Troul 

I may go to a local apparel store that does custom work to see if they make cycling jerseys. It'll probably cost about the same as the hot shot name brands.

shelbyfv

Different strokes, right? To me, the 7mesh and Rapha jerseys are about as tasteful as it gets. Unfortunately for me they aren't sized for fat guys. I understand it, nobody wants Lampre Man as a "brand ambassador."

PeteHski

Yeah, 7-Mesh are not in the slightest bit flashy with their minimalist logos and muted colours. Rapha are also pretty understated, especially their Classic and Brevet lines. I love their merino classic spring/autumn jerseys.

I must admit I had not considered potential sizing issues as Medium or Large standard sizing usually fits me fine. I guess fat guys who want close fitting high end gear require custom fitting. I don’t know if that even exists with performance cycling gear?

shelbyfv

We fat guys don't need to be wearing close fitting, it's too revealing! The problem is more that if the jersey is large enough for the belly, it's so long it hangs off the butt.

mstateglfr 

The feel of mutiple $125-175 jerseys that I have either tried on or owned has been top tier. Genuinely fantastic feeling when compared to generic quick dry t-shirts and $25 Amazon style jerseys I have felt/tried.

But none of those expensive jerseys have been super comfortable from a fit perspective. They have all been effectively race cut, even when they detailed sizing says otherwise.

I have found my sweet spot is regular fit TwinSix jerseys that are on frequent sale discounted down to $55-70 from $110 originally, Voler Peloton jerseys on sale for $60-75 from whatever the full price is...like $110, and Rapha lightweight core when on sale for $55-70.
These are a mix of fit, martial, and quality that work for me at a price range I think is pretty darn good.

I am 6'5 225# and am an XL in Voler and TwinSix, an XXL In Rapha.
Some day I will fit into the XXL OrNot Small Monsters jersey I bought a year ago. Really nice materials and creative design, but their race fit cut is a sausage casing on me.

TX_master

Ahh - SDBC! I remember my days fondly riding with them. Looks like they've changed primary colors. Here's a pic of me during the 1999 Death Valley to Mt. Whitney stage race (don't think they hold that anymore, not sure)

Back then team kit was Voler, which was fine IMO. These days I don't race anymore and my bike is my gym substitute and not really a social outlet for me either. Rides are generally not longer than 40 miles and pretty high intensity so not on the bike for super long periods. For those reasons and because I ride a lot so need a lot of gear, I rely on less expensive stuff and spend more money on the bike itself.

eduskator

I hated Rapha, but I love PNS. 6'2'' 170lbs here and I wear L in their race fit (Mechanism) and M in their more relax fit (Essential). Most comfortable jerseys I've ever worn. It feels like I'm not wearing anything.

TMonk

Very cool photo! You cool if I share that with the board? I'm on the BoD as the men's elite team director. I've been a racer with SDBC for the last 6 or 7 years, and we've been red, green, and now blue/orange in that time. It changes with title sponsor.

Come drop in on a Saturday ride if you're ever in town visiting!

TMonk

sry, I had to

TX_master

Sure I don't mind. I'm going to be in SoCal in early June for a trade show in Long Beach. But the weekend prior I'm going to be in San Diego to play a little golf with an old buddy so not sure I can make the mornings but I might bring my bike along anyway. Does Eddie Gonzalez still ride with SDBC? He was a good riding friend back in the day and if I brought my bike I was going to see if he wanted to do an afternoon coffee ride but IDK. If he sees that pic he'll know who it is. Ask him about our friend Homey the Clown.

I should add that it seems a bit more organized now. Back then if you raced you raced and if you didn't you didn't. But for those that did race there wasn't much coordination being done by the club. You were sort of on your own. For Death Valley - Mt. Whitney there was a group of 4 or 5 us that trained together on the weekends for a few months leading up to it but this was done on our own initiative. A couple of other club members that didn't do the race came and supported us, but again that was on their own and we had people racing across two different categories so providing real time support across the first day 80 mile stage was not realistic - hence the seat bag w/tube and tire levers. That pic was taken by one of the support folks who did a drive by on me.

prj71

It's a little bit of all of that.

Just participated in a gravel race over the weekend. I rode 116 miles in my Primal jersey and didn't die. Matter of fact during the course of the race I saw numerous Primal jerseys and didn't see one Rapha, Assos or any other high dollar jersey. The gravel folks must be a cheaper breed of people.

Nope. Never noticed any of that. Matter of fact some of the real expensive ones fit for crap and were uncomfortable.

I have not had any of these issues with my cheaper cycling jerseys. If I did...I would definitely be looking around at different jersey's.

I'm thinking trendy has more to do with the high prices than the actual material quality and fit. Like many other thing we buy in life...Price (especially when it comes to apparel) is not always a good indicator of quality. It's merely a case of buying an assumed brand name and paying too much for it when there are existing alternatives that are just as good but cost less.

Those expensive Rapha Jerseys...Made in China.

Koyote

For the umpteenth (and perhaps last) time: your opinion is, by your own admission, completely uninformed by any actual experience using the "high end" jerseys. The fact that you don't feel a need for anything better than Primal Wear does not mean that there is nothing better.

What's the problem with that? (And if you claim that China is somehow incapable of manufacturing high quality apparel to Rapha's specifications, I'm gonna laugh pretty hard.)

Eric F 

To be fair, the current top-end of Primal's jerseys (Alitos series) looks like they could be pretty good. I certainly recall their older stuff being in the ood-to-comical range.

tomato coupe

I've seen all brands of jerseys at gravel races. I'm guessing you only see what you want to see.
My Rapha jersey is higher quality than my Primal jerseys. It wasn't expensive, and it wasn't manufactured in China. My wife's Primal jerseys were made in China.

Koyote

I'm thinking the poster's Primal Wear jerseys are of the latter types.

I have some Rapha jerseys that were made in China, and they are of the same exceptional quality as any of their other gear. Anyone who is surprised by that, or doesn't believe it, obviously doesn't understand much about (1) China, and (2) modern manufacturing.

PeteHski

At $150 they would need to be pretty good.

LAJ

My team kit is Cuore, which is a Swiss company, made in China. Good stuff. Club stuff is Alchemist, made in China, also good stuff. RUSA stuff is Voler. I went with their best offering, made in USA, seems OK. We'll see.

Trakhak

You apparently missed my earlier post (#136). Quoting myself:

Not to be sexist about it, but I suspect you and I are ill-equipped to judge clothing quality, other than maybe dungarees.

A girlfriend once closely examined a high-end Italian jersey of mine. She expressed surprise at how beautifully constructed it was and at the quality of both the material and the stitching.

She asked me how much it cost. When I told her, she said, "If this were women's fashion clothing, it would cost at least twice as much."

Eric F 

That seems to be in the range for a lot of other brands, as well. Personally, I'm a fan of "archive sales" (or similar).

Eric F 

My team/club kits are made by Voler. I find their stuff to be pretty good, but still missing a couple of details that would make them better. They don't have reinforcing at the top of the pockets, and I've had a couple of jerseys start to tear at those points. Their zippers are not all that good. The bibs are also pretty good, but not excellent. At my two most recent 6-hour(ish) gravel races, the bibs were fine.

shelbyfv

That's not surprising at all. High end isn't for everyone. But kudos for being able to scope everyone's jersey. I usually have tunnel vision, focused on the next killer washout or pothole.

PeteHski

Sure, but it’s not exactly budget pricing. That’s in the price range of Rapha jerseys, so I would expect comparable quality.

Yes sales are always welcome, although often limited in colours and sizes. I have compromised on colour choice before to save money eg. Assos bib shorts in navy at half the price of the same ones in black. I even bought some Rapha bib shorts in brown because they were heavily discounted. They wouldn’t have been my first choice, but they actually look pretty good. I won’t compromise on sizing though. Sometimes I just pay full price for an item I really like with no compromise.

PeteHski

I don’t know about gravel races, but I see plenty of Rapha and Assos at every road event I enter. Where was this race where nobody was wearing a high-end jersey?

terrymorse 

The Voler Velocity bibs are my current favorite, though pricey. Only available for Factory Racing Team and Paisan kits, though. But I don’t care what the look like.

Their custom bibs are so so.

Eric F 

I haven’t seen the top Primal jersey in person, so I can’t judge any more than images, but it the pics and video I’ve seen seem to indicate that they might be expanding into a higher level.

I’ve bumped into the sales limitations with some of the brands I’ve been interested in, but I’ve also scored a lot of good to really nice stuff at attractive prices in normal colors (my tastes are pretty mild) that fit me really well from Le Col, La Passione, and Pactimo. Maybe I’ve just been lucky.