Hands on with Pactimo’s Stylish and Functional 2015 Spring Branded Apparel

You may know Pactimo best for their extensive line of custom apparel, but the brand known for being the first custom apparel company to offer a full-dye sublimation offers a pretty sweet branded line as well. Based in Colorado, Pactimo draws inspiration from their surroundings, their teams, and customers to create what they see as the best quality kit you can buy, and actually afford.

After introducing a few new things for the custom lines, Pactimo is releasing an all new Spring line that you can buy right off the rack. Using clean designs and bold, visible color schemes, the Pactimo Spring line should be as fast as it looks…

In addition to making great kit, Pactimo strives to be impact to the community both local and global. It’s one thing to say that, but it’s another to back it up with $150,124 in cash donations to the number of charitable causes they support. Part of the way to help spread their mission statement is through the use of brand ambassadors. According to Retail Brand Manager Josh Cook, over 2,000 riders applied for 2015 of which Pactimo was able to sign up 73 new ambassadors. It may sound cliche, but when talking to the crew from Pactimo the passion is contagious.

Even if you throw all of the charitable stuff out the window, at the end of the day Pactimo makes some impressive gear like the new 2015 Summit Speed Jersey. After experiencing the supple Superleggero fabric for the first time, Pactimo didn’t have a jersey for it yet, but they knew they wanted to use it. Created as a super light, extremely race fit jersey the fit was specifically tailored to remove the bunching of the arms and shoulders when in riding position. That meant using a set-in Euro length sleeve design that allows them to pull more fabric and when combined with the mock collar leads to a very aerodynamic fit. Along with the Superleggero, the Summit Speed uses zero weight mesh for the side panels and carbon woven TransferC fabrics. Weighing in at 91g, the jersey sells for $115.

First introduced with their Fall collection, Pactimo is expanding their use of RFLX grippers to include the Raptor RFLX and Summit Speed Jerseys. Using a Pixel membrane from Plastotex, the leg and arm bands are directly printed with highly reflective material that blends in during the day. At night or when hit with a bright light though, the panels reflect a ton of light. In addition to making the rider more visible, the grippers are also extremely comfortable and some of our personal favorites on the market in terms of comfort without sacrificing compression or grip.

Used on the leg grippers for the Summit Raptor bibs and the arm bands and rear gripper panels for the Summit Speed jerseys, Pactimo sees the addition of the material important for the customer who is buying this level of kit since they are likely to be riding in low light conditions for long rides.

Summit Raptor RFLX bibs are offered in two varieties – standard and Pro. The difference? The Pro model offers 1.5″ of additional leg length with a longer gripper. That’s great news for any of us that have short femurs or simply prefer a shorter leg. Otherwise both shorts are identical and sell for the same $175. Additional features include a CyTech Endurance Anatomic 2 Carbon Flash chamois, flatlock stitching, and Schoeller-Eschler Raptor fabric with Coldblack technology. All of the new Pactimo gear that we’ve tried is impressive, but the Summit Raptor RFLX bibs hit it out of the park.

Also available in women’s cuts, Pactimo points out that these are all built from the ground up as women’s pieces rather than modifying a men’s cut to fit. Using the same technology, the Women’s Summit Speed RFLX jersey sells for $110, and Summit Raptor RFLX sell for $175.

Calling it the Ascent 2.0, the Ascent line gets upgraded with zero weight mesh for better breathability in key areas. Keeping the same fit, the Ascent line uses Quattro-Lite fabric for the body which offers a large amount of stretch. Pactimo says that makes the kits work well for a larger portion of riders since the fabric can stretch to fit a number of body shapes comfortably. One key change to the bibs comes in the form of a new chamois for the Ascent Pro bib. Adding a new multi-density Cytech chamois, the bib has been upgraded to offer additional flexibility and movement. The pro also uses fold over fabric bands instead of the silicone gripper found the on the standard Ascent (which accounts for the 1.5″ difference in leg length).

The Ascent 2.0 kit is available in SS jerseys for $85, LS jerseys for $90, and matching bibs for $120.

Your kit isn’t complete without a matching cap, right? If that’s the way you feel, Pactimo has plenty, each retails for $20.

Again, the ladies get new Ascent 2.0 SS and LS jerseys of their own for the same $85/90. At this point in time there are not matching bibs for the Women’s Ascent line.

First introduced in their custom program, Pactimo has brought their Ascent Air jersey to their branded line for the first time. Built using Speedskin fabric on the back, arms, and neck, the back uses Arrido mesh for a jersey with the ultimate breathability for $100. More matching caps as well, of course.

Finally, one of the last highlights for the new line is their Storm Hybrid jacket. Part jersey, part rain and wind jacket, the Storm Hybrid was inspired by the weather and conditions that make Spring, well classic. Built with racers in mind, the jacket offers a fully printable wind and waterproof MITI Aerowind thermal fabric with a DWR treatment that is said to withstand 40 washes before the effectiveness drops to 80%. Without seam sealing, the jacket is considered water resistant even though the fabric is waterproof. Out back you’ll find 3 pockets made from Defense+ 3-layer laminate with a protective flap to keep the water out of your pockets. Built with a short sleeve design with matching arm warmers, the jacket is extremely adaptable to rapidly changing conditions and comes in at $175.

Capitalizing on the warmer weather recently, I’ve been able to even get out in the new gear a few times without a base layer which can be pretty rare this time of year. True to form, all of the new kit is super comfy but it is certainly fit dependent. After rides in the Ascent 2.0, and Ascent Air/Summit Raptor RFLX bibs, I prefer the later mostly due to the Pro vs Standard leg length. As a shorter guy already in small bibs, the Pro length of the Ascent 2.0 leg is too long for my liking. The standard fit of the Summit Raptor RFLX however is perfect. I would say that the Summit Raptor RFLX bibs run on the small size while the Ascent 2.0 Pro bibs run on the big size so keep that in mind if you’re buying. Honestly if the Ascent 2.0 Pro came in XS, that would probably be my size. If you like your shorts to feel compressive go with the Raptors, but if you feel like most shorts are already too tight, the Ascent 2.0 Pro should be right up your alley.

Both of the jerseys I’ve tried are excellent offering a nice length to the sleeve, and a fit that doesn’t pucker along the front of the zipper. Fully loaded, the pockets seem to support your average contents (including bottles) quite well with little sagging. Really, other than minor fit concerns of the different fabrics and inseam lengths, you can’t go wrong with any of the new pieces.

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