What clothes go with a Royal Enfield for the DGR?

In 1951 Royal Enfield pictured a gentleman in dress shoes, suit, tie and socks.

Dapper, I'm not, usually. But with the 2018 Distinguished Gentleman's Ride set for Sunday, Sept. 30 my normally careless appearance while riding my Royal Enfield comes to mind.

I'm already looking better in general this year, thanks to a Father's Day gift from my daughters: new boots.

For the DGR I have a tweed jacket (true, a bit too hot for Florida). Footwear was the problem.

Almost anything would be better than the athletic shoes I used to wear on the motorcycle. The bright colors and swoopy graphics on those things clashed with my tastefully classic Royal Enfield Bullet.

Most athletic shoes don't even offer the support I like. They're cut down on the sides to expose the ankles. Human ankles weren't designed to hold up a tilting 400-pound motorcycle very long at a stoplight.

Boots were the obvious answer, but dedicated motorcycle boots seemed a bit too much (see above reference to ambient temperature in Florida).

In the past I would don my hiking boots, when needed. These are intended for the trail, not the highway — more tread than a tank, and nearly as heavy.

Tough as they look, the hiking boots recently suffered a failure, with the soles delaminating from the leather uppers. Luckily we were hiking close enough to civilization to borrow some duct tape to hold them together temporarily.

The incident inspired the girls to give me a gift certificate to REI Co-Op, the outdoor gear supplier. Their thought was to replace the hiking boots, but there was no need for that: I had Gorilla Glued those back together when I got home.

Instead, with my wife's help, the REI on-line catalog revealed a handsome set of black boots said to be:

A. Light in weight, and...

B. Civilized looking in tread.

The boots soon arrived and I was delighted. Compared to my trail boots, these felt like ballet slippers. The ankle support was terrific. In fact, so great was the ankle support that it appeared clear I'd have to struggle to get my feet into the boots.

New boots don't feel clunky operating the controls.
Even the neutral finder doesn't complain of mistreatment..

But no! A small tab on the side of each boot proved on examination to be the tang of a zipper. I can get into and out of these boots without untying the laces.

They'll be my standard riding wear from now on. But I think I'll go with dress shoes for the DGR.