# Recommendation for Merino Wool Jersey/T-Shirts?



## Steve Balogh (Feb 20, 2008)

When I visited Australia last year, I was bummed the Merino Wool clothing store in the Adelaide airport was closed before our flight to Melbourne departed. A month earlier I read in the Fatbike forum here of an Aussie rider doing an epic solo ride in the north, and mentioned Merino wool clothing. I purchased a short sleeve base layer T-shirt locally, and first tried it a few weeks later in Australia in an all day car trip along the great Ocean road, then came home and used it exclusively in all of my cold weather, deep snow Fatbike rides where I live in the US as a base layer. But what's really fantastic is riding in near 100degree summer temps with high humidity - beats any synthetic bike jersey I've ever used.

Would like to get something with some pockets in the back, slim pickings in the US from what I could find, thinking more Aussie riders would be using these. Any recommendations/links? (Note, what I have found in the US seems to be more "retro, old-school" items, I'm thinking there's more in Oz I'm not seeing).

Thanks!


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## marcus_dukakis (Apr 25, 2005)

Try these guys - Kiwis, not Aussies but they make great gear:

Icebreaker

These guys have cheap icebreaker gear and will ship internationally too:

Outdoor Clothing and Equipment - Bivouac Outdoor - Bivouac Online Store


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## Steve Balogh (Feb 20, 2008)

*Thanks!*

Icebreaker has what I'm looking for - I also noticed some neat things that may work great for winter Fatbike rides also. I'm not fashion-concious, but this is great having a normal looking Merino jersey instead of the retro stuff in hideous color shemes.

Thanks, much appreciated!


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## chrisem (Nov 18, 2006)

I love my merino. There's these guys too, Kiwi again, they make great quality stuff.

Ground Effect - mountain bike clothing


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## Hud (Jun 22, 2004)

I've been using Endura Baa Baa base layers as jerseys, they are really good. There is a jersey model as well, not sure if it has rear pockets

Endura BaaBaa Merino Tech Short Sleeve Jersey | Buy Online | ChainReactionCycles.com


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## monolith (Jul 10, 2007)

If it's any help, I've been using an Icebreaker Cadence top for nearly a year (A shop I worked for stocked Icebreaker, and I was given a sample to evaluate).

I've been very pleased with it - I race in it during summer and stay cool, I use it in winter to keep warm, and it can be used 2 or 3 rides before it needs a wash. It's a bonus the colours aren't too gaudy, nice and low-key infact. Nearly a year on and it's still going strong, even after a couple of good crashes into trailside pricklies. As it's a proper riding top, it's got 3x pockets in the back, plus a neat little zip-up pocket.


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## Steve Balogh (Feb 20, 2008)

*Long sleeve summer*



chrisem said:


> I love my merino. There's these guys too, Kiwi again, they make great quality stuff.
> 
> Ground Effect - mountain bike clothing


Interesting - long sleeve SUMMER jerseys. I do have one long sleeve base layer, but never tried it in hot summer. Looks like a project for this weekend's beach& dune riding.
Good stuff guys, are the sizing charts pretty accurate?


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## Steve Balogh (Feb 20, 2008)

monolith said:


> If it's any help, I've been using an Icebreaker Cadence top for nearly a year (A shop I worked for stocked Icebreaker, and I was given a sample to evaluate).
> 
> I've been very pleased with it - I race in it during summer and stay cool, I use it in winter to keep warm, and it can be used 2 or 3 rides before it needs a wash. It's a bonus the colours aren't too gaudy, nice and low-key infact. Nearly a year on and it's still going strong, even after a couple of good crashes into trailside pricklies. As it's a proper riding top, it's got 3x pockets in the back, plus a neat little zip-up pocket.


Icebreaker site not working at the moment, but I looked last night and saw their "road" jerseys had pump pockets on them. Great idea because I quit carrying pumps on my bike as I've destroyed quite a few that way and do not always wear a hydration pack. I often fasten a small pump wrapped in a red umbrella pouch to the handlebars or stem as shown here:


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## Shalom (Nov 7, 2008)

Icebreaker are brilliant.
There is also Ground Effect (as mentioned above), NZO (Home Page) do some good things, and not sure if Krank Dirtwear (Mountain Bike & Cycle Clothing - .:: Krank Dirtwear ::.) is still going or not, but they may be worth a look.


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## marcus_dukakis (Apr 25, 2005)

Oh yeah, forgot abour NZO - have had good things to say about their gear (have got NZO winter gloves and short liners) but haven't tried their merino gear:

Wool


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## chrisem (Nov 18, 2006)

Steve Balogh said:


> Interesting - long sleeve SUMMER jerseys. I do have one long sleeve base layer, but never tried it in hot summer. Looks like a project for this weekend's beach& dune riding.
> Good stuff guys, are the sizing charts pretty accurate?


Yeah, the sun is pretty harsh down here, so the long sleeves are a good idea, though I've never worn them. Ground Effect stuff is a fairly loose fit, not roadie tight. I think the sizing charts are pretty good, work for me. You can simply send them back for another size if they're not right.


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## Steve Balogh (Feb 20, 2008)

chrisem said:


> Yeah, the sun is pretty harsh down here, so the long sleeves are a good idea, though I've never worn them. Ground Effect stuff is a fairly loose fit, not roadie tight. I think the sizing charts are pretty good, work for me. You can simply send them back for another size if they're not right.


Tried my REI/Smartwool brand Merino wool long sleeve base layer, on my trip this weekend. Not too bad when the wind cools you off. The temps were around 85F, a bit humid. Wind goes through the shirt OK, but when conditions were still, it was a bit hot. Still the best long sleeve option I've tried, just may pick up one of those from Icebreaker as well. Good idea for long rides in the open where re-applying suncreen may be a bit of a hassle.

The race I just did afterwards was a bit humid, the temps didn't bother me, I used my short sleeve Merino and it worked perfect. That course has always been a humidity trap in our hot August summers, very little light from a lot of tree cover - sometimes too much tree cover with big hills traps the air and the humidity can be pretty ugly.

Thanks for the input on the sizing, the only trouble I've had with that over the years was an Italian-made jersey.


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## ilostmypassword (Dec 9, 2006)

I love merino over winter to take the "just stopped" chill off when out and about. Summer not so much as merino soaks up three times its weight and struggles to dry compared to poly stuff. It also stretches like a mother focker when wet so looks like arse.

Ice breaker is the top of the pile for sure. Macpac also make a good range too....which is way cheaper.


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## whitet777 (Sep 24, 2010)

I love my Smartwool Flagstaff Jersey and my Smartwool Betasso Jersey. (I'd post links, but I don't have enough posts yet.) They are a bit pricey, but you can find them for sale most places.


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## Stevob (Feb 27, 2009)

Steve Balogh said:


> [/url]


Is that one of those flexible camera tripods attached to the seat tube?


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## Steve Balogh (Feb 20, 2008)

*Faux Shock*



Stevob said:


> Is that one of those flexible camera tripods attached to the seat tube?


Yes. I'm actually using a smaller one lately called the Ultrapod, with a velcro strap on one of the tripod's legs. A lot easier to tote around than the big Gorillapod in the pic. Cool thing about the Ultrapod is it fits cleanly on top of Thomson Stems. However the Gorillapod was nice where that pic was taken though, a lot of wind whips up from the Lake in those dunes. Heavy was better that day. What it's sitting in is a flag holder made for a Kawasaki roll bar, zip-tied to a bentover bottlecage. This pic shows some better detail:


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## Steve Balogh (Feb 20, 2008)

whitet777 said:


> I love my Smartwool Flagstaff Jersey and my Smartwool Betasso Jersey. (I'd post links, but I don't have enough posts yet.) They are a bit pricey, but you can find them for sale most places.


Bummer, I own a lot of Smartwool socks, two baselayers, but have never seen their jerseys. Hopefully these would show up in stores around me, but I've never seen them. I definitely want to try some of the stuff from downunder. From what I'm reading here looks like various Merino jerseys have differing amounts of wool content mixed with other fabrics.

Those baselayers I have are not cheap either, but I actually got one free via REI's "dividend" system.


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## Steve Balogh (Feb 20, 2008)

marcus_dukakis said:


> Try these guys - Kiwis, not Aussies but they make great gear:
> 
> Icebreaker
> 
> ...


Turns out I do not have to go far, Bivouac has a store not far from me here in the US - their local site I've seen before, but they don't show the bike jerseys. Will pay them a visit tomorrow. Thanks for the Icebreaker links, would not have made the connection otherwise.


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## OtagoKid (Aug 14, 2011)

MacPac do great Merino gear , similar to Icebreaker and slighly looser fit, if needed. Will also send inernationally.


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## Steve Balogh (Feb 20, 2008)

*Merino*

Picked up a general purpose jersey by Icebreaker, ordered the Cadence. Good stuff, the size chart is pretty accurate - however good thing I've lost about ten lbs, the fit is a bit tigher around the stomach. Already have done one ride with it, much better than the average synthetic.

Still checking out the other sites, looks like some good gear for colder temps as well.


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## Steve Balogh (Feb 20, 2008)

*Thanks!*



monolith said:


> If it's any help, I've been using an Icebreaker Cadence top for nearly a year (A shop I worked for stocked Icebreaker, and I was given a sample to evaluate).
> 
> I've been very pleased with it - I race in it during summer and stay cool, I use it in winter to keep warm, and it can be used 2 or 3 rides before it needs a wash. It's a bonus the colours aren't too gaudy, nice and low-key infact. Nearly a year on and it's still going strong, even after a couple of good crashes into trailside pricklies. As it's a proper riding top, it's got 3x pockets in the back, plus a neat little zip-up pocket.


I've used the Cadence several times for a couple of weeks now, fantastic jersey for mountainbiking. The pump pocket works great - found out the hard way when I crashed and had to DNF in a race last week. My elbow is missing some skin but the jersey survived and nothing fell out. It's the correct size, but even tighter than the other jersey around the gut. As long as I keep my weight down I'm good, but may be an issue for those not as fortunate. Feels good to breath, I get a little bit more soaked than the synthetic jerseys I have, but getting rid of the "plastic bag effect" from synthetics is what I need. Very comfy, works well in hot humid weather for me.

When I picked up the jersey from Bivouac, they had some new Icebreaker wool/fleece longsleeve base layers in stock. Got one of those as the snow should be flying in a couple of months.

Thanks again!


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## Steve_N (Sep 6, 2005)

Another one worth mentioning is Lab Gear...

I have a number of items from them and have always been top notch stuff. Great thing too is that it's all bespoke stuff...


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