I’m a big fan of wool jerseys and wear them almost exclusively all year around. I product test my mother’s ones for daily commuting, training, racing etc in rain hail or shine.
When it gets up to the mid 30s and above I’ll just wear a merino light weight T shirt for the commute - about 150 microns ie super lightweight - they work much better than cotton (or lycra imho) and breathe really well even in hot conditions. They don’t stink (a plus when you get into a lift at work), feels like silk on the skin etc. (Sheep shearers having been wearing wool singlets etc for a bazillion years so they must be onto something).
I got tuned into merino from snowboarding and have been using Icebreaker base layers in the mountains for about 10 years - merino a very functional product and I highly recommend it.
My mother is straight edge without realising it and wanted to use merino for mountainbiking rather than synthetics - she couldn’t find any that were any good so she started making and selling her own.
We have been experimenting with some of the new products the manufacturers have been making in NZ - heavier weight merino for winter use - about 320 microns which you can wear with base layers on 3-5 degree days no probs.
I also use the solo merino combination arm warmers - this is one of the new merino products called ‘Mappmatrix’ which is wool on the inside layer and a synthetic top layer for windstopping - the solo winter jackets are also made out of it.
Merino IS a more expensive product and not for everyone.
Like I said if anyone wants to find out a bit more just pm me.
Also, their socks are no good (Go DeFeet Wooleator instead), I developed holes in two different pairs in very short order. Good customer service with returns though.
The quality for the Portland ones varies. The first I had a few years back was great and the sizing was spot on. We got fixed.org. wool ones a couple of years ago and the sizes were way out of wack. I ordered the same size as i already had and it came down to my knees! Plus it was a different quality wool.
Sizing in the knicks is small. The jerseys are a tiny bit more generous than your average Euro cut. I’m currently running a size S in a jersey and a M or L in knicks but I do have over sized quads.
these guys make some of the nicest one’s you can get but they want 35 min order and the cost depends on the design, they quote job by job…
nicer than the rest though…
They are lovely, but take a look at the price! The dollar is good, but not that good.
If you want cheap (not nasty) lycra ones, you could always try here… http://www.probikekit.com/display.php?code=C0599
They ditch stock cheap to move it and you could screen them here. They even list their stock quantities so you can get the stuff straight away and not get stuck with back orders etc.
