Merino Base Layers

Hoopdriver

Now that it is getting rather nippy on morning rides I have been digging out my old base layers and trying out a new one. Knowing that people are looking around to buy base layers this tie of year, I have written a review of three merino base layers with which I am familiar in the hopes it might be of use:

Rapha
Icebreaker
Endura Baa Baa

You can read it here:

http://my-bicycle-and-i.co.uk/2012/merino-base-layers/

alihisgreat

Hoopdriver wrote:

Now that it is getting rather nippy on morning rides I have been digging out my old base layers and trying out a new one. Knowing that people are looking around to buy base layers this tie of year, I have written a review of three merino base layers with which I am familiar in the hopes it might be of use:

Rapha
Icebreaker
Endura Baa Baa

You can read it here:

http://my-bicycle-and-i.co.uk/2012/merino-base-layers/

Your reviews infuriate me.. what kind of review is it without an actual picture of the items being reviewed!??!

thegreatdivide

I agree re the Endura Baa Baa. I love my Rapha kit but the Baa Baa is my fave base layer.

Hoopdriver

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Hoopdriver wrote:

Now that it is getting rather nippy on morning rides I have been digging out my old base layers and trying out a new one. Knowing that people are looking around to buy base layers this tie of year, I have written a review of three merino base layers with which I am familiar in the hopes it might be of use:

Rapha
Icebreaker
Endura Baa Baa

You can read it here:

http://my-bicycle-and-i.co.uk/2012/merino-base-layers/

Your reviews infuriate me.. what kind of review is it without an actual picture of the items being reviewed!??!

Jesus, mate, are you unaware of what a base layer looks like?

On a more serious note I am a professional writer/photographer with a long record in journalism as well as artistic photography. I am very good at what I do, but my field is not product photography or advertising. Rather than have some half-asked attempt at it, and have clumsy, lesser quality photos muddying up my site, I provide links to the manufacturer of every product I review.

And to that extent, I suppose, I rely on the broad intelligence of the reader - in this case an assumption they will have a general idea of what a base layer looks like (they are all pretty much the same, visually, by the way) and those who might be interested in investigating further, and possibly buying, will have the links ready and at their disposal.

Grill

The Endura Baa Baa is fine for the money, but the fit is terrible. It's baggy but short, which sucks. The best baggy it ou there is easily Mons Royale and he quality is better too. Rapha is fine but for the money Icebreaker and Smartwool blow it out of the water.

For the Exmoor Beast I used a 175 weight Stoic base under a roubaix jersey and for the 200k audax last week I used a 200 weight Icebreaker under an Endura softshell. Toasty on both occasions despite freezing wind and rain.

alihisgreat

Hoopdriver wrote:

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Hoopdriver wrote:

Now that it is getting rather nippy on morning rides I have been digging out my old base layers and trying out a new one. Knowing that people are looking around to buy base layers this tie of year, I have written a review of three merino base layers with which I am familiar in the hopes it might be of use:

Rapha
Icebreaker
Endura Baa Baa

You can read it here:

http://my-bicycle-and-i.co.uk/2012/merino-base-layers/

Your reviews infuriate me.. what kind of review is it without an actual picture of the items being reviewed!??!

Jesus, mate, are you unaware of what a base layer looks like?

On a more serious note I am a professional writer/photographer with a long record in journalism as well as artistic photography. I am very good at what I do, but my field is not product photography or advertising. Rather than have some half-asked attempt at it, and have clumsy, lesser quality photos muddying up my site, I provide links to the manufacturer of every product I review.

And to that extent, I suppose, I rely on the broad intelligence of the reader - in this case an assumption they will have a general idea of what a base layer looks like (they are all pretty much the same, visually, by the way) and those who might be interested in investigating further, and possibly buying, will have the links ready and at their disposal.

I wasn't being aggressive or anything, it just seems odd to not have a picture of the products given that appearance is a key part of the perceived performance of any product.-> yes it would mean making the effort of presenting the items in an artistic way because as you said you don't want to muddy up your site...

..but essentially you are just making it impractical for the reader. The point of blogging is about self-promotion and you're not helping yourself by putting in barriers into my consumption of the media you produce.

Lets say you want to publish some of your photos on your site and you own the rights to the images, you don't create a page with text describing the image, then have an external link to the image because it creates a barrier to consumption.

Contemporary on-line marketing long ago moved away from the 'drill-down' approach involving clicking, clicking, clicking, clicking etc. to get to what the consumer wants - its about integration onto one web page and streamlining the consumer's experience.

Hoopdriver

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Hoopdriver wrote:

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Hoopdriver wrote:

Now that it is getting rather nippy on morning rides I have been digging out my old base layers and trying out a new one. Knowing that people are looking around to buy base layers this tie of year, I have written a review of three merino base layers with which I am familiar in the hopes it might be of use:

Rapha
Icebreaker
Endura Baa Baa

You can read it here:

http://my-bicycle-and-i.co.uk/2012/merino-base-layers/

Your reviews infuriate me.. what kind of review is it without an actual picture of the items being reviewed!??!

Jesus, mate, are you unaware of what a base layer looks like?

On a more serious note I am a professional writer/photographer with a long record in journalism as well as artistic photography. I am very good at what I do, but my field is not product photography or advertising. Rather than have some half-asked attempt at it, and have clumsy, lesser quality photos muddying up my site, I provide links to the manufacturer of every product I review.

And to that extent, I suppose, I rely on the broad intelligence of the reader - in this case an assumption they will have a general idea of what a base layer looks like (they are all pretty much the same, visually, by the way) and those who might be interested in investigating further, and possibly buying, will have the links ready and at their disposal.

I wasn't being aggressive or anything, it just seems odd to not have a picture of the products given that appearance is a key part of the perceived performance of any product.-> yes it would mean making the effort of presenting the items in an artistic way because as you said you don't want to muddy up your site...

..but essentially you are just making it impractical for the reader. The point of blogging is about self-promotion and you're not helping yourself by putting in barriers into my consumption of the media you produce.

Lets say you want to publish some of your photos on your site and you own the rights to the images, you don't create a page with text describing the image, then have an external link to the image because it creates a barrier to consumption.

Contemporary on-line marketing long ago moved away from the 'drill-down' approach involving clicking, clicking, clicking, clicking etc. to get to what the consumer wants - its about integration onto one web page and streamlining the consumer's experience.

A couple of points here

For starters, my blog is not about self-promotion or marketing but simply to give me an outlet for cycling inspired writings and photographs that I do not find in the course of my professional magazine work which is mainly travel, wildlife or 'street' photography. With winter coming on and a growing interest in winter cycling gear I have written, I think, four reviews - that is not a frequency which makes me want to spend the time and effort in turning out professional quality advertising or product photography, which is the level of what I would want and expect to have on my site. It is I suppose a selfish indulgence but one as the creator and owner of the site I am free to indulge in. And I do. I much prefer to have beautiful photography, or none.

The written review, I think, stands up. If it is spoiled for you by not having product shots, however clumsy, well, there we are. As I say, I do provide links to every product and I don't think one click is impractical.

alihisgreat

Hoopdriver wrote:

For starters, my blog is not about self-promotion or marketing but simply to give me an outlet for cycling inspired writings and photographs that I do not find in the course of my professional magazine work which is mainly travel, wildlife or 'street' photography. With winter coming on and a growing interest in winter cycling gear I have written, I think, four reviews - that is not a frequency which makes me want to spend the time and effort in turning out professional quality advertising or product photography, which is the level of what I would want and expect to have on my site. It is I suppose a selfish indulgence but one as the creator and owner of the site I am free to indulge in. And I do. I much prefer to have beautiful photography, or none.

The written review, I think, stands up. If it is spoiled for you by not having product shots, however clumsy, well, there we are. As I say, I do provide links to every product and I don't think one click is impractical.

hmm... not convinced by the whole 'its not about self-promotion' thing. You may have misunderstood my point, that it to say that its not necessarily about promoting your business as a photographer, but it is about promoting you as a person and online personality within an online community.

Otherwise why go to the effort of creating a website and all this high quality content (apart from the lack of images in reviews ) ?

You could just use trolingl on forums as your outlet like the rest of us

Hoopdriver

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Hoopdriver wrote:

For starters, my blog is not about self-promotion or marketing but simply to give me an outlet for cycling inspired writings and photographs that I do not find in the course of my professional magazine work which is mainly travel, wildlife or 'street' photography. With winter coming on and a growing interest in winter cycling gear I have written, I think, four reviews - that is not a frequency which makes me want to spend the time and effort in turning out professional quality advertising or product photography, which is the level of what I would want and expect to have on my site. It is I suppose a selfish indulgence but one as the creator and owner of the site I am free to indulge in. And I do. I much prefer to have beautiful photography, or none.

The written review, I think, stands up. If it is spoiled for you by not having product shots, however clumsy, well, there we are. As I say, I do provide links to every product and I don't think one click is impractical.

hmm... not convinced by the whole 'its not about self-promotion' thing. You may have misunderstood my point, that it to say that its not necessarily about promoting your business as a photographer, but it is about promoting you as a person and online personality within an online community.

Otherwise why go to the effort of creating a website and all this high quality content (apart from the lack of images in reviews ) ?

You could just use trolingl on forums as your outlet like the rest of us

I appreciate the sincerity of your comments but, as hard as it may seem to believe in this mercantile world, I really do write and photograph for my site purely as a means of creative expression, art for art's sake as it were. Nothing more.

I make no money from it, nor do I seek any, nor am I ever likely to gain any writing or photography assignments from it. I am in pretty solid with the editors for whom I usually write, none of whom are cyclists and so would not be likely to read my blog anyway. It is, as I say, art for art's sake and as with any other art form people are free to like it or not like as they wish.

ajb72

Interesting thoughts. From my experience the Endura was far too warm for all but the absolute coldest days, it caused me to overheat very quickly.

Hoopdriver

ajb72 wrote:

Interesting thoughts. From my experience the Endura was far too warm for all but the absolute coldest days, it caused me to overheat very quickly.

It is definitely a cold weather base layer, no doubt about it.

Because I stop and take a lot of photos during the course of my rides, and as a result am constantly cooling down and warming up again, I find the Endura useful in (slightly) warmer conditions than I would if I was riding steadily and swiftly. I am also typically riding very earlyin hte morning - usually 4:30 to 6:30am. Even so if the temperature rises much above 5C it starts to become warm for me

chrisaonabike

Interesting review. Couple of feedback points:

One typo to report: "All it did over the next eighty miserable was absorb sweat"

miles? km? Not that it makes much difference, but I tripped as I read.

And "The wicking qualities of merino not only helps take the moisture away from your skin but in doing so breaks the sweat droplets up into smaller more manageable molecules" ...

.. I know what you mean, but it really doesn't

Hoopdriver

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

Interesting review. Couple of feedback points:

One typo to report: "All it did over the next eighty miserable was absorb sweat"

miles? km? Not that it makes much difference, but I tripped as I read.

And "The wicking qualities of merino not only helps take the moisture away from your skin but in doing so breaks the sweat droplets up into smaller more manageable molecules" ...

.. I know what you mean, but it really doesn't

It does to the extent of making it more manageable for the pores in the 'breathabe' fabric

Grill

It absorbs moisture, it doesn't break it up...

Hoopdriver

Grill wrote:

It absorbs moisture, it doesn't break it up...

Yes it absorbs moisture, and in wicking it away, as vapour, allows it to pass through the pores in a breathable fabric better than glistening sweat on your skin

jane90

Thank you for an interesting and informative review. I got the Rapha women's long sleeve last month and fits me perfectly and I love it. If I had read your review before, I think I would have been tempted to go for the Endura at half the price although maybe I wouldn't have been quite so happy with it, depending on how scratchy it actually feels. It also looks like a bulkier fit too which might not be ideal under a Rapha winter jersey. By the way, I wasn't at all put off by the lack of images!

Hoopdriver

jane90 wrote:

Thank you for an interesting and informative review. I got the Rapha women's long sleeve last month and fits me perfectly and I love it. If I had read your review before, I think I would have been tempted to go for the Endura at half the price although maybe I wouldn't have been quite so happy with it, depending on how scratchy it actually feels. It also looks like a bulkier fit too which might not be ideal under a Rapha winter jersey. By the way, I wasn't at all put off by the lack of images!

Thanks. I am glad you found it useful.

chrisaonabike

Hoopdriver wrote:

I wrote:

And "The wicking qualities of merino not only helps take the moisture away from your skin but in doing so breaks the sweat droplets up into smaller more manageable molecules" ...

.. I know what you mean, but it really doesn't

It does to the extent of making it more manageable for the pores in the 'breathable' fabric

As I say, I know what you mean. But since you've replied, I'll elaborate.

As a writer, I'm sure you'll know that you can spoil the impact and hence reception of an otherwise good article by including a minor point that is so inaccurate, and sometimes laughably so, that it distracts from the main narrative.

In this case, it's your use of the word 'molecules'. If the base layer was really breaking the water in the sweat into smaller molecules, you'd have a handy way of generating fuel - since the only smaller molecules available from water are hydrogen and oxygen.

I realise it's a minor point. I write a lot of technical and user documentation, and I know how important it is to be clear as well as accurate, and consequently I always appreciate feedback on the material I produce. I thought you might too.