Durable boots/shoes

You could make a shoe with a low top leather upper, polyurethane midsole, and replaceable rubber outsole. It would not be very heavy but very durable.

“You see, the outer soles of most joggers are now made of a ‘sufficiently good’ material that they last longer than the internal foam core of the sole. Longer sometimes than the uppers as well. So what often happens is that the shoe is effectively ‘worn out’ before the sole is worn out”

In this case, what defines “worn out” is up to you. If you don’t mind the loss of cushion you can just keep wearing them with the compressed midsole.

Also you don’t explain what you mean by the outsole lasting or not lasting. What happens is the tread gets worn down, the outsole does not get worn off the shoe. In my experience shoes lose most of their tread very quickly and I like to dedicated those shoes to trail use while I like to use a newer pair for off trail travel.

If you don’t mind the loss of cushion you can just keep wearing them with the compressed midsole.
Works for some, deadly for others. Depends on the foot.

What happens is the tread gets worn down, the outsole does not get worn off the shoe. In my experience shoes lose most of their tread very quickly 
Curious. The New Balance shoes I like do not suffer from this problem. The tread lasts a long time. It probably depends on the rubber used.

Cheers

Roger,
“What is the weight limit for discussion of trail footwear on BPL?
Anything above 100 g is obviously far too heavy …”

OK, that is around 3.5 oz. Per pair or per shoe, that is way lighter than anything that would be durable and strong enough for hiking on the extremely rocky and uneven ground here, not to mention the mountain bushwhacking that I love. During much of the hiking, the shoes are at sharp angles to horizontal, both sideways as well as forward. In other words, one often does not get to put the foot flat on the ground; but rather, the shoes are forced to fall at a sharp angle sideways away from the horizontal. This puts a lot of rotational force on the shoes and soles to twist on the foot. Of course, much goes into learning how to step to avoid these forces as much as possible. And shoes or boots designed to help with that are key. That is where the custom Limmers shine, but from what you say, they are not germane here.

I’ve also found, that no matter how good the WPB is, in the long and powerful downpours we get here, cloth or mesh outers will soon fail and the inside will soak. Since I find SOME mostly leather boots with WPB will allow me to hike with dry feet all day in the foulest weather, that is another reason for heavier boots. I don’t find they tire me especially at all. The older boots, which ran over 4 lbs (~ 1.8 kilos), would tire me now. I keep a pair of custom boots from John Calden of Estes Park CO around as mementos, but the extra weight would be way too much at my age.

I’ve been talking with Peter Limmer here for several years about lowering the weight of custom boots; but from what you state, don’t think we are anywhere close to the weight range you have in mind.

Agree that the superstructure of UL shoes will probably wear out before soles, so the resoling issue on UL shoes is academic. It’s also helpful to buy from large outfitters with a wide selection to try on. That way, I can find a best fit in an hour or two, when orders and returns would take months. I’m dry, comfy and without strain, and that is AOK for me. Imagine you are also OK with those UL shoes (recall a photo you posted once). Will leave it at that for now.

100 g is far too heavy for me. I spray truck bedliner on the soles of my feet once a week and call it good.

Pretty sure Roger was extremely less than serious with that number.

Pretty sure Roger was extremely less than serious with that number.
Me – being funny???
Just so!

Bedliner on soles of feet – hum ….   :-)
Good one!

Cheers

Aside from this is the “wrong” site for discussing footwear that can be re-soled, the bigger problem is finding someone who can actually do it and do it correctly. In a time far, far away you could easily find a competent shoemaker. He would be knowledgable about the different Vibram soles available and help you choose a model of sole to fit your needs.

I have several pairs of leather dress shoes all of which are 30-40 years old. I had two pairs re-done about five years ago and it was a needle in a haystack hunt to even find a shoemaker, and although we was highly recommended, he was the worst I have ever used. It’s a lost art. I have never purchased a pair of throw away dress shoes because I am cheap frugal.

Danner does offer boot repair for some of their products that runs from $90 for a simple re-sole up to $260 for more comprehensive work. They will only repair boots that are manufactured with stitched soles and some of their models with stitched soles they won’t do. I had them redo a pair of my 30 year old Mountain Lights a few years ago and the work was of good quality.

There are a couple well known mail order repair specialists and they can charge even more. One is Dave Page the Cobbler. You may want to contact him on the lightest footwear he can repair. For softwear repair of other types of gear I recommend Rainy Pass Repair. They have done some work for me in the past with excellent craftsmanship.

I agree with the OP, many lightweight backpackers profess and pontificate on a minimalist approach to backpacking and advocate protecting the environment, when in reality they are big and frequent consumers of fragile and throwaway gear.

Now if only I could find lightweight and repairable flip-flops that could last 30-40 years…

I had a pair of Danner boots 30 years ago.  They’re near the airport in Portland, or at least they were 30 years ago.

Nick, contacting a good cobbler to see what they’d recommend was a good idea. Let us know what they say about flip flop repair.

I do actually have a pair of solid Danner boots.
I gave them to my wife as gardening boots. Very good on a spade.

Cheers

I think I gave mine to The Goodwill

Danner Mens Light. Not so heavy and meets your criteria.

This is why the approach shoe route is the way to go.  There are a lot of specialized cobblers working on climbing and approach shoes and then you don’t have some boot dude (who are awesome, btw, but might have no idea what they are doing with an athletic shoe) working on your hiking shoes.  http://www.rubberroomresoles.com/ is a well-known one, hell La Sportiva has a list of recommended cobblers on their site http://www.sportiva.com/retailers/cobblers.  Climbing forums have other recommendations.

When you get shoes resoled, do they typically replace just the outsole or both the midsole and outsole?

When you get shoes resoled, do they typically replace just the outsole or both the midsole and outsole?

Whatever needs to be done. Of course, there is such a thing as an “up-sell.