Gore Bike Wear Product Lines

buckmulligan

I'm looking to expand my winter wardrobe of cycling gear and I've been impressed with the quality of the few bits and pieces of Gore Running and Bike Wear stuff that I've got.

However, their marketing department is absolutely shocking. They have a whole bunch of product lines (Element, Power, Oxygen, Xenon...) with seemingly no clear definition as to what market each one is supposed to be catering for. I'm looking for some good quality, regular tight-fitting clothing, not something at the budget "relaxed" fit (as Wiggle kindly refer to it) end of the spectrum, nor the Castelli Free Aero race-spec end.

Just going by their pricing structure, it would seem that Xenon would be their top-of-the-line range, but having poked around at their Xenon mitts, I thought they looked pretty cheap and nasty. Can anyone shed any light on this?!

And secondly, what are the pads in Gore bibshorts and tights like? Any recommendations on that front?

grenw

The missus likes her Xenon mitts and I have a set of the thin full fingered ones which are just starting to get used for early morning starts. Nice products but they don't look like they will stand up to much.

I love Gore stuff, particularly for mountain biking - knee warmers, Phantom jacket, AS gilet, Alp X gloves and jerseys. They do fit nicely in between comfort and race. Never had any of their bibs but my wife has and didn't think much of them.

I do though agree with you on their ranging, as I've never been able to pick apart Oxygen versus Xenon in any of their products.

Alex99

I've got a few items. This is what I seem to find (based on ss jerseys of which I have tried all three):
-Xenon = raciest very snug fit, lightest mesh materials
-Power = more of a general road use line. Still fairly well fitted, wouldn't want any looser on the arms.
-Phantom = inbetween the two above. Good race fit, not tight, some mesh

I own a Phamtom and Power 2 SS jerseys. I like them both, but the Phantom edges it for me with better fit around the arms.

I think the Oxygen stuff is more 'bad weather' targeted, but as you say, it's not totally clear.

FWIW, I'm 6' 2", 74 kg.

kajjal

It depends how tight you want the fit and what size / proportion you are. I use Power bib shorts for mountain biking which while fitted are not excessively so. On my road bike i use castelli bib tights and shorts are they are tighter fitting and feel better. I am very tall and about 16 stone in winter. Either would be fine for me to be honest.

singleton

I bought a Gore Power Windstopper thermo gilet and was so impressed last year that I added a Gore Power 2.0 softshell Jacket.

On the Gore Web site, you can select "road cycling" and then specify a fit of either "comfort", "slim" or "tight" and since these are worn through the winter months, I went for slim rather than tight fitting.

Not the most obvious marketing, but great kit.

robbroo

Agree with the first post here....their gear is great although I get less and less convinced that membrane fabrics actually work. Wind stopper is brilliant.

The marketing is so poor I have bought other brands because I understand how the product meets my needs.

Garry H

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19763433#p19763433]robbroo[/url] wrote:

Agree with the first post here....their gear is great although I get less and less convinced that membrane fabrics actually work. Wind stopper is brilliant.

The marketing is so poor I have bought other brands because I understand how the product meets my needs.

Windstopper is a membrane fabric.

Their stuff is very well made,but for me personally they are a bit boil in the bag.

Edit:I'm referring to jackets here. Some of their jerseys are excellent