In a line
Did the job for 7 years on 13 bikes

Where tested: Algerian Sahara, southern Morocco, back garden chainsawing, etc

Cost: £200
Supplied free for review by TCX UK

Weight: 1017g each

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What they say:
Designed for Adventure both on and off road, and on and off the bike, the TCX Baja Boots are built to be protective on the bike and walkable on the trail. Full grain leather upper for durability and lasting good looks. Polyurethane inserts at the ankle, heel and toe. The perfect hybrid of a low hiking boot and a high motocross boot, the TCX Baja Mid Cut Boots will take you where the adventure leads, over any terrain, through any weather. [Revzilla]

• Full grain leather upper
• Suede front and rear padded areas increase comfort
• Soft padded upper collar
• Waterproof membrane lining
• CFS Comfort Fit System
• Ergonomic shin plate reinforcement
• PU malleolus [ankle bone], toe and heel inserts
• Leather shift pads
• Inner suede heat guard offers maximum grip
• 2 interchangeable, micro-adjustable ALU6060 aluminum buckles for superior fit
• Anatomical and replaceable footbed
• High performance rubber compound sole with differentiated grip areas for stability and traction on any terrain
• CE certified 

No longer listed by TCX in early 2024. Forma Adventure Low Boots look similar.

What I think:

• Light, do-it-all boots for gravel-roading and even hiking off the bike
• Solid construction lasted years of desert and mountain tracks
• Easy to operate, adjustable buckles
• Look good in natural brown
• Non-clammy and wading waterproof membrane

• Depending on the bike’s peg size, soft instep gets sore standing off road after a while
• One buckle clamp frequently came undone, eventually fell off and could not be correctly replaced
• Would prefer some tread on the soles, which other Adventure boots have

Review
My old Altberg road boots were showing the years. Bought from a junk shop for 20 quid, they were OK for my Morocco tours but didn’t have solid protection nor a stiff on-the-footrests instep for a two-weeker in Algeria on an XR400 in 2018.

I’ve been eyeing up the Italian TCX brand, in particular the Baja Mids from the ‘Touring – Adventure’ line looked good in natural hide and looked like they fitted my needs.
For my sort of non-competitive desert riding I don’t believe full-height, full-on MX boots are necessary. Looking back I see I only wore such things (Alpine Stars; right) on my very first desert trip in 1982.

In the real world I’m not blasting through shallow rivers or showers of stones on my way to the chequered flag, but solid ankle support and foot protection are important for any form of biking, particularly off-road where a typical slow speed fall-over often sees the bike drop on your foot (as happened to a rider on our trip, cooling his sore foot, left). After another crippling accident on our ride, a couple of us wondered whether in a foot-catching-a-side-rut scenario, a solid, full-height MX boot transfers more twisting force to the knee than a mid-height boot like my Baja which lets the shin bones twist a bit before a knee ligaments snaps.

I’ve had problems with narrow hiking boots, over the years, but the UK11 / EU46 Bajas fitted me just right. Your foot slips smoothly into the padded lining where you can replace the basic footbed to suit your needs, though for bike riding they’re not that critical. Everything clamps down with two micro-adjustable buckles which look like they could take the odd whack from a rock and should be replaceable, but weren’t. This is all a lot less faff than the zips on my old Altbergs which have lasted, but occasionally refused to budge until you reboot, so to speak.

Being mid-height means tucked-in trousers may tuck-out on the move. I also found if wearing short socks the padded edge of the upper collar chaffs on bare shins, as any boot would. The solution is knee-high socks or as I did, tuck trouser-ends into the short socks. Or of course you can wear them OTB for hipster soirees. Being short, they’re light too at just over a kilo each, same as my Lowa desert boots. I never had that encumbered, boxy feeling I recall from full-height MX boots.

When it came to standing and riding over rough terrain, as long as the pegs are larger-than-standard the Bajas supported my feet comfortably and with no pressure, just like a proper MX boot. Elsewhere, the instep gets sore after a while.

I occasionally wander into rivers and puddles and the Baja’s waterproofness holds up, and all day in the deserts they never become uncomfortably clammy to wear which suggests a more breathable, higher quality membrane.

There’s no word on what the membrane is on the Baja description, but TCX’s generic Gore-Tex page suggests all TCX boots use one grade of Gore-Tex or another. In my experience, cheaper membranes err towards waterproofness rather than true breathability which results in clamminess round the clock.

Fast forward to early 2024 and the Baja Mids are hanging in there, getting used at least twice a year in Morocco on whatever I’m riding at the time. I don’t even bother cleaning the dust off any more and they just do the job unobtrusively. One of the clamps that was always opening up fell off and I couldn’t find an exact replacement; a bodged on clamped worked OK.

There’s never been an occasion where I wished they were full-height which might rub on the side of the bike. Depending on the size of a bike’s footrests, my insteps might a bit sore after 20 minutes of standing off-road, but larger pegs cure that. I’m sure I’ll get another five years out of them but spring 2025 a rock or something poked a hole in the toe (top of the page) in the High Atlas meaning fords resulted in a wet foot. I also wonder if the waterproofing membrane had has its day.

All up, after about 12 months and about 25,000km of sustained, actual use over the years, in 2025 I left them in Marrakech and bought a pair of similar but treaded Forma Adventure Lows (left) which I hope will last as long and be a bit more grippy when scrambling up rocky banks to grab a photo.