Cycle fashion: summer preview

Zyro
With reportedly strong growth in road cycling, Altura’s flagship Ergofit range looks set to build on a successful launch in 2010. Constructed in multi-panel, pre-shaped designs Ergofit items ensure a fantastic fit on the bike no matter how far, or fast, your customer rides.
Female roadies are catered for with the new Synergy range, sharing many of the Ergofit features and fabrics in women’s specific designs. With prices of Ergofit and Synergy products below the £100 mark, the price tag is well below the level you would expect for the performance qualities achieved in each garment.
The best selling Progel lycra short range continues to prove exceedingly popular, with a variety of models for men and women. This technology is now also employed in the improved Progel Asymetrix and women’s Synergy mitts, looking after the key contact point on the bike.
For the city riders, the Metro shorts combine a casual look with subtle cycle features like the reflective prints on the inside of the leg opening and the lightweight fleece pad for added comfort. The new Night Vision Short sleeve jerseys are also bound to prove popular providing essential additional visibility in a lightweight summer riding top.
The wide range of baggy shorts continue as an important part of the summer offer, with leisure models like the Ascent retailing at £40 with a separate liner, up to the flagship Apex baggy, winner of What MTB short of the year 2010.
01845 521700

Chicken Cyclekit
Though best known for its turbo trainers, Jet Black also produces sunglasses, two models of which are available via Chicken Cyclekit in the UK. Both have been tested to CE and Australian standards.
Available in two options, the X-force crystal frame model retails for £34.99 in three colours, while the Sport, also stocked in three colours, sits at a budget friendly £24.99.
Both come with a carry case, as well as three interchangeable lenses – clear, yellow and smoke.
Strong margins are on offer to dealers, as is point of sale material, including a shop display. Contact the sales office on 01525 381347 or see www.chickenb2b.co.uk for more information on Jet Black’s sunglasses.
01525 381347

Windwave
Now stocking the comprehensive line off BBB products, Windwave has access to a growing line of cycle clothing bearing the BBB stamp. This comprehensive line covers head to toe, from jerseys and shorts, to socks and shoe covers.
BikeBiz recently got to take a look at the brand’s new eyewear product, including the sporty ‘Impulse’ glasses and the more casual ‘Pacer’ shades. Both of these offer good UV protection and, as with all other glasses in the line, come with a storage pouch and cleaning cloth.
The Impulse shades feature a clever nosepiece, made up of silicone, but with a flexible aluminium insert that bends to the contours of the nose. The Impulse design is available in white, matt black, glossy black, chrome and red, all complete with smoke flash mirror lenses. The white frame is also available with Photochromic lenses.
02392 505320

Hope
Offering a streamlined clothing range alongside its ever-expanding hard goods portfolio, Hope can provide dealers with branded and more discreet piece of clothing, with the Singletrack FR short being an example of the latter.
Perfect for the trail enthusiast, the Singletrack FR is made from Cordura fabric with Teflon HT treatment. All seams are triple stitched, ensuring they’ll last and furthermore, the ‘seat fabric’ uses a more heavy-duty construction. Sizes range from small to extra large, as with all Hope garments.
On the road side Hope has a more streamlined, tailored kit bag, with race bib shorts, developed alongside Endura topping the line. The six-panel construction garment has silicon leg grippers and a multi- density, anti-bacterial stretch pad sewn in. As with the freeride line, sizes range small to extra large.
Kids are catered for too with a strong line, including a race gilet, jersey and shorts combo, socks and more.
01282 851200

CSG
Surface Clothing has been around for a few years now, designed under the same roof as Charge Bikes and targeted at the same diverse crowd.
Assuming we do get some fair weather this summer, dealers should look at taking on a few Liquistrech shorts and maybe some fingerless Surface gloves. There’s a lot of tech and well thought out design work that’s gone into the shorts, which are double woven and offer a four-way stretch. What’s more, the garment wicks sweat on the inside and offers shower protection on the outer. There’s plenty of vented pockets too, with zipped storage on the rear.
Surface’s fingerless gloves make the most of some fine materials, being made up of black lamb’s leather, Merino wool, all put together minus stitching on the palm, often prone to breakage. As with the firm’s full finger glove, you’ll also find an absorbent towelling on the thumb.
01202 732288

Paligap
Paligap’s standout cycling jersey brand is imported all the way from New Zealand and addresses the lack of ‘old school’ 1950 to 1970 style jerseys on the market.
Neglecting the ‘moving billboard’ image of the modern jersey, Solo’s designs are simplified and as representative of certain countries as they are any branding.
Take the Dempsey jersey. Inspired by Ireland’s tenacious catalogue of pro riders past and present, the green jersey has little more than the word ‘Dempseys’ on the chest and sleeve.
Consistent across the line, each screen printed jersey is made from a highly breathable and wickable polyester fabric and carries an 18cm front zip with over-size zipper, which makes handling with gloves that much easier. In addition, you’ll find three standard rear pockets, as well as a zipped pouch.
Paligap account holders will also have access to both the Sombrio and Kona clothing lines, both of which cater to road and off road audiences as well as producing a wide range of casual wear.
01454 313116

Greyville
SH+ is a leading Italian cycling brand producing helmets and sports glasses that, until now, is relatively new name to the UK bike trade.
The RG4600 glasses are the brand’s top of the range sports glasses. They come with interchangeable polycarbonate lenses, which have 100 per cent UV protection and have also been given an anti fog treatment.
Weighing in at 26 grams and retailing for £85.95, customers can pick up this model in fluorescent yellow, pink or green, matching the colours found on the SH+ Zeuss Pro road helmets.
As with all SH+ glasses they come with a hard protective case, head strap and a high-quality, scratch-free bag that doubles as lens wipe.
01543 251328

Moore Large
As seen in our show report on page 16, Limar has branched into eyewear to compliment its helmet line. Now in stock with Moore Large, the line up spans several different designs available with strong polycarbonate lenses, each with various different levels of light transmission.
Photochromic lenses feature on the OF8 model, which retails for £79.99. For those not clued up on the tech, photochromic lenses change the tint according to the light conditions. The amount of visible light they transfer varies from 49 per cent down to 11 per cent, according to the conditions. They’ll change from light to dark in eight seconds, and back again in 35 seconds.
If it’s clothing stocks your store is mulling over ahead of warmer weather, look out for Vangard and Outeredge’s lines. The former of the two is tailored for the performance enthusiast and the later, Moore Large’s in-house brand, is the more affordable, everyday use line.
Outeredge has introduced full zip tights and leg warmers to its range. The full-length zips make the tights and leg warmers easy to take on and off, meaning you don’t need to stretch over, or remove shoes. This makes them great for pre-race Cyclo-cross and MTB. The tights retail at £35.99 and the leg warmers retail at £20.99.
01332 274200