An adventure boot has four jobs: protect the foot and ankle in a crash, keep water out, let you work the controls, and stay walkable for the hours you spend off the bike on a long trip. For most adventure touring that means a touring ADV boot rather than a motocross-style one.
This guide compares five touring boots on their EN 13634 rating, membrane and price, explains how to read the certification label, and covers the care routine that decides whether a waterproof boot stays waterproof. None was tested by us; the specs come from the makers and retailers, and the judgements from reviews and owner reports.
Touring ADV vs Off-Road ADV: Two Different Boots
The single most important distinction in the market.
Touring ADV boots — Sidi Adventure 2 Gore-Tex, Daytona Road Star GTX, Forma Adventure, Alpinestars Corozal V2, TCX Infinity 3 GTX. Tall enough to cover the shin, supple enough to walk in, waterproof, with rotational ankle support and reinforced toe and heel. Look like a tall hiking boot with armor.
Off-road ADV boots — Sidi Crossfire 3 SRS, Alpinestars Tech 7 Enduro, Gaerne SG-12. Rigid plastic shell, buckles instead of laces, motocross-style protection at the cost of all walkability. The right boot for serious single-track and enduro-pace off-road. The wrong boot for any trip that involves walking around towns.
If most of your riding is touring with some gravel, get a touring ADV boot. If most of it is real off-road, get an off-road boot and accept that you’ll change shoes at camp.
CE Level 1 vs Level 2: What the Certification Means
EN 13634 is the European motorcycle boot standard, and it doesn’t give a boot one level. It rates four things separately — boot height, abrasion resistance, impact cut resistance and transverse rigidity (how well the boot resists being crushed sideways) — each at level 1 or 2, and the label shows all four numbers. “2 2 2 2” is the top result; a 1 in the first position usually just means a shorter boot.
For touring at speed and for off-road riding, look for 2s in abrasion, cut and rigidity. Retailers often shorten this to “CE level 2”, so check the four-digit label on the boot itself.
Waterproofing: Gore-Tex vs Proprietary Systems
Two waterproofing approaches dominate.
Gore-Tex: licensed external membrane, manufactured to Gore’s standards, tested to a public spec and backed by Gore’s “Guaranteed To Keep You Dry” promise.
Proprietary membranes — TCX T-Dry, Sidi WP, Alpinestars Drystar: brand-developed alternatives that do the same job when new. None is tested to a common public standard, so there is no like-for-like durability figure against Gore-Tex, the one membrane here sold with a “Guaranteed To Keep You Dry” promise from the membrane maker itself.
Gore-Tex adds $50-100 to the boot price. On a boot you plan to keep for years, that premium buys the stronger guarantee. On a budget boot you’ll replace sooner anyway, proprietary is fine and the savings are real.
The Five Boots
Five touring adventure boots, all certified to EN 13634:2017. Prices are US retail where we could find one and UK/EU list where we couldn’t, as of October 2026.
- Sidi Adventure 2 Gore-Tex: the long-running Italian benchmark (~$450)
- Daytona Road Star GTX: handmade in Germany, in wide and narrow fits (~$500–540)
- Forma Adventure: the value pick, CE level 2 per US retailers (~$349)
- Alpinestars Corozal V2 Adventure Drystar: Alpinestars’ current ADV touring boot (~£330 / €330)
- TCX Infinity 3 GTX: the lighter, more road-leaning option (~£330)
1. Sidi Adventure 2 Gore-Tex
Around $450 at US retailers. Sidi’s adventure boot has been on sale in one form or another since 2011, and the Adventure 2 runs the Gore-Tex lining the full height of the boot, up to the top of the closure. Italian build, an articulated ankle and a sole you can walk on. There is also a shorter Mid version, which RevZilla lists as certified to EN 13634:2017.
Sidi lasts are widely reported to run narrow, so riders with wide feet should try one on or look at the Forma Adventure.
Disclosure: some links below are affiliate links. If you buy through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Shop Sidi Adventure 2 Gore-Tex on Amazon →
2. Daytona Road Star GTX
Around $500–540 at Cycle Gear. Gore-Tex lined, certified to EN 13634:2017, and made by hand in Germany. Daytona also sells it in a wide version and a narrow-fit version, which is rare and worth knowing if standard lasts never fit you.
It is a touring boot more than an off-road one. The price is the obvious drawback; the fit options and the build are what you pay for.
3. Forma Adventure
Around $349 at RevZilla, which lists it as CE level 2 to EN 13634:2017. Full-grain leather with Forma’s own Drytex waterproof lining rather than Gore-Tex. It is the cheapest boot here by a clear margin and has been a common recommendation for years for exactly that reason.
The trade is the membrane: Drytex does the same job when new, but it comes without Gore’s guarantee.
Shop Forma Adventure on Amazon →
4. Alpinestars Corozal V2 Adventure Drystar
Listed at £329.99 in the UK and €329.95 in the eurozone; we couldn’t find a current US list price. The V2 replaced the original Corozal. Drystar membrane (Alpinestars’ own), certified to EN 13634:2017.
The membrane is proprietary rather than Gore-Tex. For riders in mostly dry climates that matters little; for riders in the UK, the Pacific Northwest or the Alps, where a boot lives wet for days, the Gore-Tex guarantee is worth more.
5. TCX Infinity 3 GTX
Listed at £329.99 in the UK. A Gore-Tex boot certified to EN 13634:2017, built for touring with some adventure use. Its selling point is weight: BikeSocial’s reviewer found it about 400 g a boot lighter than their Forma Adventures, and it kept their feet dry through water crossings.
Lighter usually means less ankle structure, so it suits riders who spend most of their time on tarmac and gravel roads rather than rocky trails.
There is no true budget boot on this list. Below roughly $300 we couldn’t find a waterproof adventure boot whose certification and membrane we could confirm; last season’s colours of the boots above, on sale, are usually a better buy than an unknown brand.
Why there are no direct product links for most of these. We checked amazon.com for each boot on 22 September 2026. Searching the exact model returns other brands — Gaerne and O’Neal dirt boots for the Forma, Alpinestars Tech-10 and SMX-6 for the Corozal, TCX Blend 2 and Classic for the Infinity 3. Adventure boots are a dealer-network category in the US, and pointing you at a lookalike because it happens to be listed would be worse than useless. The links here run searches; for most of these boots a specialist retailer or a dealer is where you will actually find your size.
Walkability
Protection and waterproofing get most of the attention, but walkability decides whether you keep the boots on at every stop.
A long touring day might include: a 15-minute walk to a restaurant, an hour wandering an old town, a kilometre of hiking to a viewpoint, multiple stops at fuel stations, walks around campsites. That’s two to three hours on your feet, in motorcycle boots.
All five boots above are touring boots, built with soles and ankle flex you can walk on; the TCX is the lightest of them by reviewers’ accounts. Whatever you buy, walk around the shop in it for a good while before you decide.
Pure off-road boots — Sidi Crossfire 3 SRS, Gaerne SG-12 — are essentially impossible to walk in comfortably. They’re not meant to be. If your trip involves walking, don’t bring these.
Boot Care and Waterproofing Maintenance
The single most important boot habit. Twice a season at minimum:
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Clean the boots. Remove dried mud with a soft brush. Wipe with a damp cloth. Let dry fully (24 hours minimum) before treating.
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Treat the leather. Nikwax Waterproofing Wax for Leather is the standard. Apply evenly with a sponge or cloth. Work into seams and stitching. Excess wipes off after 30 minutes.
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Treat any fabric panels. The membrane inside needs no treatment, but textile sections on the outside do; Nikwax makes a fabric-and-leather version for mixed boots. Follow the boot maker’s care instructions where they differ.
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Let cure overnight. Don’t ride the boots wet from treatment. The wax needs time to bond with the leather.
Skip this routine and a $500 waterproof boot can become a $500 wet sock within a few seasons. Keep it up and you give the membrane the best chance of lasting as long as the boot.
Shop Nikwax Boot Waterproofing on Amazon →
Related Guides
For more adventure gear comparisons, see our Klim Badlands Pro jacket review and best adventure motorcycle helmets 2026 guide.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. If you buy gear through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes a recommendation, and nothing here is sponsored.
A note on the prices: these are US retail or UK/EU list figures checked in October 2026, not live quotes. Gear pricing moves constantly and varies by region and retailer — the figure on the linked product page is always the one that counts.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between touring and off-road adventure motorcycle boots?
Touring ADV boots prioritise walkability, waterproofing, all-day comfort, and easy on-off — they look more like hiking boots. Off-road ADV boots prioritise impact protection, ankle bracing, and shin protection — they look more like motocross boots, with rigid plastic shells and buckles. Touring boots suit riders who are mostly on tarmac and gravel roads; off-road boots suit riders who spend real time on single-track. Most riders need one or the other, not both.
Is CE Level 2 boot certification worth paying for?
For most adventure riding, yes. EN 13634 rates a boot 1 or 2 in each of four tests — height, abrasion, impact cut and transverse rigidity (resistance to crushing) — and prints the four numbers on the label. A 2 means the boot passed the tougher version of that test. A 1 in the first position usually just means a shorter boot. For a boot you'll wear for years, look for 2s in the last three.
Gore-Tex or proprietary waterproof membranes in motorcycle boots?
Gore-Tex is the safer long-term bet, mainly because it's the one membrane tested to a public standard and sold with the membrane maker's own 'Guaranteed To Keep You Dry' promise. Proprietary membranes (TCX T-Dry, Sidi WP, Alpinestars Drystar) do the same job when new, but there's no common test to compare how long they last. Gore-Tex typically adds $50-100 to the boot price — worth it on a boot you plan to keep for years, less so on a budget boot you'll replace sooner anyway.
How important is walkability in adventure motorcycle boots?
More important than most buyers realize. On a long trip you'll spend hours walking — to restaurants, around campsites, through tourist sites, to view the bays you rode to see. A boot you can't comfortably walk in becomes a boot you take off at every stop, which removes a layer of protection at exactly the moments you might slip. Touring ADV boots such as the Sidi Adventure 2 and Forma Adventure are built to be walked in. Pure off-road boots like the Sidi Crossfire 3 are uncomfortable to walk in by design.
How often should waterproof motorcycle boots be re-treated?
Twice a season at minimum, more often if you ride in heavy rain or mud frequently. Once the leather's treatment wears off, the leather soaks up water, the boot gets heavy and cold, and the membrane is left doing all the work. Nikwax Waterproofing Wax for Leather is the standard treatment. Clean the boots first, dry fully, apply evenly, let cure overnight. Skip this step and a $500 boot can become a $500 wet sock within a few seasons.