Adidas XLT Kart Boot

First Impressions

These racing boots appear to have adopted the current fashion in football boots in which they make them as shiny as possible! They are very glossy all over with just a few of the "wear patches" given a matt treatment.

The boots are available in three colours, Metallic Gold, Super Cyan & White and the ones we are reviewing today, White & Intense Green.

All three are pretty loud and in your face. With the White ones being the most sensible, If you could call a white race boot sensible..

General Use/Observations

When I first put these boots on, I was very concerned about how tight these were in width. The image of the boots give the impression that the lace sides will be somewhere close together once on your foot. However, by the time I got my feet into these, the laces had splayed quite a lot.

I would suggest there is an issue with the manufacture of the boot in this area, as where the laces loop through on the sides, the loops are MUCH further down the sides than that shown on the boot in the marketing images.

Here is the image you see when buying the boot,


Marketing Image

And now here is the actual boot you get,


The boots that are being distributed in the UK.

It appears as if the loops are being placed too far down the side of the boot.

The result of this, is when you tighten the boot, instead of pulling the edges together, it pulls the loops together and you end up with the sides all over the place.



I have relatively narrow feet, so if you have feet more like that of a duck then you might want to see if you can squeeze into them before purchasing.

This issue aside the boots are reasonably good. They are surprisingly easy to clean thanks to the glossy nature of the boot, although the wear pads require a little more elbow grease to remove rubber and other track debris.



One of the reasons I got this boot over the Alpine Stars boot is the performance in the wet. I was sick to death of standing in a small puddle and having cold water seep straight into the boots. These boots handle water in the paddock much better. They also are much better suited to the usually gravely abrasive nature of circuit paddocks in the UK. The lack of fabric on the boot is a plus point as fabric is nearly impossible to get clean, especially when it's white.



Summary

Although these boots appear to be loud and lairy, they are actually quite a sensible boot for UK kart tracks. They handle water and muddy/dirty paddock areas much better than some other top name boots thanks to the glossy material.

Adidas have let the quality slip in one area of the boot, and its this alone that stops the boot being brilliant, and instead only good.


Pros

• Look great
• Easy to clean
• Sturdy (resistant to abrasive paddock areas)

Cons

• Quality control issues
• Too narrow, therefore tight around the foot
• Lacing system poor

NOTE: If Adidas resolve the laces issue, these boots would score much higher.