With good weather, lots of new clothing and complete cycling kits keep dropping in front of us as a new season of roads rapidly approaches. With the Giro d’Italia in full swing as well as the Tour of California, summer is just around the corner. Slide on past the break to see all the expanded new offerings for women from Rapha and Café du Cycliste’s jailhouse kit, plus another limited edition Giro commemorative kit from Santini….
Rapha Women & Souplesse
Rapha just announced several strategic updates across their women’s line ahead of the summer season. Key updates include a totally reworked $160 Classic Vest II featuring elastic mesh side panels for improved fit & ventilation, as well as stretchy front and rear panels with reflective elements added to the back. The $175 Souplesse & $175 Souplesse Lightweight jerseys and $265 bibs also receive version 2.0 or rather II designations with updated fabrics and cuts, aiding in both better breathability and support. Rapha has also released an understated version of the $185 Souplesse Aero jersey in non-team regalia, and a new $125 Flyweight jersey on the way. It’s pretty much incremental performance updates all around borne out of the Canyon//SRAM team development, plus a general filling out of the women’s line-up. Almost all of the new kit is available now online and in Rapha stores worldwide.
Santini Gino Bartali
Santini have unveiled another special edition kit at this year’s 100th Giro. This one looks to honor Gino Bartali, coinciding with the 11th Giro stage being dedicated to Gino as well. The kits have a blue and yellow theme to inspired by the 3 Giro wins and 7 King of the Mountains jerseys he amassed over his career. Also paying homage to his achievements off the bike, Santini used envelopes as the mountain graphics to call out Bartali’s efforts during WW2 delivering letters to partisan fighters in the resistance.
The limited edition Gino offerings include jerseys, bibs, caps, socks and gloves to completely deck yourself out for a Gino Giro. The kit features a race cut fit standard road kit tech – grippers on the sleeves, bib cuffs and jersey hem, as well as the high-tech fabrics found throughout the Santini line. Pricing ranges from 13€ for the caps up to 109€ for the bibs.
Café du Cycliste
Café du Cycliste recently released a warm weather line-up by way of a Spring/Summer 2017 Look Book with updated designs across the range. They’ve also debuted some new lightweight $288 Mathilde Audax bibshorts. Wanting to shave weight as well as enhance the comfort, they are made from fewer panels to eliminate seams, with each leg uniquely cut from a single piece of fabric.
Continuing their stylish-yet-functional theme, Café du Cycliste are showcasing many new understated designs. This jailhouse striped $150 Francine jersey is one of many to relying on basic color palettes, but strong patterning to speak for themselves. They’ve got some more low-key stripes too, plus a bunch of snazzy new sock offerings that get similarly updated to match.
