Summer Base Layers?
 

The scorching south wind has started and it's getting pretty hot here in the South. Won't be long before dem dogs stop chasin' and just stay in the shade under the truck.

We had a discussion about summer base layers a while back but I recon it might be good to start a new thread.

Craft Cool Mesh is on sale at performance. Imma get me some.

Craft ProCool Mesh Superlight Sleeveless Baselayer

Discuss!

I have Specialized base layers, but I cannot tell if they make a difference on hot day. I wore them because i i have them. If I do not have clean one, I simply go without one. Never felt I am missing out something

That's a great price! The craft cool mesh is my personal favorite.

Plug for a friend's company, but these baselayers are excellent-

Cutaway USA | Italian Cloud Summer Base Layer

They've got cool designs and absolutely keep you cooler than just a jersey.

I always wear a base layer. For me, it's a comfort thing. I don't buy the 'base layers keep you cooler' argument. When it's brutally hot/humid, I will unzip to get some airflow.

I wear a Castelli mesh baselayer. Keeps my jersey from being glued to my body when it's 100% humidity. And no the extra layer of mesh does not trap in body heat before we hear that arguement lol

90F+ is typical warm weather riding that rules for months around here in SW FL. with just jersey, shorts and plenty of sunscreen.

I bought three of the NON mesh craft summer base layers on sale for $19.00 each.
I love them. I should have bought a few more. Unless I'm in triple digits, I wear a baselayer.

In order for a base layer to keep you cool it would have to transfer the moisture it wicks to the jersey where it would be wicked again to the outside and exposed to air flow to produce evaporative cooling. A loose jersey defeats the whole effect of the wicking base layer. And if the jersey is going to be tight and is also wicking, what is the point of having both? And if you can have the effect with just a tight, wicking jersey, why wear the extra, heat trapping layer?

Besides, the higher the humidity, the less effective the evaporative cooling effect. So why wear the insulating layer if you can't make it up and then some with evaporative cooling? The belief in the value of base layers must be based on experience in low humidity areas.

I know that sleeveless jerseys are a blessing in Houston. The moisture is right there on the skin surface to evaporate as well as possible. No wicking required.

What is the difference between the jersey being glued to your body and the base layer being glued to your body? Just buy jerseys made out of the same fabric as the base layers you like.

I'm now of a mind to wear long sleeve base layers under a somewhat looser fitting jersey, during the summer. I have yet to determine if this could lead to overheating, but I anticipate that it will lower the incidence of skin cancer. Here's the latest bargain I've found (fits well anyway) that I'm waiting to find out how well it works on an 80+F day. http://www.amazon.com/TM-T11-BKRZ_X-...ilpage_o07_s00

80 deg in Arizona or 80 deg in New Orleans? Big difference.

Somewhere in the middle. And it was 80+

This does not get soaking wet and glued to your body, it's already skin tight. It does wick the sweat off your skin. If it didn't I would obviously stop wearing it. My opinion is based on experience riding in hot humid weather with my Castelli baselayer. I'm not going to debate people with no experience.

And I wouldn't buy a jersey that shows my titties.

https://www.cdn-outlet.com/photos/op...-1A-zoomin.jpg

If you read my post carefully, you should have noticed that I wasn't debating. I was asking questions about the functionality of the baselayer. So are you saying that this works to cool you even with a loose jersey that can't pick up the moisture from the baselayer and carry it to the outside? How would that work? And would a tight jersey made of a wicking fabric not work just as well by itself? And even though that is a very light mesh, does it have no insulating characteristics? If it does, then there must be a humidity level above which the net effect is heating, not cooling. I am really interested in these underlying questions. One more thing: you have no idea whether I have ever tried base layers in the heat, only that I seem to not favor them for that use. Any idea why that could be?

People are strangely concerned with what other people, in other climates, find comfortable.

fify

+1 on the Craft Cool Mesh, works very well for me...

You weren't asking questions about the " functionality". The last sentence of your reply to me affirms that, and your other replies talking about an "insulating" layer and everything else shows your uneducated opinion on baselayers.

Don't act like you're tried them.

See through mesh is not an "insulating" layer and it does wick sweat off of your skin that a jersey does not (which is why they exist), you're giving opinion about something you have no experience with. That's like me eating a hamburger that you haven't tasted and telling me it's not good.

Totally agreed with Lazyass on an open mesh baselayer in the summer. Because it's mesh, it doesn't insulate, yet it is increased area for cooling, kind of like the wings on an electronic heat sink.

Some of these people who have never tried them act like a summer baselayer is a winter baselayer. Insulating, that's just ridiculous. The mesh in mine is so thin I'm almost scared of ripping it when I put it on.

I understand that explanation, sort of. It is based on good engineering principles. But if the increased area is inside the jersey and not exposed to the airflow, how does it function? If the moisture still has to be transferred to the outside of the jersey to evaporate, how does base layer surface area make any difference? And if the jersey is good enough at wicking sweat from the base layer to the outside, why isn't it good enough at wicking it from the skin? Despite Lazyass's suspicions about my having no experience with them, the few times that I have actually tried a summer base layer in Houston, I found no effect from it. Forgive me for not knowing the precise reason. I just assumed that any small insulating functionality was offsetting any enhanced evaporation which was also small due to the high humidity.

As for summer base layers being too lightweight to insulate, it is the air pockets, not the weight of the fabric that provide the most effective insulation. You see that with "thermal" blankets all the time. They are very lightweight and are made to be used alone on warm nights and under another layer on colder nights. The air pockets trap air between the sheet and the top layer to provide the insulation. It sure looks like mesh base layers would work exactly the same way. I'm not saying that is what is actually happening with them, but it seems natural to apply a standard way of looking at things to this discussion.

Dude. I have thousands of miles wearing a mesh summer baselayer in hot humid weather. Low humidity I wouldn't need it because I don't sweat bad. I'm speaking from actual experience. It does not trap air pockets, man. It doesn't get soaked and glued to your body. It doesn't insulate. It does none of that. If it did those things I obviously would not continue wearing it. It wicks the moisture off your skin. That's a fact, not an uneducated opinion or a theory I came up with from something I learned in a classroom at college. If they did not work they would not exist.

From doing some cold-winter riding this season, I started wearing Reebok Stay Warm leggings. And now, for some reason, I like to wear their Stay Dry leggings in the heat.

I broke my ankle back in November 2015, and had some serious calf atrophy, still not 100% size yet -- I think I'm self-conscious about that, the leggings could just be my mechanism of deferring that embarrassment...but I feel great with them on even in 85 degree and humid. I've always felt weird with just shorts on anyway...

Sounds like its settled then...

The absolute best car for bike owners is a Subaru Forester with the Honda Element in a very close second place.
25's are the new 23 and will leave you fresh as a Summer's Eve.
Anything less than 70 lumens is suicide.
Yelling "Strava!" > bell > "On your right!"

... and base layers keep you cool.

Base layer has been ordered. At least I'll look fast.

Thanks!