Ekoi and Gobik brands

[Dan Lotus]

Afternoon all,

I've been liking the look of Ekoi kit for quite a while now (French company) and have just now ordered a couple of jerseys, and one mips helmet - all with large reductions.
I was concerned about import duties etc, so will have them delivered to my parents who live in Spain - this does mean, having only just returned, I won't get my mitts on them until October.

Gobik - I believe they cloth(e) several WT teams, but until fairly recently was not familiar with them.
I'm considering ordering a pair of bib shorts to try from Lordgun, but just waiting on a discount code or sale.

Has anyone any experience with either of these brands, and have any comments as to quality, and or fit compared to other brands such as Castelli, Endura, Rapha, Lusso, Sportful, Giordana etc etc.
There is precious little out there that I have found in the way of meaningful reviews.

Thanks :-)

 

[Drago]

How will you know if they suit the shape of your head?

 

[VinSumRox]

I got a Gobin call from the Ineos team bus last year and it did seem good quality. Can't comment on the rest of their kit though.

 

[si_c]

Ekoi stuff is pretty decent, I have their lightweight lid which does weigh pretty much nothing and their clothing is also pretty good as I've got some mitts from them. Probably similar quality to the castelli and specialized stuff I'd bought before.

 

[Dan Lotus]

How will you know if they suit the shape of your head?

I can't, total gamble of sorts, but a relatively modest £65, and worst case, I can either sell it on, or pass it onto a family member, as I have several who cycle.

Ekoi stuff is pretty decent, I have their lightweight lid which does weigh pretty much nothing and their clothing is also pretty good as I've got some mitts from them. Probably similar quality to the castelli and specialized stuff I'd bought before.

That's encouraging to hear a positive review of both helmet and kit.
I did have some mitts in the basket, but ended up removing them, as I don't REALLY need additional mitts.

They have quite a serious sale on currently.

Can I ask whether you ordered direct from them in France for delivery here, and if so what fees you incurred please?

 

[si_c]

I can't, total gamble of sorts, but a relatively modest £65, and worst case, I can either sell it on, or pass it onto a family member, as I have several who cycle.


That's encouraging to hear a positive review of both helmet and kit.
I did have some mitts in the basket, but ended up removing them, as I don't REALLY need additional mitts.

They have quite a serious sale on currently.

Can I ask whether you ordered direct from them in France for delivery here, and if so what fees you incurred please?

I did order from France, but it was a couple of years ago. You shouldn't have any fees levied for small parcels under £100 is my understanding. That's how Temu manages to operate.

 

[Dan Lotus]

Ah ok, I think it depends on whether they are vat registered if I understood things correctly - £135 comes in somewhere.
Those that are vat registered add on the VAT if it's less than £135, over that they don't, and it's lumped on plus the admin fee when it comes into this country. The sites that are vat registered normally detect you are in the UK and splash it all over their site, but I didn't see any evidence of that on the Ekoi site, perhaps I'll drop them a message to enquire.

This order was about £120, but I thought it safest to have it sent to Spain anyway. I checked the cost if I paid in Euros versus GBP, and as an anomaly it was very marginally cheaper to pay in GBP, so went for that.

 

[HLaB]

Ive never had any charges with my EKOI kit and I've bought a fair bit from them. Gobik has been popping up a fair bit on my Farceboke and I keep on meaning to investigate as one of my best bit of kit is Gobik bib shorts I bought in Tenerife back in 2020 and they've never bobbled and become see through like later bought castelli stuff.

 

[Dan Lotus]

Ive never had any charges with my EKOI kit and I've bought a fair bit from them. Gobik has been popping up a fair bit on my Farceboke and I keep on meaning to investigate as one of my best bit of kit is Gobik bib shorts I bought in Tenerife back in 2020 and they've never bobbled and become see through like later bought castelli stuff.

That's very interesting indeed, especially on the shorts front, as that is exactly what I was considering buying.
I used to experiment a lot with different short brands and models, but as I'm sure most of us know, that can prove somewhat expensive.
For the last few years I have pretty much only stuck to Castelli shorts with the Progetto X2 pad, though I do have a super cheap stockpile of Endura FS Pro 260 shorts I use on the turbo, and have left a few pairs at my parents place.
The Gobik shorts have given me a desire to try them though - can I ask how you find sizing, versus any other brands (What do you use?) you have worn or do wear please?
My 'issue' is that I am standard height, but have a long inseam, so my torso is short - I could never wear Pactimo shorts (Although have not tried any recently) as if it fitted my legs, the straps were too long, and that was the smallest size they did.
In Castelli I have to shoehorn myself into small shorts, but that means the straps are nice and tight, I've bene doing that for several years now with zero issues.

 

[Dorset Boy]

@Dan Lotus, or anyone else! - do you know how the fit of the latest Castelli Free Aero shorts (Race and RC) compare with previous versions?

 

[HLaB]

That's very interesting indeed, especially on the shorts front, as that is exactly what I was considering buying.
I used to experiment a lot with different short brands and models, but as I'm sure most of us know, that can prove somewhat expensive.
For the last few years I have pretty much only stuck to Castelli shorts with the Progetto X2 pad, though I do have a super cheap stockpile of Endura FS Pro 260 shorts I use on the turbo, and have left a few pairs at my parents place.
The Gobik shorts have given me a desire to try them though - can I ask how you find sizing, versus any other brands (What do you use?) you have worn or do wear please?
My 'issue' is that I am standard height, but have a long inseam, so my torso is short - I could never wear Pactimo shorts (Although have not tried any recently) as if it fitted my legs, the straps were too long, and that was the smallest size they did.
In Castelli I have to shoehorn myself into small shorts, but that means the straps are nice and tight, I've bene doing that for several years now with zero issues.

I'm a small waist (<28inch) but average height (5ft 9), (I think 19inch torso) and I'm practically a small in all brands (except for some EKOI stuff, I'm small in some shorts medium in others). I find the GOBIK stuff similar size wise to Castelli for me but I prefer the Gobik straps.

 

[Dan Lotus]

@Dan Lotus, or anyone else! - do you know how the fit of the latest Castelli Free Aero shorts (Race and RC) compare with previous versions?

My single pair of free aero shorts are probably 2 years old, so assuming the design has changed a bit, I can't offer any insight sadly - The Endurance shorts I bought last year fitted very similarly to the free aero shorts imho, marginally more room to get into them would be my observation, not sure if that helps at all, probably not

I'm a small waist (<28inch) but average height (5ft 9), (I think 19inch torso) and I'm practically a small in all brands (except for some EKOI stuff, I'm small in some shorts medium in others). I find the GOBIK stuff similar size wise to Castelli for me but I prefer the Gobik straps.

That's priceless info, thankyou VERY much, I have a larger waist than you (Trying to bring it down though)
Great news on the Gobik, that simplifies things a lot, When you say you are small in most brands, but not some Ekoi stuff - do you mean you size up or down for Ekoi, and is it a particular item, ie shorts, jersey etc etc?

Thanks

 

[HLaB]

My single pair of free aero shorts are probably 2 years old, so assuming the design has changed a bit, I can't offer any insight sadly - The Endurance shorts I bought last year fitted very similarly to the free aero shorts imho, marginally more room to get into them would be my observation, not sure if that helps at all, probably not

That's priceless info, thankyou VERY much, I have a larger waist than you (Trying to bring it down though)
Great news on the Gobik, that simplifies things a lot, When you say you are small in most brands, but not some Ekoi stuff - do you mean you size up or down for Ekoi, and is it a particular item, ie shorts, jersey etc etc?

Thanks

The sizing charts for EKOI bibs is weird but seem to be accurate, plug my data into their sizing charts for particular bit of kits I'm a small but they've completely different sizing charts on other kits which will say I'm medium. Ive never sized up or down but their stuff has fitted me well when I went with their charts but check the charts out before you order. I think my Bib shorts are Small but my bib longs are medium. I also went to order a pair of bibs recently and the ones I fancied were sized medium in their charts so I reordered my existing small ones instead which I know fit well.