A new benchmark in marginal gains for clothing!

[DogmaStu]

Carbon Fibre Fabric!

https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.co...g-collection-that-uses-carbon-fibre-in-fabric

https://pinarello.com/shop/uk_en/



Naturally, I'm buying the Dogma kit but wow, talk about chasing marginal gains and marketing ploys! Obviously works on people like me though.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I'm getting itchy just thinking about it.

 

[simongt]

Oh dear - !

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Here it is being modelled

 

[cyberknight]

 

[wafter]

everything has a purpose

Which I'm sure is true; within the confines of their sales and marketing department at least..

 

[Cycleops]

With a handle like 'DogmaStu' you're an obvious target.

 

[bikingdad90]

I’ll bite…

At £105 they can get stuffed, if China can knock out a decent jersey for £20 then it’s money grabbing for poser wannabe weekend warriors who pay ridiculous money to do a sportive.

I’ll stick to my sub £1k bike and £8-£12 audaxes.

 

[FrankCrank]

We all know that carbon fibre bikes dissolve in the rain, so why would you want clothes made of the stuff? Don't make sense.

 

[DogmaStu]

I’ll bite…

At £105 they can get stuffed, if China can knock out a decent jersey for £20 then it’s money grabbing for poser wannabe weekend warriors who pay ridiculous money to do a sportive.

I’ll stick to my sub £1k bike and £8-£12 audaxes.

Oh it's way more than that; £430 just for the Dogma Summer jersey and bibs!

I do appreciate good tech but sometimes I agree that it goes beyond the pale and becomes a Marketing wet dream in the chase for extremely tiny gains - if they even exist at all! This line of clothing pushes that envelope by introducing a carbon fibre weave.

Still...I'm expecting the quality to be sublime and I'm genuinely interested to see how it compares.

I will contest your £20 China crap though; my race sponsored kit is an 'affordable' Portuguese brand but they tried China for a season - because even cheaper - and even their top tier kit didn't last long - zippers broke, padding seemed nice at first but less than one season was all it could take, not water-resistant etc. Garbage.

High-end kit is very expensive but on sale at 20-50% off, it is truly worth it. My 'Pro' level kit from Castelli, Santini, Le Col etc blows my cheaper kit into the weeds for quality and 'fit for purpose' use. It breathes better, wicks better, more comfortable, longer-lasting, water-resistant where it needs to be, wind-defeating where it says it is, far warmer or cooler. You need to try it to appreciate it.

So yeah, we can get cheaper clothing and while the high-end stuff is far more expensive, it is also far nicer - whether we want to pay the extra for it or make do though is obviously a personal choice.

Same applies to bikes. Why attempt to ridicule someone who likes nice things and can afford them even if the 'gains' they are paying for are very marginal? So what? It doesn't make the chap sticking to a lower budget a hero for doing so any more than it makes the chap paying top dollar an idiot for doing so if he can afford it and it's his passion. No different to those buying high-end sports cars, high-end watches. You can get the same a lot cheaper, but the expensive stuff can be nice too even if the £ vs value gets very diminishing. It's just personal preferences and choices. I often see chaps who aren't remotely serious about getting every last watt out of themselves or their bikes on Pro level kit...so what? Let them enjoy.

 

[wafter]

Only skim-read the article, but with no technical explanation as to why the magical material has been in incorporated into their garments, one can only assume that it's purely for the ridiculous, nebulous cache it carries to those who don't know any better.

Smacks of sickeningly cynical, expolotitive an desperate marketing tbh.

 

[DogmaStu]

Only skim-read the article, but with no technical explanation as to why the magical material has been in incorporated into their garments, one can only assume that it's purely for the ridiculous, nebulous cache it carries to those who don't know any better.

Smacks of sickeningly cynical, expolotitive an desperate marketing tbh.

From the Pinarello website:

ANTISTATIC
Conductive carbon fibers absorb and dissipate electrical charges created by the body

Oddly enough, this seems to be a thing when I Googled it so for some it might be a wanted feature.

BACTERIOSTATIC
Carbon blocks the proliferation of bacteria by acting on the cell wall of microorganisms

Not sure if this is really a thing unless people don't wash their clothes often...

THERMOREGULATING
Carbon is an excellent conductor of heat, thus keeping the body at an ideal temperature

A good thing, if it works in any meaningful way that can be felt vs other materials.

Jury is out then! We shall see. I'm not one for disparaging something until I've personally tested it or seen substantial evidence against from others. Do agree that this does smack of Marketing Magic though rather than a truly wondrous thing.

Certainly, while this 9% of Carbonio weave is a Marketing catch, the RRP of these clothes isn't higher than the high-end of any top manufacturer, such as Castelli, Assos etc.

I normally wait for Sales but in this case, since I have the vanishing small marginal gains Dogma F bike, I'm splurging on the 'matching' kit now for Summer.

 

[wafter]

From the Pinarello website:

ANTISTATIC
Conductive carbon fibers absorb and dissipate electrical charges created by the body

Oddly enough, this seems to be a thing when I Googled it so for some it might be a wanted feature.

BACTERIOSTATIC
Carbon blocks the proliferation of bacteria by acting on the cell wall of microorganisms

Not sure if this is really a thing unless people don't wash their clothes often...

THERMOREGULATING
Carbon is an excellent conductor of heat, thus keeping the body at an ideal temperature

A good thing, if it works in any meaningful way that can be felt vs other materials.

Jury is out then! We shall see. I'm not one for disparaging something until I've personally tested it or seen substantial evidence against from others. Do agree that this does smack of Marketing Magic though rather than a truly wondrous thing.

Certainly, while this 9% of Carbonio weave is a Marketing catch, the RRP of these clothes isn't higher than the high-end of any top manufacturer, such as Castelli, Assos etc.

I normally wait for Sales but in this case, since I have the vanishing small marginal gains Dogma F bike, I'm splurging on the 'matching' kit now for Summer.

Thanks - still absolutely sounds like five-pints-for-lunch marketing nonsense, mind...

 

[bikingdad90]

@DogmaStu was in Paul Curran Cycle Sports yesterday and he was servicing a very tasty Pinnarello rim brake bike with red and white on it. I think it might have been an FP Quattro but it was in the stand and too far away to see the model up closely, could only go by the quirky fork design. You have nice taste, even though I’ll personally never buy one as they are out my price range.

I was a bit flippant about the China element, I was thinking equivalent to say Crane and Siroko kind of cost and quality where the focus is largely on quality and a direct to consumer model.

I have been less impressed with the Crane stuff in Aldi and Lidl recently, just isn’t as good as the older stuff; I’d have preferred to pay £5-£10 more because of market and economy factors as opposed to cheaper quality to keep the price static.

Other brands such as Altura, Endura and Gore do offer decent kit but because they operate through wholesalers there is additional margin added on so I tend to pick up their “basics” range when on sale.

I’m interested to see which way Decathlon go now they are sponsoring a pro team and have rebranded (with a poorer website). If they adopt a model like Santini or LeCol where even on sale it’s still high prices I will be disappointed.

I wasn’t ridiculing anyone. I just struggle to see how you justify the price when you can get a decent quality top for 1/3 price.

 

[Punkawallah]

I’ve no doubt it will propel teams to new heights of efficiency and success. If it works.