Greetings to all!
The initial response has been quite good for the new clothing with requests already coming in from three continents. Please keep your requests coming as we will only be taking in requests for a limited time before we start the production. For those having questions regarding sizing, please read the paragraph further down and/or check out the sizing kit that I will bring with me to le Cirque du Cyclisme. Indeed, at le Cirque you will be able to try on actual garments/gloves to determine what size best suits you. I am also hoping to have a sample jersey on hand to allow you to see the jersey first hand.
I would like to give a bit of additional information regarding the production of new Classic Rendezvous clothing. Dale and I started speaking last year about developing a few items of clothing for CR list members. As most of you know, Dale has twice previously had a run of Classic Rendezvous wool jerseys produced. The first time through Woolistic (Jan Johnson and Alex Clarke) and the second time through Hincapie. The first production was quite well-received, whereas the second left quite a few people less than enthusiastic.
Given that both of the previous jerseys were made of wool, this had meant that those who have difficulties with wool for whatever reason (i.e. high cost, sensitivity to the wool itself, different care requirements...) were left out. The new jerseys are made using technical modern materials. The jerseys are made of Coolmax active material and have a 3/4 length "hidden" zipper. The 3/4 length zipper choice was made as many find the traditional "short" zipper insufficient for their needs. It was decided against the full length zipper, as they tend to curl and bunch up at the bottom on all but the fittest of riders. For the bib shorts, they will be produced with 210 g lycra, which a step above many of the other shorts that you find in the market. The bib portion is made of mesh for added comfort. The pad that is to be used is the Biemme Durance pad. This is the same pad that is presently being used by virtually all the riders of the LPR and Ag2R teams at the Giro D'Italia. Biemme has spent much time in developing its clothing, as can be seen by details like the fact that the shorts use two different types of thread to sew in the pads. On the outside where the stitching is always exposed to wear against the saddle, they use a resistant Cordura nylon-like thread whereas as inside, they use a softer more silken-like thread so as to not create roughness. With regards to the gloves, if I am not mistaken, Biemme was the first company to supply lycra gloves to pro riders in the CR-period. Indeed, you can see old photos of Bernard Hinault and Francesco Moser wearing Biemme gloves. For the autumn jacket, we will be using either Atex or Windtex material. Both of these materials are technical sandwiches which involve and upper and lower layer that are used to sandwich a wind-resistant membrane that also works to protect against precipitation. I have been wearing just such a jacket for temperatures going down to about freezing without any problems (for the guys in California, this should perhaps better be considered for temperatures down to about 40°).
As far as the design goes, the two shades of blue and their relative placement on the jersey replicate those found on the Ferretti team jerseys of the early 70's. Dale and I considered a number of different fonts before settling on the one seen in the drawings. http://www.classicrendezvous.com/
For sizing, please be aware of the following: modern technical cycling gear works best when the material stays in contact with the rider, one should therefore try to avoid having overly bulky or baggy clothing. This means that clothing manufacturers are obliged to make many more sizes than would normally be required by makers of other clothing types. Companies like Biemme need to, for example, cater to the 6 foot tall riders weighing little more than 120 lbs, just like they need to look after equally tall clydesdales like myself. So unless, you have the build of the riders that you see in the Giro, you are therefore not generally able to transpose the average "T-shirt" size over to jersey sizes. You will find that most people will go up at least one or two sizes larger than what you might wear in many T-shirts or other clothing. Please take a look at the sizing chart posted here: http://www.classicrendezvous.com/
Steven Maasland Moorestown, NJ USA
PS: For shipment to non US addresses, there will be a shipping surcharge of $10 per shipment. For the jackets, the surcharge will be a bit more due to the bulky packaging needed