"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Who Makes the Best "Bang for the Buck" Team Kit?

I think I've mentioned before that I'm taking the design/production lead for my current club's (Cross Creek Cycling Club - C4) racing kit.

We're currently leaning towards Champion Systems, as it's hard to beat 90 bucks for shorts/bibs or a skin suit. I've heard that the caps and shoe covers leave something to be desired though.

I'm also looking at Hincapie, as I'd like to support regional business and I hear they make quality kit...it's a bit more expensive though.

What do you guys (and girls, we have a growing women's team so female specific chamois would be a bonus) recommend?

Our Giordana stuff comes out pretty cheap and the bibs are nicer than CS.

http://www.giordana.com/apg/catalogo/CapiPers_Test.nsf/webqu/eng_myteam?opendocument

Bibs worked out to like 80 bucks IIRC.

Try Nalini

I was really unimpressed with the ChampSys gear. Very poor quality, IMO. Voler was better, and so is Hincapie.

The worst I have had so far was Verge, most uncomfortable bibs I have ever worn. I was very happy with our team kits from squadra last season though.

+1 for voler, a short sleeve jersey and bibs ran about $105, but the bibs have an awesome chamois.

Champion Systems is cheap, but... the shirts are as breathable as a plastic bag, the chamois of the shorts are as thick as a folded piece of paper towel, and material of the bibs are so strondg, a teammate tore them when he pulled a GU gel from them, when he had one tucked under the leg in a TT.

The flip side: the race cut fits well.

UF uses Canari. I think just under $100 for bibs and a jersey IIRC. It's harder to pee out of the Canari bibs than others, but that's really my only complaint.

Champion Systems is cheap, but... the shirts are as breathable as a plastic bag, the chamois of the shorts are as thick as a folded piece of paper towel, and material of the bibs are so strondg, a teammate tore them when he pulled a GU gel from them, when he had one tucked under the leg in a TT.

The flip side: the race cut fits well.

That is close to my impression of Champion stuff, excellent fit, but cheapish build - however I've found the shirts to breathe nicely (although the kit I have from them is mostly white...)

Our stuff right now is from Primal, and it fits too loosely and breathes like crap. The chamois is very nice though.

That is close to my impression of Champion stuff, excellent fit, but cheapish build - however I've found the shirts to breathe nicely (although the kit I have from them is mostly white...)

Our stuff right now is from Primal, and it fits too loosely and breathes like crap. The chamois is very nice though.

so is mine, but compared to my assos, it may as well be a glad bag.

One other slap to ChampSys: when we sent in our design, we indicated on the form which colors we wanted. When we received our order, they ignored what we wrote down and printed everything in the color that we used on our design sheet.

They were hideous.

so is mine, but compared to my assos, it may as well be a glad bag.

Great basis of comparison.
'Yeah, that local pro just sucks compared to Eddy Merckx'

That said, champion made the worst kit I've ever worn. And the best: Sugoi. Probably wouldn't have made that choice if I had to pay for it though.

I have Voler and like it a lot. The bibs I think were about 50 (for their top of the line bibs, really comfortable) and the jerseys were about 40 if I remember correctly.

The worst I have had so far was Verge, most uncomfortable bibs I have ever worn. I was very happy with our team kits from squadra last season though.

Are you saying worst ever or worst custom? Which other custom makes have you tried?

Another +1 for Voler. Their clothing is pretty good for the price. I also think Pace is ok, more on the price than the quality, though.

My Voler bibs are pilling a bit on the inner thighs (probably from occasional contact with the saddle nose) after only one season. Another data point.

I think I've mentioned before that I'm taking the design/production lead for my current club's (Cross Creek Cycling Club - C4) racing kit.

We're currently leaning towards Champion Systems, as it's hard to beat 90 bucks for shorts/bibs or a skin suit. I've heard that the caps and shoe covers leave something to be desired though.

I'm also looking at Hincapie, as I'd like to support regional business and I hear they make quality kit...it's a bit more expensive though.

What do you guys (and girls, we have a growing women's team so female specific chamois would be a bonus) recommend?

Our shoe covers and hats turned out well. We had Hincapie kit last year so I have no idea on the durability of the CS stuff. The turn-around was about 4 weeks and I think the chamois is ok.

I was always pretty happy with Voler, until I switched to a team that uses Squadra. The Squadra stuff fits better, and the bibs have a better chamois and fabric. The prices were pretty comparable to Voler.

Great basis of comparison.
'Yeah, that local pro just sucks compared to Eddy Merckx'

correct.


That said, champion made the worst kit I've ever worn. And the best: Sugoi. Probably wouldn't have made that choice if I had to pay for it though.

correct.

I like the Voler stuff pretty well. Pretty good quality and fit but I think the short sleeve jersey sleeves should be a bit longer.
Chamois of Voler, both standard and upgraded is quite nice.

I actually like the champ sys caps. Mostly because they are made of nice breathable fabric and not cotton. The bills suck though.

Nalini kits were really nice but lead times suck and don't trust anything they promise as far as delivery dates. Start working now for 09 kit....

Our Giordana stuff comes out pretty cheap and the bibs are nicer than CS.

http://www.giordana.com/apg/catalogo/CapiPers_Test.nsf/webqu/eng_myteam?opendocument

Bibs worked out to like ~80 bucks IIRC.

Same here. The last three team kits were really nice. I'm looking forward to this year's.

+1 Voler

-1 Champion Sys

Just bought a round of jerseys/bibs from Champion and found that they ended up a little nicer than ones I had seen last year. Maybe a change in material or construction. Chamois looked exactly like the ones I have in a few Voler bibs. Material seemed much closer to the same in my Voler stuff as well....

...It's a $90 kit, you get what you get.

Champion Systems is cheap, but... the shirts are as breathable as a plastic bag, the chamois of the shorts are as thick as a folded piece of paper towel, and material of the bibs are so strondg, a teammate tore them when he pulled a GU gel from them, when he had one tucked under the leg in a TT.

The flip side: the race cut fits well.

Quit living in the past. I already told you about the chamois thickness on the newer stuff, yet you keep repeating your misinformation. Here is photographic evidence...

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u164/Enthalpic/DSC00883.jpg?t=1201740604

Is it all that great? No, but it's not thin.

voler are great, thats what we at UK use, and cant complain yet. just a warning though, if you are going to order without a fitkit, the jerseys are a little tighter than usual for broader chests. i usually wear a med jersey, but went with a large after the fit kit

Voler is decent stuff, but high minimums and a few quality issues in the long run - we have some riders wearing the base lycra thin on bibs/shorts, etc...I like the Voler Chamois, but I'm not as impressed by the Jersey.

I just redesigned our team kit and we're switching to Pactimo (http://pactimo.com). We haven't gotten our order printed yet, but from trying on their fit kit it is head and shoulders above Voler. They have lower minimums that Voler but they are also more spendy.

I don't know about bang for the buck, but if you want some quality stuff.....

http://www.hincapiesports.com/index.php

One minor comment. I've been to the Pace facility in SoCal and they were sewing their stuff together right there. Don't know how much of the other stuff is US made.

Quit living in the past. I already told you about the chamois thickness on the newer stuff, yet you keep repeating your misinformation. Here is photographic evidence...

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u164/Enthalpic/DSC00883.jpg?t=1201740604

Is it all that great? No, but it's not thin.

What is that bike? The seat tube looks like mahogany.

My Cannondale "full wood" a moderately light hardtail xc rig.

http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/02/cusa/model-2FS1.html

^cool, I dont do much dirt and have never seen one.

Champion Systems is the cheapest company to go with (Price). I am the Vice President of my College's cycling team and was in charge of the design and the ordering of our kits. After careful reseach I decided to go with Champion.

I have done three orders with them and each time they have been great. It is true that the chamois sucks, but being that we are in the U.S most of our races are uner 2 hours, so you can get by.

I personally would have loved to use Santini, Nalini or Castelli but most of or riders are cheap and 70 jerseys wouldn't have flied. I also really like the fact that Champion does not require minimums (only one item has to have 10 items)..i.e. you get 10 jerseys, but then the one kid you loves TT can get a full skin suit. A lot of other companies require that you get a minimum in EACH item.

The unattached kit I have is from Champion. I wouldn't call the chamois cheap. I've ridden worse and better. If I were putting in an order for custom cycling clothing I'd probably go with Champion.

Quit living in the past. I already told you about the chamois thickness on the newer stuff, yet you keep repeating your misinformation. Here is photographic evidence...
IMG]htt p://i168.photobucket.com/album s/u164/Enthalpic/DSC00883.jpg?t=1201740604[/IMG]


The lady doth protest too much, methinks


Is it all that great?

nope.


No, but it's not thin.

sure about that?

Louis Garneau. We're a small club and have used them for years, good stuff that has improved alot since about 3 years ago when their sublimated bib shorts were crappy. We looked into using PI this year just to use a vendor that our primary sponsor (bike shop) carries, but their minimums were far too high for us.

I can probably track down a contact for you if interested, PM me. But, you're really late in the game to be ordering 2008 team kits, especially with a new vendor that doesnt already have your artwork on file.

Our Giordana stuff comes out pretty cheap and the bibs are nicer than CS.

http://www.giordana.com/apg/catalogo/CapiPers_Test.nsf/webqu/eng_myteam?opendocument

Bibs worked out to like 80 bucks IIRC.

+1

Before lasy year, my team used other brands (Voller, Squadra, and Hincapie) The Giordana stuff is far and away the nicest.

Are you saying worst ever or worst custom? Which other custom makes have you tried?

Actually, they (verge) were the absolute worst bibs I have ever worn, custom or not. Everyone that I talked to on our team hated them. My only other team kit was made by squadra (castelli) and those were great. I've owned quite a few different brands of bibs though that are not custom team kits, even the cheapest performance brand bibs I had were much better than the Verge bibs.

We just got our Champ-sys kit in....design and print they are awesome, we had a very intricate design for our jerseys and they look awesome.

So far i have spent about 2 hours on the shorts, the chamios in my opinion is better than the Nike chamios and i think the jerseys breath just fine.

The only real complaint i have with them was getting their design team on the same sheet of music as me (my wife and i designed them) but once they did turn around was very quick. <2 weeks from production to shipping. i have noticed that there will be some fraying and some of the stiching is a little weak looking but they are considerably cheaper than most others out there.

I am not sure if i would go with them again but we may next season...depends on how well they hold up.

I bought (meaning I paid for) all the team clothing for two years. Then I sold them at my cost to my teammates. This is because we don't have a checking account for the team.

Anyway, I bought ChampSys. I bought enough so that they'd make money on the stuff they gave to me for my Series. I know their margins because I know someone who lives and works in the industry and offered to get me stuff for the actual cost of manufacturing plus shipping. But I figured just get it from someone local. I think I spent $3-4k on clothing but I may be off. I think my 3 orders were 2k, 1k, and 500. The shipping was probably 10% over, I think the first order cost $200 to ship.

Pros: cheap multi color, chamois comfy (individual I know but I was good for 5-6+ hours).
Cons: threads broke on multiple items first time I put them on (I'm not that fat) and their attitude, when I told them I wasn't doing business with them, was less than pleasant. Not horrible, just less than pleasant.

After doing three orders I decided they've made enough money off of me.

The gear I got from 2003-2005 came from Verge, and I'm still wearing all the gear, even two jerseys I crashed. I like them a lot.

To add to the equation, the guys are totally into the cycling scene. Fine, they promote their own race. But they came to my race to help sweep, even though they weren't going to race in the Series. And we didn't mention them on our site. They worked their butts off for me and didn't ask anything in return. That's worth a lot to me.

Pros: super, super durable. Wash and dry, over and over, no problems. Only shorts I tossed were ones that I put a 6" hole on a thigh when I fell. Excellent color, fit, quality of material. I can ride the shorts for 5-6 hours no problems. Good guys.
Cons: expensive, limited colors

Having said that I bought $400+ in Verge clothing through my new team. I highly recommended them to the team even though I have no say in how the team is run.

I also have Nalini, Voler, Giordana, and Louis Garneau. I have Nalini bib tights and am good on those for 3-4 hours, haven't ridden further than that in tights.

I'd choose ChampSys if you're doing a rapidly changing small team, i.e. you need to get 10 or 20 items now, and you may not have the team in a few months. Collegiate comes to mind - spring team, not all summer, and perhaps limited numbers. Unlimited colors is good for those with a graphics arts major on the team. A good graphics art major lol.

Verge for the best stuff, full year, perhaps sponsors not changing from year to year, with a designer experienced in working with 3 color or so type setups.

cdr

my team is already fed up with Champion Systems.

I saw a team with Capoforma kits...anyone use them? They were gushing about the quality. I have not yet found a link...any thoughts?

Clubs I've been on both used Louis Garneau, and I really liked their bibs and the race cut was good. This year we went to Giordana and the chamois is no better but no worse, but the cut, fit, overall breathability and full-zip top, really nice stuff.

I think I've mentioned before that I'm taking the design/production lead for my current club's (Cross Creek Cycling Club - C4) racing kit.





You can;t be C4, thats our name. Copper country cycling club
http://cycling.students.mtu.edu/

I really like Voler's jerseys

Our team has been using Mt. Borah. Pretty good quality. Pad is good, not great. Price is awesome. Team price is 70 for bibs and 65 for jersey. No minimum re-order. Decent turn around time. I have some voler stuff and I'm okay with it. I don't care for the pad all that much. Mine have worn out to quickly.

I'm gonna echo what was said above: last year my club did champ-sys. This year we used Hincapie. Delivery and product quality were considerably better.

Your Mileage may vary.

You might find Capoforma (http://www.uplandsg.com/capoforma_custom/index.htm) surprisingly reasonable....nice jerseys can be had for $79 and bibs for $99, e.g., see MetLife Cycling (http://metlifecycling.com/gear/)....it feels pretty darn good!!!

Uh, the new (as in later '08) Champ Sys stuff is much improved. The Blue Chamois (if you have the older Orange Chamois, I've heard it's not near is good) is great. I'm not sure where you came up with the idea that the Champ Sys stuff doesn't breath, but I live in Texas where it's pretty hot, and my Champ Sys stuff breathes great. It's my favorite kits (3) / Skinsuit. Plus, it's inexpensive.

That said... The other team I'm on has Hincapie stuff. The Hincapie is super durable and the Chamois are amazing (better than anything Giordana makes, I can't really comment on other brands). Hincapie, however, is really warm. The fabric is thick, and often double layered in lots of places. It's great for Fall/Spring/Winter, not so much for the Summer. Hincapie was also fairly inexpensive.

my team is already fed up with Champion Systems.

I saw a team with Capoforma kits...anyone use them? They were gushing about the quality. I have not yet found a link...any thoughts?

See my post a few down from yours...the Capoforma stuff is great, http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?p=7083454#post7083454

Actually, they (verge) were the absolute worst bibs I have ever worn, custom or not. Everyone that I talked to on our team hated them. My only other team kit was made by squadra (castelli) and those were great. I've owned quite a few different brands of bibs though that are not custom team kits, even the cheapest performance brand bibs I had were much better than the Verge bibs.

They've really improved a lot this year. Bibs have super thick chammy and fit differently than in years past, and race cut jerseys are actually snug now too (!), although I'm not 100% sure I dig the new material they're using.

You might find Capoforma (http://www.uplandsg.com/capoforma_custom/index.htm) surprisingly reasonable....nice jerseys can be had for $79 and bibs for $99, e.g., see MetLife Cycling (http://metlifecycling.com/gear/)....it feels pretty darn good!!!

excellent! Exactly what I was looking (not terribly hard) for. Thanks Bostongarden!:thumb:

My team used champion this year. I'm not really a big fan of their bibs, but their jerseys are OK.

As a company though, I understand from the guys who do the ordering that Champion is 100% top notch to deal with.