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.
