Gaerne GX1 Enduro Boots - first ride review

Does my ass look big in these?
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daveuprite
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Gaerne GX1 Enduro Boots - first ride review

Post by daveuprite »

First try yesterday of my new pair of Gaerne GX1 boots.

For me there's little point buying top end 400-500 euro boots. They have features suited to really tough use on a day-to-day racer level. Wasted on me as a leisure rider once every 2 weeks. But I do like the quality of a good make. So for enduro/greenlaning that means either Sidi, A-Stars or Gaerne in my book. I've used Alpinestar Tech 3s for ages and they've been OK. Probably saved my ankles a few times - except one time when I slammed my leg between the bike and a tree - I'm still hobbling on some days 4 years later.

But Tech 3s aren't waterproof and they wear out a bit faster than you might hope. Some riders have complained that quality standards have dropped a bit at A-Stars.

So I bought a pair of Gaerne GX1s. Normally about 220 Euros, I got some sale reduction plus one of those nice discount codes at Motoblouz.fr. - so they came to 155 Euros posted. I gambled on a pair in size 45 when I'm normally 44 or 44.5.

Spent the day in them yesterday and basically forgot that I had them on, even though they were brand new out of the box. Fantastically comfortable. And the clips are much better than Tech 3s. With my old boots you felt like you'd had a work-out just putting them on, before you even mounted the bike. These metal lever clips are so much easier, and they all go the same way. They worked fine underneath Klim OTB dakar pants - no rubbing on legs or knee protectors, nothing digging in. When we forded a 2/3 feet deep stream I came out bone dry. Obviously wading about in it for a few minutes might be a different story - funnily enough I didn't do that yesterday - but I'll probably have to at some point...

Oh and 45 was the right size, with a pair of medium thick socks inside, so perhaps best to order one size or a half size bigger than your shoe size.

Anyway, they've got my 5* recommendation so far.

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daveuprite
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Re: Gaerne GX1 Enduro Boots - first ride review

Post by daveuprite »

Still very happy with my new Gaerne boots in every way. Mega-comfortable and dry. Crashed with them 3 times now - and nothing to report ankle/leg-wise.

HOWEVER: they are just a tad squeaky!



I've just washed them after Sunday's ride, and sprayed some silicon spray over them - to quiet them down a bit.

Entertaining though. The other lads seemed to like em...
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Re: Gaerne GX1 Enduro Boots - first ride review

Post by mechanic »

Good choice, when I rode trials Gearne were always a good boot.
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