RRL Rodeo Ralph Lauren

[illumin8em]

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I have a brand new pair of RRL engineers size 7 if anyone is interested. PM me

[Hobbes874]

Some pictures of my 3-4 year old RRL Slim fit. Purchased these as one-wash, so the fading took awhile, never wore them for a long period and washed whenever I felt like (probably at 6 or 7 now). They are my go-to 'work on vehicle pants'.

Compared to new, raw RRL's I haven't started to wear:

Up close:

What they looked like near new:

[deluxestyling]

studded engineers now re-heeled.

[meschan]

hoping to find studded engineers if i ever see a size 7..

[attackwithstones]

Me too man, I passed on buying a 7 on eBay a few times and I'm kicking myself for it. Esp. when they were $700.

[meschan]

my whites bounty are 6.5E and my red wings are 7D for both moc toe and beckman which i added an insole to it.. size 7 should fit me for rrl i guess? will be looking out for those..

[deluxestyling]

when i bought my rrl engineers i went up a size. see the top of this page for all the boring details.

[indigoeagle]

Wouldn't say they run small. Infact mine are marked a 12 but in others like Wesco and redwing I'm an 11 so I'd say size up.

I agree with this experience. I've got the RRLs in brown (non-distressed; I think they were released in 2010; made by Julian; same as the pictures here shown by Dave_SFU; and there was some controversy here about Julian vs. Murdock; the sticker on my box reads "Murdock Engineer Boots" so that seems to be the name of the Julian made ones, unless it's the wrong sticker on the box) in size 11 and they fit very well. I have the Red Wings Beckman and Iron Rangers in 10 and the Lone Wolf Carpenter in 9.5.

And I agree the instep is very stiff. I had to put on a thin sock for my right foot and it took a lot of strongman like pulling and some pain to get it in there.

[attackwithstones]

I've spoken to a few people who claim that their was a batch/ batches of the RRL engineer boots made by Julian which were a poor fit (super tight instep) and therefore you had to go a size up from your normal size in order to get them on. But I believe Julian "fixed" this issue with the later run that he made. I'm not 100% sure how to tell which is the new or old run, or the correct sizing and which was made with the super tight instep, but like I said a lot said to size up if you want to get them on. It's tricky. I still have not found a size 7 to purchase, so I can't add my own opinion yet.

[rkusmant]

Mine still at cobbler for second round of stretching, should be ready next week. It's definitely tight and I don't see myself spending 15 min just to put the boots on off

[deluxestyling]

my studded engineers are way looser in the instep than my brown engineers so i'd say they're a pair of the tight ones.

it's not a big deal as i can get them on and off. they slide off easyish with a boot pull it's getting them on that's tight.

[pepper davies]

Picked up a pair of the studded black Juliens for a pretty okay price (I think). I had heard from some of the guys at RRL in NY that they were going for a steal due to the narrow shafts and a switch to production through other outlets (as described in this thread), but couldn't find them through RRL themselves. Apparently the Atlanta store has a size 7 in the brown engineers and a size 14 in the Bowery boots. Kind of opposite ends of the spectrum, but they could be had for a steal...

[Dave_SFU]

My brown ones are way tighter than the black. I can get them on easy enough but getting them off is a struggle. Theyre fine while theyre on. Not sure if it matters but the brown have the standard printed RRL shoe box while the black have the plain brown box with paste on paper labels and hand written sizing info. Could be indicative of which run is which.

I have a pair of brown in 11 and black in 8 and 11 if anyone is interested

[deluxestyling]

Mine still at cobbler for second round of stretching, should be ready next week. It's definitely tight and I don't see myself spending 15 min just to put the boots on off

Mine still at cobbler for second round of stretching, should be ready next week. It's definitely tight and I don't see myself spending 15 min just to put the boots on off

How is your cobbler stretching them? might consider getting mine done by my cobbler if possible.

[rkusmant]

He has machine to stretch the boots shaft, i asked him to work on the instep only. Now he uses mix of water and alcohol to wet the stretched area, for black boots should be okay, for brown might have to be careful

[deluxestyling]

thanks for that. i use a really good old style cobbler here in london and i'll be passing tomorrow so well worth looking in to ask if they can help.

i think they'll stretch out enough with time but some help would be good.

[carlanton]

What I was taught (when working with ski boot and snowboard boot fitting) is that the actual volume of the boot will be the same, it's just the shape that changes when you stretch them. So what you gain in instep height, you will loose in width. Might be good to take into consideration if the boots should already be on the narrow side.

I'm not sure if this is true or not, it sounds logical for plastic boot shells, but differs from my personal experience with leather boots. Please correct me if i'm wrong.

edit:

If you want the boots to soften up quickly, you can always use mink oil. I know that there is some controversy regarding whether to use oil or wax for boots (google it and you'll be amazed how strong opinions some people can have about such trivialities). I wouldn't use mink oil or lanolin based oils for hiking boots, but for normal every day boots I've used it with good results. It will make the leather extremely water resistant too, but darkens brown leather quite dramatically.

Edited March 17, 2012 by carlanton

[kimi]

well i'm in the market for a pair of engineers and the rrl's look really good. Its the brown ones i'm after. Thing is the sizing seems a little complex.. i'm a uk 10 all day long (so usually a us 11) and iv seen a pair of us 11's on ebay but buy the sounds of it i should size up to a 12? but only if the boot is from a certain batch, and if its not from the undersized batch the boot will be a size too big....? need to try them on really.

[deluxestyling]

well i'm in the market for a pair of engineers and the rrl's look really good. Its the brown ones i'm after. Thing is the sizing seems a little complex.. i'm a uk 10 all day long (so usually a us 11) and iv seen a pair of us 11's on ebay but buy the sounds of it i should size up to a 12? but only if the boot is from a certain batch, and if its not from the undersized batch the boot will be a size too big....? need to try them on really.

kimi i went up one size with both pairs of rrl engineers i have and i think others have too. others may not have so ask around.

i'm a 10uk and 11us but these and mf road champs fit me better one size up.

i sized up to get plenty of room around my toes. as far as the two types of instep goes i can live with both but i do have thin feet. on the larger instep rrl's and the even more generous rc's i've had to pull the instep strap up tighter and add an insole for lift. people with a different shape foot may have trouble with getting these tighter engineers on and off no matter how many sizes they go up.

i can give you dimensions of the 12's for comparison to help with you size decision.

[deluxestyling]

What I was taught (when working with ski boot and snowboard boot fitting) is that the actual volume of the boot will be the same, it's just the shape that changes when you stretch them. So what you gain in instep height, you will loose in width. Might be good to take into consideration if the boots should already be on the narrow side.

I'm not sure if this is true or not, it sounds logical for plastic boot shells, but differs from my personal experience with leather boots. Please correct me if i'm wrong.

edit:

If you want the boots to soften up quickly, you can always use mink oil. I know that there is some controversy regarding whether to use oil or wax for boots (google it and you'll be amazed how strong opinions some people can have about such trivialities). I wouldn't use mink oil or lanolin based oils for hiking boots, but for normal every day boots I've used it with good results. It will make the leather extremely water resistant too, but darkens brown leather quite dramatically.

i've used mink oil for years on my boots simply because they used to sell or it give away with new boots in the shop where i bought my engineers. i noticed last week that red wing sell their own tins of mink oil too.

i have been using it on these brown rrl's to help soften them up.

[carlanton]

i've used mink oil for years on my boots simply because they used to sell or it give away with new boots in the shop where i bought my engineers. i noticed last week that red wing sell their own tins of mink oil too.

i have been using it on these brown rrl's to help soften them up.

Yeah, the RW stuff is what i've been using. It contains mink oil (scraped from the inside of mink fur, i think), lanolin (wool fat) and silicone. I don't know why they put silicone in there, probably to make the shit even more water resistant. It really softens the boots up. My RW's where like two sizes two small as I have really wide feet, but the mink oil made them stretch so much they were almost comfortable. I used to rub the grease in, let it sink in for a while, then use a hair dryer to make it penetrate deeper into the leather. However, using oil can make the leather way too soft. I've seen some of my dad's old boots where the shaft is so soft it kind of folds over, which means they won't give much ankle support. I'm not sure on the construction of engineer boots, but I assume the shaft is reinforced in some way to make them a bit stiffer and not flap around as much as a pair of, lets say, rubber boots would do. Regular beeswax is good if you want to keep the original appearance of the shoe and still make it water resistable.

A lot of people claim that oil will weaken the leather and make it more prone to breaking. Again, this shouldn't be too much of an issue for the boots discussed in this forum, as 90% of the people buying them won't be wearing them very hard.

On a side note, mink oil or any other type of oil should never be used for gore tex or other membrane type boots, as it penetrates too deeply and can possible damage the (oil based) membrane. This isn't really a topic for this forum, but could still be useful to know.

Edited March 17, 2012 by carlanton

[Dave_SFU]

kimi i went up one size with both pairs of rrl engineers i have and i think others have too. others may not have so ask around.

i'm a 10uk and 11us but these and mf road champs fit me better one size up.

i sized up to get plenty of room around my toes. as far as the two types of instep goes i can live with both but i do have thin feet. on the larger instep rrl's and the even more generous rc's i've had to pull the instep strap up tighter and add an insole for lift. people with a different shape foot may have trouble with getting these tighter engineers on and off no matter how many sizes they go up.

i can give you dimensions of the 12's for comparison to help with you size decision.

I have brown and black from the same batch and the brown are almost impossible to get off, but the black are almost too loose. I think the sizing problems only relate to the brown ones (the plain brown, not the distressed brown)

[deluxestyling]

I have brown and black from the same batch and the brown are almost impossible to get off, but the black are almost too loose. I think the sizing problems only relate to the brown ones (the plain brown, not the distressed brown)

yep! same with me.

[Maynard Friedman]

thanks for that. i use a really good old style cobbler here in london and i'll be passing tomorrow so well worth looking in to ask if they can help.

i think they'll stretch out enough with time but some help would be good.

Where is your cobbler deluxestyling, if you don't mind me asking?

[deluxestyling]

rawhide. 26 camden road, canden. nw1 9dp 020 7485 2957

they don't have a website but here's some more details http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/directory/1247/5707.php

they're a proper old fashioned cobbler and super helpful. they did the front re-sole on my road champs below.

[kimi]

kimi i went up one size with both pairs of rrl engineers i have and i think others have too. others may not have so ask around.

i'm a 10uk and 11us but these and mf road champs fit me better one size up.

i sized up to get plenty of room around my toes. as far as the two types of instep goes i can live with both but i do have thin feet. on the larger instep rrl's and the even more generous rc's i've had to pull the instep strap up tighter and add an insole for lift. people with a different shape foot may have trouble with getting these tighter engineers on and off no matter how many sizes they go up.

i can give you dimensions of the 12's for comparison to help with you size decision.

thanks for the help, sounds like it's the 12 i need too then. its a shame but i don't wanna risk getting the wrong size when returning is such a hassle (i.e. back over the pond)

[deluxestyling]

my size 12 rrl engineers are 12-3/4 inches long. that's heel against wall and not following the curve of the sole. the tape stays on the floor and i eye down to the get the measurement. as i said before i'm a 10uk but if it helps my foot measures 10-7/8 inch measured that with my heel against a wall standing up.

[kimi]

thanks! i'll do some measuring..

[Ben Donnaloia]

Just ordered a pair of Low Straight Rigid's off the RL website. Super stoked!

[rkusmant]

another round of rrl engineer boots, back from cobbler for instep stretching, now it's nice and snug, shall loosen up with wear