Tag: Apparel

“… if all I ever did was fun, adventure based, shorter rides, I would take a pass, most likely, on these Endura shorts. But I will tell you this: If a long ride in hot weather with a lot of gravel is on my radar to tackle, these will be the first shorts out of my drawer to ride in.”

Right as winter was ending and a so far, quite warm spring, was hitting the balmy shores of So Cal, a big bag of mixed items from GORE showed up for review. Once we worked through some sizing issues, we got into the items enough to get a feel for the performance of each one and we can now report.

If you have a larger head size, as I do, now you have something that will not only fit better, but takes no prisoners in terms of protection, which previous “big-headed’ helmet options often did compromise on. Plus, it doesn’t cost a small fortune to buy into WaveCel with the Starvos. Well done, Bontrager!

Gravel Grinder News: Pirelli Tires, I-9, PEdALED – by Guitar Ted Although the cycling industry is reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide,…

If you are not a big fan of Lycra or you tend toward more casual options, then technical clothing like this Adventure line from Bontrager falls into the gap between hucking and crits. This approach of a snug fitting short, not loose like a full baggie, and good looking enough to wear around town, when combined with casual looking jerseys or shirts in high tech fabrics…well it reminds me a lot of what was called ‘Touring Clothing’ in days gone by.

When the label says “When performance is a priority and water fastness isn’t”, you know they are speaking my language. In So Cal, from fall into winter, we can get rain of course, but mostly we get cold winds. So having a layer that is wind blocking is key to happy riding.

Here at Riding Gravel, we get press releases and offers for you, the readers, to consider that, on their own, do not really warrant their own stories. However; from time to time enough things stack up to make it worthwhile to take up some bandwidth, (and to clear out my in-box), so here we go with some news on events, a wool jersey giveaway, and a wheel trade-in program.

It’s Castelli, and this is a race type jersey, so the cut is slim and I upped things to an XL just to make sure I could wear it with some of my pride intact. The fit for me was very good unless I zipped the jersey all the way up, then it felt odd and tugged across the front of the jersey. Even unzipping a little bit made that go away.

The cut of the glove has been quite good with a size LG being right for me. There is no bunching or tension or pinching. The closure does not bother my wrist, as some are wont to do, and they wash fine and just do the job well.

Flat pedals are just fine for gravel and adventure riding too. Yes…..racers are turning up their noses now, but for the general purpose rider, flats are perhaps the best pedal to use.