpected 35-degree heatwave my feet were hot, but not overly so, and during torrential rainstorms remained dry throughout. Only when I completely submerged these boots for 20 seconds or so did they begin to let water in, which is pretty impressive going. After all of my mistreatment, the leather has even taken on the charmingly weathered patina that I prefer, though I’m sure it would polish up nicely if required.

If I were to have any criticism of these boots it would be that the shin protection is perhaps overly large for me, meaning that I wasn’t able to get them inside the leg of my riding jeans, and had to wear the boots over the jeans.

However, that isn’t the fault of the boot, more a statement of my personal tastes.

Overall I’ve been really pleased with the Duchinni Quest Adventure Boots. They do a great job of offering all things to all people, and at a sensible price point. They’ll be my go-to riding boot over winter and I wouldn’t hesitate to take them on tour again.