Apparel company?
 

Anyone have a favorite apparel company for cycling kit?

I personally like dhb and Louis Garneau. I am going to try Twin Six this season. I'm thinking of ordering 1 bib and 2 tops. See how that goes.

I'm starting to like Pactimo. I'm not crazy about Garneau's shorts, even the Pro, but again fit's personal.

Half my kit is USA made Voler. The other half is Italian made Santini. As far as style, quality and customer service both are great. I hate to admit it but I do like the Santini better just because of the style.

I have kit from other name-brand makers (Giordana, Rapha, Pearl Izumi, etc) but for the money you can't beat Voler or Santini in my opinion.


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Rapha.

BTW...A few years ago I met a first cousin of Garneau while riding the Cape May-Lewes ferry during a day ride out of Avalon, NJ. He ad his wife had driven down from Canada.

Assos make nice stuff.

7Mesh.
Nothing even comes close.


-Tim-

I always make it a point to go out to Cape May, however it never happens.

I have a santini bib short. It is a nice piece of kit although it is rather see through due to the fact they are another color other than black?

My Santini's are all black. Mine are not see through.

If compression is high on the list of wants, I pick 2XU. Not just cycling.

Premium Cycling Clothing | 2XU

Levi Strauss... cuz they don't look like I borrowed my wife's yoga pants.

Assos.

For regular bibs, I like the Performance Elite bibs I got last season. Might get another as my old Giordana ones wear out and feel looser. For some other stuff (gloves, long sleeve thermal jersey, etc) Perl Izumi seems to have good bang for buck.

The cheap chinese apparel sold on Amazon that is 1/4 to 1/3 of the price of the name brand bike apparel yet just as good.

I spent 8 "fun filled" weeks there at USCG TRACEN Cape May. Don't really care to go back

Can you give a link to an example? I'm always curious about other mfrs giving good value. I've read conflicting reports about cheap clothing from them. Seems to depend on who is making the item, I guess. Also a lot of cycling items that I have seen from Chinese companies seems to be the replica team kits. I used to wear some of it years ago, but prefer non-team kit if available. I would have supported my LBS, but they wanted $150 for a regular bib short. Really? Its even harder to justify $150 vs $60 for the Performance bibs.

Levi's on a century ride in the middle of the summer in near triple digit temps with 98% humidity. Seems ideal. :rolleyes:

Was staying with the GF and her parents' house in Avalon. (Rode down there from Philly for a week.) Rode to Cape May, took the ferry to Lewes, DE and then rode the Rehoboth, DE for lunch. The GF was wearing a pair of LG shorts so the cousin struck up a conversation with us.


On the way back a group do dolphins swan straight to the boat before submerging before getting run over. They like to play like that.


It's a nice little trip, even if you just get the ferry from Cape May and ride to Rehoboth. You can get there from Lewes almost entirely on trails, including some in Cape Henlopen State Park. The non-trail parts use mostly roads with wide bike lanes.

Better bring along a lot of chamois buttr. But even that won't help when your underwear seams dig into your skin and become a gleuteus maximus hatchet. Yeeeah, ah, no...

+1. Or while descending for 26 miles from 8,000' in rain, sleet and snow. I will leave the leg warmers and rain pants at home the next time I might face that again.

Can also ride south to Ocean City pretty easily. The highway from Rehoboth-south has some great bike lanes. Lots of riding on the DelMarVa to be done.
My grandparents lived in Rehoboth - I spent a lot of time there, and a number of years in Salisbury.

These are the shorts I have been buying. Just as good as the $80-$100 shorts you find out there.

https://www.amazon.com/SANTIC-Cyclin...tic&th=1&psc=1

I don't wear bib shorts, but here are some that are reasonable. If they wear out. You can buy 4 of them for the price price of what the LBS is charging.

https://www.amazon.com/Lameda-Padded...b+shorts&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Baleaf-Mens-P...ing+bib+shorts

Basically just type in the item you are interested in and see what pops up.

I like Rapha, you can still find some sale items hidden away in the "archive sale" bit on the website.

You are an elitist who has been brainwashed by Madison Avenue Industrial Complex into thinking that you must part with your money in return for overpriced crap! For what Rapha sells for $100 you could get something ten times better on Alibaba $0.69 ;)


P.S. I have a Rapha base layer that has be wondering how I ever lived without it.