Jeeze, Mike. Bonds undies for how many days in a row? Half an hour in cotton undies and I can already feel the chafing.
Most Rapha jerseys (except from pro-team and a couple limited series) pretty much are the same in terms of cut/material so you can go classic/brevet/trade team and they will be very similar (although trade team doesn’t have a full length zip). I find the new gilets of the Brevet really awful, but you can buy the jersey separately. The thing with Rapha jerseys is that they laaaaaaaaaast.
I’ll second icebreaker, I’ve used their base layers and you can definitely wear them on and off the bike. No pockets on those though. You can go to Mont in Fyshwick they stock a lot of Icebreaker (definitely saw the shirts there).
Bibs: wear what you have, whats wrong with them? With your Rapha shorts on top if that’s your thing (I find the Randonnée shorts better than the touring, great fit + pockets + dries quickly + nicer feel on my baby’s skin)
Done whole 6 week tours in them fine (multiple pairs and only ~70-100kms a day) but also 3 biiiig days back to back bikepacking fine, it takes a little adjustment and the ideal saddle but now I barely wear knicks.
However I will be wearing them on the TA (plan to wash every 2/3 days and can strap to bike to dry), overall it gives you so much more flexibility and i think ultimately better hygiene (same unwashed bibs for 5 days? gross)
Hard yakka drill shorts are cheap, tough and perfect length (short shorts). I personally never wear bibs, for some reason I find regular undies more comfortable
For the 11 days on the Mawson trail earlier this year, I wore a Torpedo7 Route7 Swift merino jersey which was only around $40 but worked well - thought doesn’t have a full length zip as you are after.
For shorts, I wore Altura MTB shy shorts with two pairs of the removable padded inner shorts so could alternate and wash/dry.
Mike - I reckon the #flannelboizofbikepacking will be asking for your membership flanno back with some of your comments!
seconding blakey’s comments icebreaker. i’m surprised that they have been discontinued as there’s a few people here who love them (i have 2). they were bascially a ripoff in design of the early rapha jerseys (right down to the large ringpull on the zip) but at 2/3rds the price (cheaper on sale). had heard goods stories about their merino knicks too. next time i’m down by the outlet store on smith st i’ll have a look again.
i tried this on the weekend. ~62km each day, with a huge climb at the end of day 1.
Wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be, but I reckon with longer and more days it wouldn’t be good.
I also wore a thin Mountain Design merino crew neck shirt, which was good until the last half of the climb, so I took it off.
What Pete recommended ^ Icebreaker Compass, but it’s only 87% wool.
I wore one in NZ, a guy I was riding with only had two of these (1 long sleeve, 1 short sleeve) for the whole trip, and .tom bought one in Queenstown(?), so they’re well approved
Heavyweight or light? Icebreaker Lodge shirt is 100% heavyweight Merino. The Compass is really lightweight. Great for cycling all day(s) and going out for dinner all night(s).