Our team is considering switching from Voler to Capoforma cycling apparel for 2008 as Capo comes highly recommended by several people. A friend was very generous and gave me some Capo bibs to try out. Here are my impressions:The Capo fabric is much more slickery. Yup, that's right, slickery. Don't look that word up in Webster's but it's the best way to describe the seal-like material.
The lycra Capo offers is supposed to be far superior to anything else on the market. One of the benefits of the high quality lycra is that shorts and bibs do not fade or stretch as much as others = we won't see as many butt cracks and the shorts and bibs will last longer.
The Capo chamois is really nice. It appears to be much thicker (granted my Voler kit has almost a season of heavy wear) and seems to have greater coverage.
All in all I would say that Capo is a far superior product and it's what the kit committee has recommended to the board for next season. Now if only we could change the colors so that there is more black and less white on our kits as the bibs I tried out, which had a lot of grey and black, made my legs and butt look a lot smaller. Unless you look like Michael Rasmussen, white is just not a slimming color.
I would be curious to know if there are any other cycling apparel manufacturers we should be considering.
8 comments:
How about Verge? Maybe we should consider them too
I am not familiar with verge, tell me more! Do you have a contact? Can we get a fit kit?
I'd look at Giordana. Great lasting fabrics, liked the pocket design a lot, full zip and women's sizes that fit...
Voler's reliability and (in the majority of cases) superior customer service are what sells them to me. But, their stuff doesn't fit me well personally and I do wish they had a better lycra. but, overall - i'm a fan of Voler. and good pricing.
The Capo stuff we had this year was very, very nice. The jerseys are cut a bit poorly regarding the pocket placement ... too high and hard to get into. And, i don't know how it will last beyond a season. But, used this year with great pleasure - i tell you.
i dig the LouGarneau stuff, but they are ultra UN-reliable on timing and artwork. But, good stuff, even if not long-lasting. And expensive.
Verge is good on artwork but they have had some CRAZY shorts issues in the past. I'm talking the camel toe syndrome. egads. But, i don't have a lot of experience with them other than that.
i'd say go with Capo.
All Peninsula Velo gear is Vermarc - very high quality and great selection. We used to have Voler, but the fading and lackluster customer service prompted the change to Vermarc. The only downside to Vermarc is that they're in Europe (Belgium), so it takes about 10 weeks to receive an order.
Eek, I could write a book on this.
Our team has used Squadra, Verge, Hincapie and Louis Garnaeu. Of course, most important thing to us was women's sizing and fit.
Squadra has been my favorite in fit, quality and comfort. However, their customer service at that time left a lot to be desired. They might have improved since then though. I still treasure my Castelli shorts from then.
Verge did a fabulous job with the art, however, I think their jersey offerings are blah. And I hate hate hated their shorts for the reason Michael mentioned. Their customer service was excellent.
HIncapie. I really really like Rich. He would bend over backwards for you, but I think his company is new and has some growing pains. We had probelms with fit, quality, cut, delivery times..just about everything plus 3. Hopefully he's workd those problems out by now.
LG - We love their women's jersey and the bibshorts/skinsuits are getting rave reviews too. So far, I have seen no sign of wear and tear that I hear other people complain about LG, but maybe because we opted for all the high end stuff, or maybe they've improved. The tough thing about LG is that their US rep does not have good communication with Quebec and that can result in a lot of frustrations and delays.
GOod luck!
Thanks for all the great feedback and advice. We've used LG in the past and had a lot of complaints about the chamois. But then again, there are now people complaining about the Voler chamois. At the end of the day you can't please everyone.
VB, as you mentioned, fit and sizing is key, especially on teams with both men and women. My only concern with Capo is that they do not offer women specific jerseys, they only have unisex. However, the jerseys are euro cut and used by VAC and Proman,
so fit should (hopefully) not be an issue, especially considering they offer sizes
from XXS-6XL!
MH, the cut of the jersey with regard to the pocket placement was something I had not even thought of. I am glad you mentioned that.
It definitely sounds as if we should add Squadra, Verge and Vermarc to our list for consideration.
WOW, that's the most replies i've seen on an entry!!! Fashion, as imortant to me!!!
now since i hopefully have ALL of your atention, i love the castelli, is that what i bought you em last xmas? STYLISH!
and, please chack out like- a - bike!!! cool or what!
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