Creakyknees

fabric numbers... just sayin... $0.45 each or better

https://champ-sys.com/cycling/cycling...l#.UdHDt6x8x8E

Tour of Austin used these. THEY. ARE. AWESOME.

pjcampbell

I liked them, but preferred ones we had one year that were stick on. Cloth made a lot of sense for 4 day race though.

gsteinb

since the vp of champ-sys is based in NY and promotes most of the city races we saw a lot of them this year. they were good, though mostly seemed to fix a problem that doesn't exist

waterrockets 

The photos suck. Are they knit or woven? If they're knit, I could see a big advantage in that they would stretch with the jersey, and could be pre-tensioned a bit without as much snagging the jersey.

gsteinb

they have a bit of stretch to them. not knit like a polo, and not woven like a dress shirt.

tetonrider

used them for a few stage races this year. they seem like a great idea but in practice have not been amazing for me.

good points:
* they don't flap in the wind--or at least they don't make as much noise if they do flap in the wind
* i guess if you have to wash your jersey between stages you could leave the # pinned

downsides (for me):
* double-sided tape doesn't work really well with them. not sure how the 3m spray works.

overall, i'm indifferent.

MDcatV

i have never understood the handwringing over simple paper #s that you use safety pins to put on.

Grumpy McTrumpy

I used 3M 77 on them. It worked fine.

mike868y

i can understand fabric numbers for stage races but yeah for 1 day races whats le point. $0.45 also seems expensive compared to paper numbers.

Creakyknees

The big deal for me personally is that our jerseys this year are REALLY STRETCHY so it's a PITA to get the number pinned correctly so it doesn't bind or wrinkle. My expensive summer-weight thin fabric is already ripped up from pin holes stretching.

The cloth is much more forgiving, even with only a tiny bit of stretch. Plus it's reusable (so its Tyvek, sure) and doesn't wrinkle.

Creakyknees

the Tour of Austin used them, was meaning to ask you why I didn't see you there

waterrockets 

Still way down on power since the big infection 18 months ago. No business racing. Glimmers of form showing though...

mattm

In WA we got cloth numbers to use all year. They were more stretchy than the ChampSys numbers but basically the same deal.

Mostly convenient that you could a) pin them on at home/night before and b) wash with the jersey if so inclined.

But in CA where you get new (and gigantic) paper numbers to use each time, I'm just getting used to it. They don't seem to slow anyone down.

Ygduf

They do, we're just faster to begin with so you haven't noticed.

Andy STi

In Oregon we get a yearly cloth number to use in most OBRA events. It's nice.

Both Cascade and Mt Hood had the Champ-sys numbers, I really liked them.

waterrockets 

For the Driveway here, I usually just leave my number pinned on a jersey all season, and that is my Thursday jersey. Washed with the fiberglass paper number attached. Never noticed any rust on the jersey.

Ygduf

you guys have good quality pins. I get rust spots on my jersey after a 4-hour race.

carpediemracing 

To give you a comparison the Bethel numbers I think are $0.27 each. That's using their stock typeface to put the words on the number ("Outdoor Sports Center" and "Bethel Spring Series"). No logos or anything. I buy about 5000 numbers each year, give or take, so about $1300-1400 depending on exact quantity and if I need pins (at $13/box?). At Bethel we use 2 boxes of pins a week.

If I were promoting a stage race I'd use cloth numbers. For a Bethel type Sunday series I thought about it when Champion first came out with the numbers but I realized that I'd quickly get into overlapping numbers, i.e. the last two digits would start to repeat. We have few pre-reg, mainly day-of, and that means new numbers each week.

For a training Series, like a Tues night thing, it might be good, not sure how many unique racers one of those things gets (and you could do a $10 number deposit, or similar, for those doing the race just once or twice).

The Sticky Back numbers we used cost me something like $3000? for 6 weeks. It was a little insane so I had to stop it, even though I liked them a lot. Too much stress, not enough return.

+1 Just the damp jersey will rust my pins in a day or two. Once the points are not smooth I toss the pins in the metal recycling little box we have. Slightly rusty pins will stain a jersey when you use the pin on it.

I looked for a stainless safety pin one year and never looked again, not sure why.

waterrockets 

orange/black kits FTW

Jandro 

+1

MDcatV

at the greenbelt series in MD, they use the same #s race after race. not sure if they get new ones every year, but i think they do. red = A race, green = B race, blue = C race (might have colors mixed up but you get the idea); you get a # every race and return it after every race. simple and works well.

I have a teammate racing in France right now. you bring your own safety pins there. another of my teammates who has raced internationally told us that before he went to Europe, his director told him to take safety pins as the only place anyone provides them at every race is the U.S. I'm sure that we all have a million safety pins, I keep mine in a tupperware container in my race bag, so a promotor not providing them is fair game as far as i'm concerned. they could just claim to be going Euro, which bike racers will think is cool.

caloso

qft

Tyrell

Tried brass safety pins?

Tyrell

+1, Jandro!