dhb SS15 Blok Clothing Review

Paul Horta-Hopkins

Review of dhb SS15 Blok Clothing from online giant Wiggle.

Summer’s here and it’s time to bare those pasty limbs! Way back in the spring I took delivery of some of dhb’s summer SS15 Blok clothing. I’ve given it a good run over the past months and have been pleasantly surprised by its quality

dhb are a part of the Wiggle group and produce cycling and running kit for every level of participant, from occasional leisure rider to riders in the pro ranks – they supply kit for the Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling team. Their design team have produced an overall theme based on a ‘Plus’ motif that they have varied in scale over the range. It’s quite different to what I would normally wear on the bike, usually club kit, something plain or the odd trade jersey takes my eye – anyone remember the Team Polti kit from the ’90s?

Wiggle had supplied me with a short-sleeved micro jersey, bib shorts, arm warmers and socks. The fit is from dhb’s Performance range, which is meant to be for the regular, ‘keen’ road cyclist. dhb have arrived at this fit after working with Alvanon, a leader in the field of body measurement data collection. Alvanon use measurements taken from thousands of 3D body scans of people that fit a target demographic. From these measurements mannequins are produced that represent the average body shape and these are used to produce clothing that should fit, without bunching or flapping, as long as you’re near to that average!

dhbs ss15 blok kit is bright and will get you noticed

Materials used in the jersey are wicking and include an anti-bacterial treatment, which should make tea stops more pleasant for everyone. It also includes a UPF of 30+, great for those long summer rides. Three rear pockets, plus a zipped security pocket for all those ride essentials. Finally there’s a silicone hem to stop it rising and a full length YKK zip to keep you cool.

So that’s all the features, what are the jersey and arm-warmers like? Well I’ve really grown to like my Blok SS15 kit. The fit on the jersey and arm-warmers is tight, which is how I like my summer kit. I’m 5’8″ (172cm) and weigh 66kg (10.3 stone) with typical weedy cyclist arms and the fit of the arm-warmers was spot on, no more flappy excess any where and they come all the way up to the shoulder. So no more gap between jersey and warmer, looks so unprofessional!

A rear zipped pocket for your tea money and silicone grippers on the SS15 Blok Micro jersey

The jersey is nice and fitted, you’ll want to have shifted your winter padding before heading out in this kit! Although it is a lightweight summer jersey, the material feels robust. I’ve used it for training, sportives and cyclo-cross rides. It’s taken it all with ease and comes out of the machine as bright and fresh as it was back in the spring. The bright flouro highlights on a white background make this a great commuting kit, you’ll be hard to miss. The fact that it matches the colours on my bike was a happy coincidence. I like the little touches on the kit, like zips in the same bright orange.

The shorts have a CyTech Elastic Interface ‘Giro Air’ chamois, which has proved comfortable on and off-road. Longest ride was around six hours and there were no problems in the saddle department! I like the treatment of the short’s leg hems. Rather than a chunky hem that stamps your thighs with an indentation, or laser cut edges that, I think, look ragged after a while, dhb have used a long, doubled over hem. This gives a softer end to the legs and will last a lot longer. Underneath there are silicone ribs that help keep the legs in place.

Long hems give a nice finish to the shorts legs and silicone loops keep it all in place

The only little quibbles with the SS15 Blok kit was that the small printed dhb logos peeled off the shorts after a couple of washes. They didn’t leave any residue, so it didn’t mar the look of the shorts. All other logos and reflective details have stayed put. Also on the Micro jersey I found the pockets quite small, I could still stuff arm and leg warmers, phone, wallet, a couple of gels, a spare tube and tyre levers, but it was tighter than some of my other jerseys. Not a major problem and maybe I should carry less kit with me! But reaching in while riding required a bit more concentration than usual.

So there you have it dhb’s SS15 Blok range is great quality summer kit and at a very reasonable prices. The jersey is £39.99, the shorts £49.99 and the arm warmers £17.99. You could buy the whole outfit for the cost of some jerseys and you wouldn’t lose any ‘performance’ benefits! The dhb SS15 Blok range is only available from Wiggle.

Wiggle

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