General Cycling Discussion - wool cycling clothing. Your experience with it.

Does anyone use wool cycling clothing ? Jerseys ,tights, shorts etc. How do you like it? What is the coldest weather you have ridden with it in? Is care of it difficult? Will my questions ever end? James :rolleyes: :

Depends on the quality of the wool. The course stuff is itchy, fine wool in nice. Pre-shrunk wool is easy to deal with. Machine wash cold with Ivory Snow detergent. Air dry, but not on a metal clothes hanger (that will stretch the fabric). You can use a shower rod or one of those fat plastic hangers tho.

There is some wool in Rivendell's catalog http://www.rivendellbicycles.com

Wool is your friend! I don't have any cycling specific wool clothing, mine is all off the rack type stuff with a high wool or 100% wool count. It is as easy to take care of as high dollar cycling clothes - cool wash, hang dry. I layer it so that the wool isn't right next to my skin (personal preference). I wear a wool sweater over my cycling jersey and a light jacket for temps below 40. above 40 to 55 I just wear the jersey and sweater.

I don't have any wool tights but I am coveting some wool long underwear. Wool socks are a must have, but for the best warmth and feel; find ones that are 70 to 80 percent merino wool. You will pay about 9.00 a pair but you will wonder how you ever rode a bike in the cold without them. I buy mine in the hunting dept. at K-Mart or any dept. store.

I use woollen jumpers annd socks, and sometimes gloves. Its a good material, esp if you use it as a mid-layer between a wicking innner and windproof outer.

Does anyone use wool cycling clothing ? Jerseys ,tights, shorts etc. How do you like it? What is the coldest weather you have ridden with it in? Is care of it difficult? Will my questions ever end? James :rolleyes: :

I use Smartwool socks over a pair of sockliners and they work great. I have worn them in temps as low as 40F, with a windchill in the mid-30's. I don't like to ride in temps much below 35F because of two crashes last year on black ice. Not a lot of fun.

I have had excellent experience with silk, however. I wear a base layer of silk, then McDavid Interawear wicking shirt and pants, under a wind/rain proof outer shell. Same as with the wook socks, excellent at a wind-chill 35F.

Either way you go, wool or silk, I think the price and insulating quality will be about the same. You can get a merino wool sweater at COSTCO for about $30, which is a lot less than the cycle-specific ones I have seen.

Wool shrinks, dry clean. In practise, this means you want to wear something under it so you don't have to wash it so often.
I had a sweater that was a bulky and heavy men's XL. My wife washed it in th washer; and it became her sweater. She did it again, and we gave it to a kid. It was almost bullet proof at that point; very much like the old fashioned expedition sweaters they used to make. Those sweaters weighed one to two POUNDS.

Wool shrinks, dry clean. In practise, this means you want to wear something under it so you don't have to wash it so often.
I had a sweater that was a bulky and heavy men's XL. My wife washed it in th washer; and it became her sweater. She did it again, and we gave it to a kid. It was almost bullet proof at that point; very much like the old fashioned expedition sweaters they used to make. Those sweaters weighed one to two POUNDS.

she probably washed it in warm water and then threw it in the dryer. Heat and agitation are the two things that shrink wool, so - machine wash GENTLE in COLD water. AIR DRY. Never machine dry.

There is no alternative for me.
I have MAYBE 2-3 'regular' jersey...everything else is wool

I got the socks.Take care just like the rest of your riding cloths,drip dry.I put them on,then reg DeFeet socks but my toes still get cold.

Most of my cycling clothing is wool, as well as a growing share of other clothing. The only "negative" I can think of is that wool shorts tend to sag, making you look like you took a dump in them. But otherwise it's comfortable year-round, cost is comparable to synthetics, and care is only slightly more, which tends to be offset by the fact that you can get a few rides out of it before it stinks. longcycle has inexpensive, no logo wool jerseys and shorts. Not the softest stuff, but it suits me fine.

longcycle has inexpensive, no logo wool jerseys

do you have their web address?

sorry, that was dumb of me:

http://www.longscycle.com/

Their site is amateur as heck, but like I said, inexpensive no logo wool gear...

muchas gracias, amigo.