Autum/Winter Kit Special: La Classica Preview

Matt Wallis

La Classica have sent us some of their winter kit to review. I’ll be testing out their Pro Team DOC90 Winter Bib-Shorts and the Vintage Winter Jersey.

La Classica are an Italian cycle clothing company based in the cycling hotbed of Lake Como. They aim to bring together fashion and cycling, while maintaining a high attention to detail. Their range has a kind of vintage style to it, which plays true to their name. Personally I’m a massive fan of this kind of minimal styling, it stands out among the abundance of fluoro yellow and loud prints seen on the roads today.

The La Classica Vintage Winter Jersey is a subtle ‘classic’ look jersey

Vintage Winter Jersey. I received the Malta colour of this long-sleeved jersey, which is a cream/grey colour, with navy and burgundy bands around the wrists, base and neck. As mentioned earlier, La Classica have an understated Italian style. The jersey uses merino wool, which should be nice and warm without sacrificing any wicking properties. There’s the standard, three pocket arrangement at the back, plus a secure zipped pocket. This pocket has a hole which allows you to thread your earphone lead through. The cable management continues at the right side of the neck, with a button-hole for the cable.

The jersey has other nice details like a rubber gripper at the rear, to prevent the jersey from riding up your back. First impressions suggest this will be a warm jersey either to use as a layer in the wet under a waterproof, or as an outer layer in the dry. Once I’ve been out on a few cold days I’ll report on how the jersey performs.

The Pro Team DOC90 Winter Bib-Shorts should offer a little more warmth than standard shorts

Pro Team DOC90 Winter Bib-Shorts. Coming in a standard black colour with plain grey seams, these bib-shorts have two small reflective lunette at chamois level on the rear. The only detail from a style perspective is the glossy “ss” logo on each thigh. The bibs use Super Roubaix cloth, which is designed to be comfortable, breathable and abrasion resistant. There’s also “fast-dry technology” to keep comfort levels up. The leg gripper is made from a 7cm elasticated band. This doesn’t seem to “grip” your leg as such, but does still serve its purpose of keeping the shorts fixed on your thighs.

One addition I do like is the Colorado textile material on the panel immediately surrounding the chamois. This is intended to offer abrasion protection and should also help protect your posterior from any road spray your mudguards or ass-saver miss. The chamois itself is a nice, thick gel pad (varying from 2mm to 15mm) somewhat similar to Santini’s gel pad. La Classica say this is designed for long, 8+ hour days in the saddle, ideal if you’re one for long winter miles. One thing I am interested is how these shorts work with my leg-warmers. If they interact well, these bibs look like they’ll do the business over the winter.

I’m intending to do some miles in all conditions using this kit, so I’ll report back with a more in-depth review once my opinions have been formed.

La Classica

[rps-include blog=127.0.0.1 post=30824]