Aldi Gear Views

whitestar1

Whats the general view on the gear found in the Aldi stores?
There's a sale on the May 5th covering a wide range of stuff. Been short on cash right now I am wondering if this is a good enogh bargin. Ideas?

cyberknight

I have always found it worthwhile , it varies from year to year but in general it is very good quality.
If you can get to a decathlon store i find their stuff better quality and just as cheap, i picked up shorts for £6.50 and they are as comfortable as stuff 3 times the price.

MichaelW

I use Aldi gloves a lot, they last as well as the usual bike-shop versions.

Noclue

The soft shell jackets are a complete winner,£15 mine saw me through all of last winter and will do for at least another, i'm so impressed i'm going to buy 2 more so that i'll have one for at least the next 4 years!

whitestar1

cyberknight wrote:

I have always found it worthwhile , it varies from year to year but in general it is very good quality.
If you can get to a decathlon store i find their stuff better quality and just as cheap, i picked up shorts for £6.50 and they are as comfortable as stuff 3 times the price.

Can't say anything for Aldi but you are right about the Decathlon "discounted" stuff.

shouldbeinbed

Noclue wrote:

The soft shell jackets are a complete winner,£15 mine saw me through all of last winter and will do for at least another, i'm so impressed i'm going to buy 2 more so that i'll have one for at least the next 4 years!

+1000s I've got 4, comfy good weather tolerance and far better put together than the price suggests, you won't be disappointed

chris_bass

it does look like good stuff but they only ever seem to stock large or extra large near me so not been able to test any of it out! i live in hope though!

Peter88

shouldbeinbed wrote:

Noclue wrote:

The soft shell jackets are a complete winner,£15 mine saw me through all of last winter and will do for at least another, i'm so impressed i'm going to buy 2 more so that i'll have one for at least the next 4 years!

+1000s I've got 4, comfy good weather tolerance and far better put together than the price suggests, you won't be disappointed

Got one of the soft shell jackets last year and plan on getting 2 more on thursday.

Paul E

I have a softshell winter jacket form a couple of years ago and its done me proud, only slightly baggy and only slightly on the arms but the rest fits fine, very wind proof on the front on the chest.

The Rookie

2 winters on an Aldi softshell jacket and winter gloves, on my third year on a pair of fingerless gloves (and they survived my face/palm plant on Leamington 4x track as well), no probs with their winter socks and padded shorts either.....

Simon

UndercoverElephant

I would say that all of the Aldi clothing I've bought has been really very good for the price. As has been mentioned, the soft-shell jackets really are quite fantastic. The pack-away jackets are not exactly breathable, if you ride hard, you'll usually be drier not wearing it no matter what the weather.

I would say that the track pump exploded when I went up to road bike pressures, but it had been pretty good up until that point when I had been using on MTB tyres.

I wouldn't personally touch the locks, nor the lights - they may be OK, who knows?

father_jack

Pretty good stuff, although they're not a perfect fit (tops, bit baggy) but can't complain for the the price.

Got mitts, winter tights, bib winter tights, shorts, top, winter jacket, cap, winter gloves. Gonna pick up a soft shell jacket this week, maybe another pair of mitts.

Headhuunter

I've got some Aldi stuff but I find you're generally better of waiting for decent sale stuff to come up on websites like Planet X, CRC and other less known sites....

The Rookie

Just as a heads up for those after cheap tubes, my local Tesco currently have tubes (26" Schraeder in my case) for £1.23 somewhat undercutting Aldi's two for £3.99!

Simon

Headhuunter

The Beginner wrote:

Just as a heads up for those after cheap tubes, my local Tesco currently have tubes (26" Schraeder in my case) for £1.23 somewhat undercutting Aldi's two for £3.99!

Simon

Decathlon sells twin packs of tubes foer £1.99, permanently, not a sales price....

The Rookie

Maybe, but my nearest is 33miles away (and many will have similar distances to go), Tesco my wife is at each week.

Simon

purpledobra

always a bit afraid of buying cheap tubes, thinking they'll pop all the time. Might have to try for those prices

Headhuunter

purpledobra wrote:

always a bit afraid of buying cheap tubes, thinking they'll pop all the time. Might have to try for those prices

Cheap tubes are absolutely fine, I've been using Decathlon tubes for ages. The downsides are that they are relatively heavy, compared to ultra thin or latex tubes and that in general the valve length is standard, short length, so if you have aero rims, they will not poke through far enough. But if you ride some kind of bog standard hybrid or cheap road bike to work, they're absolutely fine....

whitestar1

Big day tomorrow at my local Aldi store. its all about bike stuff. Got my wife all pumped up to buy me some stuff - oh my daughter too, oops sister too, oh the other sister too - well you get the picture

chrisinleedsuk

Most of it's great, especially the softshell. The shorts I got a few years back have been legendary, indestructible and comfy. The water proofs don't quite fair so well but cheap ones never do.

maharg22

I went yesterday and bought a couple of Cycling Shirts, Soft Shell Cycling Jackets and socks for my wife and myself. I also bought a couple of pairs of Cycling Shorts, I already had a couple pairs of gloves that I bought last year and they are wearing well, also have their cycling glasses....

chrisinleedsuk

The softshell has had a re-design and mostly for the better. The arms are narrower, the gripper at the bottom is super sticky and wider, the zip puller is profiled to grip easily in gloves and the water/wind resistant material now covers the whole front, shoulders, topside of the arms and even some of the back. The rear pocket lining material is a finer weave and two external pockets have been added. It's £15 very well spent, although was a little warm this afternoon but I was keen to try it. The fit isn't still quite 100% - I ended up going for an XL to give my forearms enough room but it's a little baggy on the body and I ain't slim. The size L was good for body fit, just about long enough but had very thin arms.

I also got a pair of the shorts. Coolmax Silver (Red to look at) liner is still there and just as comfy as ever. The design is now a twisted 4 panel, it looks kinda like they've bought the same machines as castelli but weren't clever enough to make them in 2 panels. Fits great (like really amazingly great) on the bike but is mega low at the front and high at the back when off it. The new wide waistband elastic seems a little prone to rolling over but that could just be my belly. Overall quite impressed.

Finally I got some of the excellent socks and have yet to try the gloves but they look good for the money.

whitestar1

I got the soft-shell and wore it this morning. Its great, stiching got be neater on the one I got though. Had to get the XL inorder for it to fit - its the belly me thinks It was warm and comfortable breathable too. Like the shinny fit arms - makes me look better

The socks are great for £3. I was at Decathlon not long ago and something similar cost £7! Got to get me some more. I was looking for full fingered gloves but only found the fingerless type. Got a foot pump for a fiver too with a guage.