Beinn Ghlas and the Lack of Brains
Week 2
I am constantly amazed at the speed of which the Christmas holidays evaporate. It’s such a busy time with visiting people and doing stuff that the days whip past, and before you know it you are back to work and it feels like you’ve never left.
Blair was unflinching in his desire to climb 2 munros in our short holidays, one on Thursday and one on Sunday. Dad was out of the 2nd one due to complete exhaustion. He had a pretty bad bug before climbing Ben Chonzie and the completion of the day tripled his suffering, a bad move perhaps on everyone’s part, but we enjoyed Schiehallion 2 years ago so much that it seemed a fitting way to welcome in the new year.
So it was just Blair and I for the Sunday climb, which I was a bit sceptical about, if not worried slight.y. It’s always good to have Dad there, he’s done hundreds of munros so when he guides or advises on something either before or during the climb, you follow it without question. We wouldn’t have that experience to fall back on and I was a bit concerned. However come Sunday I was well up for it. I had bought new boots (Asolo Flame GTX’s for those interested) so was excited to try them out along with my Christmas gifts from Mum and Dad, which I had used already on the Ben Chonzie climb but found my Tresspass £30 shoes weren’t up to the task.
I got my new boots the day before, Saturday. Blair had already bought a pair of Scarpa Infinity GTX boots from Go Outdoors. However they had called him the next day to say that they were out of stock, so would send him a similar pair that were more expensive, but would absorb that additional cost as a goodwill gesture. So he ended up with the Scarpa ZG65 XCR boots. Me and Em went down to see the wee one and I tried them on and thought they were nice. So that then lead to us looking at boots for me as I had fancied upgrading my Tresspass‘.
We found the Asolo ones on the Go Outdoor’s website and I liked them, but they were £135 and my budget was at most £90, and even then I would have a struggle justifying the cost. However to my delight we had found the Flame GTX’s on a competitors website, and lo-and-behold Go Outdoors have a price guarantee policy (so long as you have purchased their £5 a year Discount Card) whereby they take that competitors price, and discount it a further 10%.
The competitor’s website showed £84 for the Flame GTX boots, so a rough calculation would mean that I would get these for £75.60, almost half price! Blair got upset as he had just got these Scarpa boots for more than £75.60 and they weren’t as good. So he decided that he would send them back and get a pair of these Asolo ones at this ridiculously good price. It was getting on time wise so he grabbed the phone and called the number on the “price guarantee” section of the website and got through to a bloke called Mark. He advised Blair that he could match the price and that unfortunately he only showed one pair of boots in the 9.5 size that we both require. He suggested Blair call the Edinburgh store and reserve a pair there for us to pick up.
So he did that and the Edinburgh folk threw the spanner in the works almost immediately. Although it doesn’t state this on their website or indeed any of the information that accompanies the “Price Guarantee”, the competitor’s product must be EXACTLY the same in make, model and colour. Blair obviously saw that the ones on the Go Outdoors’ website were blue, and the ones on the competitors were black, so conceded this and called back Mark.
Mark then said that the ones on their website were a stock image and that the actual boots they stocked were indeed black as well! Triumph! Mark then did the good turn and offered to send the ones he had in the warehouse, and call ahead to Edinburgh on our behalf to reserve the boots and make sure that everything would run smoothly. The Edinburgh shop closed in 2 hours, it’s an hours drive to the shop from Blair’s house (we had factored in the traffic at the Forth Road Bridge considering it was New Year‘s Eve!) so this would allow us to get there and quickly pick up the boots in good time.
Our last-minute trip to Edinburgh was met with annoyance from the ladies, but we were going walking tomorrow and my Tresspass shoes were still soaking wet from Chonzie and wouldn’t cope with another winter walk, so I basically needed these boots for tomorrow’s walk. Off we went then, hoping the traffic at the bridge wouldn’t be too bad.
There wasn’t a queue at all, we breezed through to the Edinburgh shop in a record 35 minutes. It was bizarre. Anyway, we got there and the massive warehouse shop was still really busy, a good sign. We headed inside and walked around to the check-out, after standing at one that looked like customer service at first, but then turned out to be just another till.
Blair explained firstly his desire to return his Scarpa boots, going through the back story of how he ordered the Infinity’s but had someone call him etc etc. The girl who served us said ok and tried to scan the barcode but there was an issue with that. She got her wee walky talky out and bleeped some bloke. In crackled radio squawk he said he would be there in a couple of minutes. Blair took this opportunity to then explain about the Asolo situation and produced the piece of paper with Mark’s name on it, the order number Mark had placed for the Edinburgh store and the make, model and website of the competitor with the boots at the £84 price.
This girl then headed off to pick these boots up from the reserved area of the store, leaving us standing there thinking this is easy.
Then a different girl came around the till and stood. She then was quickly joined by the radio boy who tried to scan the Scarpa boots. “I think this is the box that we couldn’t scan last week. I’m going to have to print out a barcode.” Off he went. This new girl then enquired as to what the situation was and Blair started his story again. This girl didn’t really look interested but after the story took the bit of paper with the competitors website on it and headed off to check that all was present and correct for the “Price Guarantee”
She returned a minute later with the barcode boy and got that return out of the way. We were now fully concentrated on the Asolo price match. Barcode boy left and the new girl left again to check the competitor’s’ price. Whilst she was away the first girl returned with the boots and she left again. I had a look at the boots in the meantime and they looked good!
The 2nd girl returned and said that there was a problem with the price match, in that it was not going to be possible. Of course it wasn’t. These things never are easy, so Blair then re-explained the story about the phone call to Mark online and how he had supposedly called ahead to make sure this would all go smoothly. The 2nd girl had a wee moment of panic but got on the radio to someone else, and quickly we were joined by another woman, the superior. They had one of those conversations, you know the conversations that two store employees have in full earshot of the customer on purpose. They do it on purpose so that the confirmation between each other of the terms of the price match and the fact that our price match wasn’t acceptable would be heard by us, thus removing the need to have to explain it to us face to face and thus removing the need for confrontation.
It made me agitated.
Anyway, it turned out that the reason our “Price Guarantee” wasn’t deemed acceptable was that the competitors boot was indeed an Asolo Flame GTX in Graphite, but they were selling a size 9, not a 9.5. Blair then yet again explained the story to this 3rd woman, the superior and she then looked a bit panicked. Are these people not trained to deal with these things? Anyway, she got on the radio to someone else and asked them to join us.
All the while I am standing there staring at a 20ft long sign on the wall with the 5 “Incredible Benefits” of the Discount Card. It’s arranged neatly in to bullet points, the 2nd point (I mean the 2nd most incredible benefit no less) was that they would beat their competitors prices and then take a further 10% off that. The most infuriating thing was that this “incredible benefit” was touted all over the place, but at no point were you shown the stipulations and conditions that you need to be able to get this “incredible benefit.”
Anyway, we were then joined by the big boy. We knew he was the manager because he was wearing a tie. Almost immediately he was on the offensive. “What’s the issue here?” And thus the ladies explained about the 0.5 of size issue preventing a successful price guarantee. The manager joined in the awkward conversation between employees right in front of customer to prevent confrontation act, and Blair then brought up his 2nd last wild card. The conversation and subsequent order placement online through Mark on the phone.
Before Blair had even finished his sentence the manager had his phone out and was furiously bashing through his phone book, all the while nodding and “mmhm” ing whilst Blair was talking. In a baffling “we’ll sort this out once and for all” look shot to both of us, he then had the loudest phone conversation in the history of shopping experiences. “HELLO MARIE, IT’S **** (I can’t remember this blokes name funnily enough) FROM THE EDINBURGH STORE. DO YOU HAVE A “MARK” WORKING THERE TODAY?” He said Mark’s name with an emphasis, as if he just couldn’t believe that someone named Mark would ever work at Go Outdoors online.
“RIGHT, I HAVE A MR FRASIER (our surname is Fraser, not Frasier as in Dr. Frasier Crane off tv. F R A S E R. Rhymes with razor or lazer or fazer. And this guy was Scottish too, which is frankly inexcusable.) HERE AND HE SEEMS TO BE UNDER THE IMPRESSION MARK HAS PRICE MATCHED BOOTS.”
His confident bellow gave way as Marie, wherever she was, started explaining the situation to him. His voice got quieter and less cocky after every “right” or “mhhm” to Marie. Eventually he said his final whisper quiet “ok, that’s what we’ll do” and then hung up the phone. He said nothing more, or nothing less than the following, as if it was his final sentence to the world before it ended in a blazing apocalyptic fireball: “Honour it. Honour the guarantee.”
And that was it, he walked away and the young girl began prodding the keypad on her till. Blair handed his Discount Card over to this girl for what must have been the 6th time tonight for her to scan, and I finally and triumphantly slid my credit card in to the chip n pin thing. It felt like we had just had an actual scrap, as if we had scuffled around in this shop with the complete hierarchy of staff before finally emerging victorious with our prize.
The most embarrassing thing for us was, we were going to get these boots after paying for them and saying thank you and accepting their millionth apology for the fuss and time taken, and then head in to the store to have a look at jackets and other stuff!! I tried to make light of this by saying “thanks for this, we’re going for a wee shop so I’ll possibly be annoying you again in bit” but the girl just stood there blinking, not even looking at me.
So we headed in store and across to the jackets and there was a collection of staff, around 8-10 of them, in the center of which was the manager, obviously relaying his experience to his minions. It was made all the more obvious when they all went quiet and turned around to look at us. We carried on towards the jackets and they dispersed around the jacket area and the manager did his best to delegate jobs to them all i.e. “straighten up that jacket, zip up that fleece” etc.
Anyway, I found a nice Gilet (pronounced jee-lay but for some reason I can’t help but say gillit, as in spill it.) and decided to buy it as with the Discount Card it was £20 (£30 without).
This Discount Card really is worthwhile having!
We looked at a few more things and made a conscious decision to go to a completely different till, to someone unrelated to the earlier fracas. We got our wares and headed outside where by now the carpark was empty.
We deconstructed the events on the way home, confused by the way they dealt with it or just the sheer idiocy of the manager, but anyway, the boots were amazing and the fact that we had got them for nearly half price, or 2 pairs for the price of one if you like, was a great feeling. It’s not often you get deals like that.
We were up early the next day, as in 5am early as we wanted to get up to the munro as early as possible. We were both excited about the climb as it had the potential for 2 munro’s in one day as the climb to Beinn Ghlas gets you to a saddle upon which you can then walk along and climb Ben Lawers, in a away you’ve already done the hard bit, you just need to do that wee extra bit and you’ll be at the summit of Lawers. However Dad had vocalised his discomfort with the conditions up there and asked us to carefully consider the conditions and not just blindly head up the munros and get in to a situation we couldn’t get out of.
When we arrived at the turn off up to the base of Ghlas (a car park that used to be a visitor center but was now demolished) there was a car sitting at the top of a wee hill 45° across the road. There was 3 people standing around the car and we concluded they were stuck and came to a stop and watched. 5 minutes passed and the 3 people hadn’t moved, neither had the car. So we turned the car off and walked up towards them. Asking if they needed a hand, one of the 3, a girl, said “no thanks, we’re ok.”
We said ok and headed back to the car, by which point another car had arrived behind us and had stopped. A guy got out and we told him they didn’t want help. The 3 of us then stood watching as the 3 people up the hill stood around talking. Meanwhile the driver in the car would periodically open his door and shout something, then close the door and the cycle would start over again. about 10 minutes passed and Blair had asked if we should just park at the side and walk from here, leaving these tubes to faff about on their own. I maneuvered the Mini over to the grass verge and we started to get ready. The bloke behind us did the same but didn’t get ready. By this point another car had arrived and 2 blokes got out. They asked what was going on and after telling them of the situation, they revealed they had been here yesterday and after the top of this hill beyond the tree-line, the ice on the road that was crippling the car at the top of the hill disappeared. They then ran up the road to the 3 idiots standing outside, who were at this point handing a shovel to the driver, who had opened his driver side door and was chipping away at the ice under his front right wheel….whilst sitting in the drivers’ seat still belted in! It was incredible. And while he was chipping away, the 3 others just continued their standing about duties!
We watched as the two blokes who ran up started pushing the car, defying the idiots’ pleas that they were ok and were handling the situation. We ran up too and managed to get the car in line with the road again and then all ran back down to our cars. We had thought the idiots, who we had now termed students as they were quite young and obviously dim… would just roll back and hit the gas in order to get over the ice, now that we knew it was clear at the other side….but they decided to just roll back down the hill. But instead of getting in the car, the 3 of the passengers directed the driver down this shallow hill as if he was a blind man. Blair stood astonished at the complete lack of fundamental driving ability exhibited by this lunatic, as well as the brainless actions of the passengers. It was bizarre really.
Anyway we, the guy behind us and the guys who had done this road yesterday made way for this slowly reversing cavalcade of stupid, and then the last to arrive gassed it up the road, letting a wee tire squeal out as his then hit the ice and slalomed over it. We sat there waiting to see how the guy behind us did and he as well did ok, so I started the Mini and off we went. I got some speed going but Blair said to slow down. I kept quite a speed up as the last thing I wanted to do was to get stuck. I mean it would be pretty devastating to have stood and slagged these dimwits off, only for us to attempt it and get stuck as well..anyway, we made it quite easy which made the actions of the students even more infuriating. I mean, if these guys can’t even navigate a slightly stuck car to safety, how were they expected to walk up a snow and ice-covered mountain!? They said they were going to park at the bottom and walk up, but the road to the car park was fecking miles away! They would have to walk 3 miles up hill before even getting to the base of the munro.
Anyway, we arrived at the car park and joined the others, who were by now getting ready, in a bit of a giggle at the situation that had just presented itself in front of us. We were the 2nd to get ready and set off up the hill, after the usual photograph of us before the slog starts. We made good time and made it to the foot of the hill quickly, passing the folk who had been up here yesterday. We continued along what we thought was the trail but quickly found that we had taken the branch that leaded to the saddle of the two munros, the return path we were going to take due to its gradual decline instead of vertical. We then met up with the correct trail by heading straight up the side of the hill. It was challenging and really tiring but it felt good to be on the path less travelled.
The good thing about Beinn Ghlas is that it’s not just a constant ascent. There’s several plateaus between the short faces making a 3-4 tiered path that allowed you to have a burst of energy, then have the flat bit to compose yourself before bursting up the next face. It meant we made really good progress up Beinn Ghlass. With Chonzie it was a regular hill path up to the base of the munro and then pretty much constant slope to the top, making progress slow especially with the deep snow. On Ghlas it was more icy and grassy which meant that grip was better to achieve.
However we then arrived that the final face before the summit of Ghlas and this was an entirely different thing. We were standing looking at a face of blue ice, the solid core of ice with a fine dusting of snow on top concealing its treacherous condition. Add to this the lack of footprints in the surface, it was a bit of a worry. Anyway there was a slight path made by someone else’s toes which we decided was the easiest way to get up. When I say toes, I mean toes. Most of the dents in the blue ice, 90% of them were only 3-4 inches deep. You could only just get your toe of the boot on it meaning that you were constantly on the move, you couldn’t stop as there wasn’t enough stability to do so. There was the odd full foot print in the ice which allowed a much-needed rest, but for the most part it was bum clenchingly risky. I would glance over my shoulder and note the ice chute that went from my feet to the base of the munro in one unbroken length. If I slipped here and didn’t get a good anchor with the walking pole, I would be down the bottom in a heap before I knew it. Whats more, the 1 ice axe we did bring was strapped to my rucksack and now really wasn’t the time or place for an equipment change. Blair made me take a photo on the face half way up which I did, but I was definitely glad to be at the top of that section.
We got to the feature lacking summit and had a quick whizz around the view, a couple if photographs and then headed down the ridge to find a place for lunch. On the way down we kept looking at the sheer drop to the left and the fantastic views all round. I then did a massive banana skin and landed on my right forearm. Luckily I had managed to not impale myself with the ice axe that I was now holding in my right hand. Blair asked if I was ok but saw I was laughing so took that as a yes.
We eventually found a wee rock to sit behind to get out the now bitterly cold wind and we got stuck in to lunch. The people who had done this yesterday had now arrived at the saddle with us, after going the path that we had originally started before going vertical. They were obviously wanting to go up Lawers. However we had decided on the way down from Ghlas’ summit that the conditions on that final ascent were pretty touch and go, and looking at the route up Lawers, it looked white from start to finish. We decided that it was just too risky without crampons and an ice axe each.
We finished lunch, took a few photographs and then headed for the route down. We couldn’t find it initially…in fact, we couldn’t find it, so had to make our own way down the north face. It was really difficult as it was mostly hard packed snow and ice, so a lot of slipping was going on. At one point I had slipped enough that my head was nearly between my knees. My red metal water bottle that I got for christmas then slipped out the pocket it was in and I wasn’t able to catch it in time. Both Blair and I watched as my water slid down and down and down and down the mountain and then lost sight of it when it hit a grassy patch. It was either lodged in that, or had then went further down the hill. It was funny but it meant we had to retrieve it now which was going to be more difficult that it already was. But eventually we made it down to the water bottle which was slightly dented but now chilled to such a temperature that drinking it was the most refreshing experience to be had. Amazing.
Anyway we continued down the face eventually getting to the bottom in time to start our incline up to the main path. We bumped in to 3 blokes who asked what the summit of Beinn Ghlas was like as they wanted to snowboard down it. I said it was pretty much just ice so they concluded amongst themselves that it was probably best not to try it and decided to just go up a wee snowy face at the bottom of the munro.
Our descent was quite slow over the ice and rocky terrain and eventually made it back to the car. It was around 4 hours start to finish and we were pretty happy with it. It was good to get the fresh socks on and get moving again down the road.
Em had run a bath for me getting back. This was a new thing to me but Blair had mentioned it on the way down Ben Chonzie. He said getting straight in to a bath after getting home was the best way to recover, so tried it after Chonzie and it was amazing how little my muscles ached. After Ghlas they were still a bit tight but not as tight or sore as they would have been had I not had this bath. So that was great!
Then a couple of days later it was back to work. Which was crap. But it was only a 3 day week which was less crap. I was meant to wash the Mini this weekend but come Friday night the ground was covered in 5 inches of snow again. It’s amazing just how quickly the snow can cover stuff and make it yet again impossible to get anywhere without a lot of fuss. Anyway, we’ve spent the entire weekend in the house except for a walk down to Sainsbury’s for me to get milk….and coffee. And tomorrow it’s back to work. But my journeys to and from work are now accompanied with my new Amazon Kindle! Dad bought one for Mum’s Christmas but after the first one went to his work’s address, he ordered a replacement but never changed the address, so the second one went to his work too…so he then had two, one of which he was going to send back to Amazon but I decided to buy it off him, and it’s amazing. I’ll write about that next week but so far, since Friday, I have read 1 book and am halfway through another. It’s just an amazing little thing.
So there you go. A bit of a mammoth week but I am pretty happy so far with the way the year has started. Work is going to get busy and stressful so I guess I have to enjoy the calm whilst it lasts.
Till next week! All the best
Gordon
Thoughts: Rev-It Apache Boot & Dainese Virlunga D-Dry
After my Desmo’s packed in, the Airtech GTXs disappointed and the Sidi Rain Evo’s got sold on eBay (times are tight) I had nothing left but to get the Alpinestars Effex GTX back out of retirement, complete with mud and cobwebs from working in the garden with them on.
The only issue however is now the Effex boots are wasted. There are still two holes in the shift patch and the sole (the reason for the retirement) and the sole is compacted to a wafer, so comfort isn’t really what you would call comfortable. Not only that, they are cold and leak like a pair of boots with two holes in them.
So I got thinking about what was out there now that could possibly fill the void left when my Desmo’s packed in. What kind of boot could be worn day in day out, in Scottish winter weather, as well as walking about in them, washing my bike in them and generally living in them. What boots are there in the market RIGHT NOW, that could possibly fit the bill?
What do you think of these then?
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT!! Wow.
I stumbled across these boots when searching for another boot that I liked the look of. I’ll come to those in a minute.
These Rev-It Apache boots are precisely what I would imagine a boot to look like, should it fit the requested spec I mentioned before. It looks rugged. But it also looks comfortable. It looks solid. Most of all, it looks really quite smart.
These retail for around £160 in the UK. There’s a variety of tech going on in here, including a sole that was derived from hiking boots. WebBikeWorld calls them a “Mashup” in that they merge off-road boots with hiking boots with touring boots and racing boots. It’s a best of all worlds type boot.
I am really intrigued by these. Could they be the answer to my Scottish boot nightmare?
The other boot I mentioned was the Dainese Virunga D-Dry boot. It looks like this:
These boots look like comfy bams I have to say. I also like the combination of soft materials combined with ratchet style closure as an extra security feature.
They don’t look as solid as the Apaches but I prefer the softer look.
I’m going to try and get my hands on either or both of these boots and give them the YamYam review treatment. Fingers crossed because I am really starting to tire of having cold wet feet.
Stay tuned!
Review: TCX Airtech Gore-Tex Boots
One month off. A whole month of non-yamyam action. That’s bad.
Let’s rock.
I give you, The TCX Airtech Goretex boot
So after a while of waiting and various calls to J&S, I got the TCX Airtech Gore Tex boots through in the mail. Upon initial inspection I noted to myself that these were nowhere near the effortless cool of my beloved Puma Desmo GTX.
The boot felt stiff in the hand and the rubber was really…rubbery. It reminded me of something that perhaps a fireman would wear, or a fisherman… After a few moments of visual disappointment, I unzipped those suckers and stuck em on my feet, after all it’s more about what they feel like…right?
There's only so much rubber you can take...
After struggling to get the massive velcro patch off the boot, I slipped my foot in to a very vacant feeling interior. Vacant in the sense that the boot didn’t really fit my foot, it more hovered around it. There was a lot of space for my foot to move horizontally, waving a stick in a cave…what…oh. The boot also felt really hard, rigid and not very pleasant. Nevertheless, I soldiered on and zipped them up…oh dear.
Initial feeling was “oh, that’s not really good” as the interior fabric that’s fashioned around the lip of the boot scraped against my leg. I unzipped it again thinking I had messed it up but sure enough, at the top of the boot was a ragged edge that was rough to the touch. I am not enjoying this experience.
Walking back in forward in my kitchen I was completely turned off by what my feet were saying to me. Absolutely no movement in the shin area forcing an awkward cowboy stride and moon-landing plant of the feet, albiet with a “SLAP”.
As you can see, I took photos on my wet patio table. After doing this, I put them on in my kitchen and immediately my grip was lost, due to some moisture being left on the sole. This was not a good indication of the available grip for say, when you put your foot down at the lights when there just happens to be some diesel spilt on the wet road…
Bugs eye toe cap...mmmm. Not.
There is a natural “That’s enough” point in a products design. With the Puma Desmo it wasn’t ever crossed, I wanted more of it and would have lapped it up with a squint face.
With the TCX Airtech GTX, the point at which “that’s enough” was reached happened as soon as the box was opened and eyes were rested upon the feast of rubber and mesh.
It may be slightly harsh to say it, but I will say it. On a web shop with the Airtech at a 45° angle and the right lighting this boot looks pretty good. In reality, this boot should never have left the design office. It’s an over stiff, non-user-friendly lump of hard rubber and mesh that makes you partially vomit in to your mouth, and then, after you have wiped the barf off the floor, you try the boots on and you suddenly have the urge to scoop your eyes out with a spoon, only after you have picked yourself up from slipping on the slightly damp floor.
A boo-boo if ever I saw one, and a real shame. I never wore these on the bike. I made the pose of being on my bike, using my kitchen bar-stool as a make shift peg and I immediately knew this was a no-go. And to top off all this lovin’, you then have that annoying rubbing on your leg from the really really reeheeheeeelly (too much Scrubs) bad craftsmanship and materials choice.
Bad one.
Sorry TCX, you’ve blown it.
Update: Puma Desmo 800 GTX. Done. Gone.
Well now…
Firstly, thanks to Alex @ J&S Accessories for her help. I appreciate it.
My favourite pair of boots, my Desmo 800 Gore-Tex boots, my babys…gone. Forever.
I had sent them back well over 5 weeks ago to J&S Accessories due to the zip busting and the unbreakable Gore-Tex liner leaking. I sent them back and waited. And waited. And waited. Until it was too much and I called them up.
“Ok…hmmm. I’ll have a look and get back to you.”
That was Friday, and hadn’t received a call back. So today (Wednesday) I called up again.
“Yeah, we sent them back to the supplier and I’m waiting back on them calling me about the status. Hold on, I’ll call you back and I’ll find out.”
Sure enough 30 minutes later a call.
“The suppliers say that they have given us a credit for the boots so you can get anything you want from our store.”
“What, you can’t get them anymore?”
“No, they have stopped making them. But have a look in our store. You can get the Sidi Evo’s? They are our best selling boot?!”
“Hmm Bums… I’ll call you back once I’ve had a look at them.”
So I had a quick look at their store and no boots were Gore-Tex apart from some TCX Competizione boots at £200…doubtfull she’ll allow that to fly.
I called back and suggested it and although she had said that I could have whatever boots I wanted, there was obvioulsy a bit of no-way-jose before I was told that the boots on the web were only the most popular and that she’ll check to see if they do any other GTX ones.
No call back, but again she was quick to get a hold of. She apoligised with the reason that she was doing two jobs at once due to someone being ill. No problem.
“There’s some Daytona ones.”
No. They were pretty basic and not very nice looking.
Whilst I had been waiting for the call I had checked online at various brands again, thinking various things like, perhaps the Alpinstars Effex would be good again? They were bullet proof and comfy as feck as well. Hmm. Nah. What about any other Puma versions? No. Puma seem to have pulled out of the motorcycle boot industry altogether!!
Well what about TCX then? Hmm.
I had a wee swatch on their website and immediately drew myself to these:
Now. I know what you are thinking. And it probably isn’t “They are smarter than X”
I like the look of them definitely. But my rational was this: Winter.
I have the smartest boots around. The Desmo non GTX variety remember. I had 2 sets. Now I still have the normal Desmos, so getting winter boots smarter than the Desmos isn’t possible. Add to that the fact that during winter, my mind isn’t on how good I look, it’s on getting to work with the most number of body parts still attached to my body. These boots look like they will be comfy (going by the pretty sparse reviews of them) and warm. They also crucially have Gore-Tex.
Aye they may not be made of hard plastic to protect from crushing, but apparently they last ages, are instantly comfy (no break in) and are warm.
So I suggested to her if it would be possible to get these? She said that she would call the supplier and see.
10 minutes later a call to say that aye, that’s no problem, but there is a problem with price as these are £150 and I had paid £126 for the Desmo GTX. Of course I had paid £140 for them back then. She realised the mistake and said, no worries, she’ll get them ordered and sent out asap.
So there you go. I am really looking forward to trying this new boot out, but at the same time I am gutted about my Desmo’s. The fact that Puma don’t make them any more is also disappointing. But more than gutted or disappointment, I am really beat up about the fact that they only lasted 9 months. I was sure they would last at least as long as my AStars Effex, but I was wrong. Such a shame. I guess I’ll just have to take ultra good care of my normal Desmos if I want to keep them for longer.
Updates on the TCX Airtech Gore-Tex when they arrive!
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All the best
Gordon
Update: Puma Desmo 800 GTX Boots Review
Hey All
After my beloved Alpinestars boots broke, I fancied getting a pair of pumas. I had already bought a set of them off ebay thinking they were Gore-Tex as advertised, but unfortunately they weren’t.
Instead of getting some Desmo’s I decided to try another pair, called the Brutales. These were pretty uncomfortable and I really didn’t like the blue leather.
After a week of sending the boots back and forward, I decided that I would go for the Gore-Tex version of the Desmos. I knew how comfortable they were i.e slippers, and they looked smart as feck.
I bought them last August and wore them from then until now, so here is how they are fairing. Bearing in mind that they had…big shoes to fill. My Alpinestars didn’t flinch for over 1 and a half years of constant riding, walking, washing bikes, laying paths/grass and generally getting abused. (Click the images to see the larger ones over at my Flickr account)
As you can see, they are not so daisy fresh. But from August 08 until now, they have proved to be an excellent boot, standing up to some of the most torrential rain I have ever experienced.
The toe sliders are scuffed to bits, with the plastic the same. However on this boot (left) there is now a leak where the outside of my toes are. I suspect it’s something to do with the bolts securing the toe slider to the boot, but I am not sure.
The rear of the boots used to be nice and shiny, but after some pretty heavy use, you can see how worse off they are. This is from a multitude of things that I can think of right now. When Em sits on the back, her feet sit in a way that they hug the heel of my boot. This is probably the cause of the scuffs, with perhaps taking the boots off helping out.
As mentioned before, this little metal bit serves two purposes. The first is to make the boot look smart. The second is to assist in getting the boot off. You stick your opposite toe on this wedge, then suck your foot out the boot. It works wonders in the wet, I can attest to that. Note how pitted the metal is. This is Scottish winter road salt at it’s finest.
And now we come to the reason I have stopped wearing the boots for the past week. The zip burst. These boots are really snug, they hug your feet and offer tremendous feel. The downside to this is that when you are putting the boot on, you really have to use the zip to bring the two sides of the boot together and sometimes this puts a bit of strain on the zip. Unfortunately it put a bit too much strain on it and it split. I continued to wear them, just securing them with the massive velcro patch above the zip. It worked ok, but the zip issue, coupled with the leaking left boot called for a return to the shop.
The shift patch is quite obvious now. The rest of the patch is still shiny but the area I shift with has turned matte.
I often walk about in my boots, I did it with my A-Stars and I do it with my Demos. These boots are the comfiest things I have ever worn in my life, so it’s a joy to keep them on. However I walk like a dork, so the heel is starting to show signs of wear, and so is the outside of the sole.
So compared to my Alpinestars Effex Gore-Tex boots, how do the Puma Desmo 800 Gore-Tex fair?
Comfort: The Desmos are the comfiest things to put on your feet whilst riding a motorcycle. Compared to the Effex, the Desmos are far better.
Looks: Again, the Desmos are the smartest boots I know of. They offer something a bit busier than the Effex, but a long shot away from the squeeky Sidis. These are the pinnacle of effortless cool.
Durability: The Desmos have lasted since August 08. That makes it 10 months. The Effex lasted since January 07 until August 08, that makes it 18 months, so the Effex win hands down. The Effex were also really basic looking, just leather, no shift patch (where one of the holes developed) and the sole was the othe rhole. The Desmos are made up of lots of different materials, leather, plastic, metal. For this reason the Desmos look a lot rougher than the Effex did.
Effectiveness: The Effex were solid perfomers, offering dry feet up until the hole developed in the shift patch area. This wouldn’t have happened had there been a man made material (rubber, plastic) here. The Desmos have also been solid performers, but are now letting water in around the toe slider area.
Price: The Effex when I purchased them were £110. The Desmos £150. The price difference reflects the complexity and safety of boot I think, and they both sport Gore-Tex, so I think the Demos are well worth the extra dollar. The Effex didn’t have any shift patch, rugged heel armour or toe sliders. It also didn’t have the height of the Desmos.
So to conclude, the Puma Desmo’s are a superb boot, offering fantastic comfort, protection from the weather, feel on the gear shift/pegs and have gorgeous looks to boot (sorry). My boots are going back to the shop I bought them from to get the zip and leak fixed and I will continue to use them until they fail.
You can find the Desmos here for £128! An absolute bargain now! I think I may just have to invest in another pair for when these go bang, they are really that good.
Thanks for reading all,
Gordon
Holey Moley: Alpinestars Effex Gore-Tex “Final Review”
Wow, what a bum of a week.
The weather has been miserable. Someone at work said the other day, “did you come in on your bike?” and I said, “Yeah?” She looked a bit confused and continued, “is it not really difficult in these conditions?” “Yeah it is but you choose your own path I guess.”
And I wouldn’t change it for anything. I love my bike and I knew when I signed up for this what the negatives would be. I like being able to miss out on the queue on the way to work. I like not having to worry about it. I like being able to sleep longer in the morning because I don’t have to beat the queues.
So yeah, it is difficult and I do end up soaking through, and at the time I think, “this is shit” but then I remember why I do it and it’s ok.
Anyway, this week is over and in a special way. It’s the 8th day of the 8th month of the 8th millenium year, 08-08-08. This will NEVER happen again until…actually I dont know when. What happens when we get to 2100? What do we call it? 00? 100?
Oh well.
The news
My boots, my brilliant Alpinestars boots have broke. I am devestated. These were the boots that were with me from the start. The beginning of YamYam. And now they have big holes in them. My camera is dead so I will post pics up when I get home, but there is one great big hole in the sole of the boot and another where the shift patch has worn through. These boots have kept me dry for….well over 600 days of sun, rain, wind, ice, snow, poo, sand, walking to the shops, cleaning my bike in and digging holes in the garden. They were mine. Moulded to my exact foot shape and I knew they were brilliant because I never thought about them. I guess that’s when you know your gear is good, when you don’t notice it. But now the impenetrable Gore-Tex forcefield has been rendered totally useless with 2 great big holes in it. Oh well 
What they arrived like:
Taken from Alpinestars official site
And this is what they departed like:
Used and abused
Shift patch is worn through
Holey Moley in the bottom of the boot
These boots, for £118 or whatever I purchsed them for, are pretty much bullet proof. They offer superior comfort, water proofing, looks, durability. Yeah they dont have much protection or plastic bits but they are a great commuting boot and absolutely perfect for what I needed them for.
This will be the “Final Review,” the first one ever on YamYam, and it’s really sad that these are gone.
A lot of you may be reading this and thinking, “He’s a bit sad to be so upset about a pair of boots!” And you are right. But when these boots have taken you through 4 countries, every single weather condition imaginable, 2 accidents, cleaning my last 4 bikes every weekend and walking up to the shops in them when it’s been raining (which in Scotland is quite a lot) you can start to hopefully see why I am so attached to them.
So anyway,
I should just get another pair right? Well no. I know it’s silly as I would have another pair of these in a second, but I fancy a change.
I am not straying too far from what I am used to though.
May I present my new choice of mega boot:
Image taken from www.gearzone.fi (Google Image search)
So when thinking about replacements for my absolutely brilliant Alpinestars Effex Gore-Tex boots I summed up what I wanted.
I wanted a comfortable, warm, waterproof, durable boot with improvements over the A-Stars boot, namely the shift patch and the sole.
As you know, I bought the Puma Desmo 800′s a while back and I absolutely love them. I actually thought I purchased the Gore-Tex version but sadly I was cheated. Never the less, they are a great warm/dry weather boot and supremely comfortable. So instead of NOW getting the Desmo 800 Gore-Tex version, I had a wee browse of the other Puma boots.
I think I actually saw the Brutale’s in Hein Gericke when I nipped along at lunch one day and they were £120 for the Gore-Tex version. I wanted to buy them right there and then but at that time my Alpinestars were fine.
The Brutales are nice, they look similar to my Desmo’s but come in black with a black velvety swoosh and black metal bit at the back, black boot with blue bits or brown boot with copper bits.
If they had a black boot with copper version I would have bought them, but I dont want a brown boot so went for the blue to differ from my Desmos.
So yeah!
If I am being honest I actually have a pair of the Brutales right now. This is because I ordered the non-Gore-Tex version (again) but have spoken to J&S and they are sending out the Gore-Tex ones to swap.
So instead of posting up the review now, I will wait to give them the usual in depth YamYam treatment.
I am really excited about them. Puma make some of the comfiest boots you can wear and that’s some achievement given my Effex comfort levels were 10/10.
I hope that they are good. I hope that they perform well for the coming 20 months or longer. One things for sure, the Brutale’s have a big boots to fill.
Thanks for visiting folks,
Gordon
