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Gaerne USA Changes?
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If I'm not mistaken it's all handled in Italy now.
Hmm, does that mean there is no more rider support in the US?
There is still rider support, it goes through corporate and I believe Tucker Rocky and or Western Powersports will be the distributor of the boots. They emailed me a order form and product list and then I had to email my order back to them and the boots got shipped from somewhere in the States. Now that my have changed because I have not ordered a pair this year.
That sounds like the process I followed last Nov when I ordered my last boots.
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Free shipping: VITALMX
... are my Gaerne boots under warranty? I have a small hole in one that needs to get fixed...
Tucker Rocky has once again been bought out by Turn 14. Western Powersports is still a distributor and I'm assuming T14 will carry them also. I finally heard from a rep yesterday and they are still finishing up the acquisition stuff of Pro Taper and all of the other House brands.
How does something like this happen?
Tucker has been a mess for years. It just so happens that when they bought the Protaper rights from Easton back in the day, Now it is getting all swallowed up by Turn14. Only advantage for we parts guys is access to their vast car parts(So far). Here in the next few weeks Pro taper should be back to normal and actually probably only affected certain warehouses that are getting fazed out.
Gotta ride on the balls of your feet🤣😂
Sidi changing distributor too. I got a killer deal on some crossfire 3s because of it.
I’ve also been a protaper guy for a long as I can remember. I learned to stock up on certain things and the products themselves are really good. As are the people working there.
The dude posted the video of how it happened on instagram a while back. If I come across it I’ll post it up.
Found this.
Helmet House has acquired - Fasthouse, 100%, Sidi and they are now another Astar dealer and they have Shoei and HJC.
No, leave the hole. These would be perfect as-is for a local rider I know...
You're correct, big changes. I've been dealing with this lately with two customers. Warranty support is a bit unclear at the moment. Not sure about rider support. Anyway, I'll try to explain what I know clearly.
US office was responsible for Gaerne rider support and more importantly warranty support. Gaerne Italy closed that office down a few months ago. Concurrently their largest US distributor, Tucker, cratered after struggling for a long time. Their assets were acquired by an automotive company, Turn 14 distribution. However key word there is "assets", such as inventory. T14 did not acquire their liabilities - which means the responsibility to warranty any boots sold by Tucker. This is common, normal, and foreseeable.
Turn 14 directs warranty inquiries to a US email address. That email address seems to actually route to Italy. Over at least 10 attempts it was never answered and now bounces because it has exceeded their providers quota. Considering Gaerne Italy would have easily seen this coming, this result is a head scratcher.
T14 will handle warranty for any of the inventory they acquired from Tucker and sell themselves. However - and this is a biiiig deal - they have not yet contracted with Gaerne Italy to continue US distribution. Knowing some of the numbers, in my opinion T14 is far and away the alpha in this situation. I am hoping they work it out.
Gaerne also had a second distributor, WPS. They are less committed to the brand (as they have Alps) but working with them is absolutely more straightforward than the Tucker/T14/no-Gaerne-USA situation. That said they seem to have challenges getting info from Gaerne Italy also.
There is a rumor that a very well-known industry guy may assume some role with Gaerne USA. I think this would be fantastic, as long as he understands the way high end boot customers want support to flow and recognizes the need to be accessible.
Good news is over 15 years selling the brand, warranty issues are very rare. They are a fantastic product company. But they do seem to have some of the common organization issues that Veneto sports footwear companies are known for.
Hope that helps.
BP
Sidi's USA distribution also went through some recent changes but their situation is much more clear. The previous distributor, Motonation, did great work with them over 30 years. However they are smaller, it is a very competitive category and that probably wore them down over time. Like mgifraqcing said, Sidi distribution has been picked up by Helmet House. HH are very organized and fired up about the brand and Sidi has some new models coming out soon. Things look like they will be very good going forward.
BP
Sounds like Eddie Cole.
Pit Row
Thank you for the clarity. Super helpful.
I usually kill the soles and buy new boots even though the rest of the boots are in amazing shape. Might have to go the resole route this time around.
Any news on this front?
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