- GCN unboxing this week is something
that makes me very happy indeed.
Now I am lucky enough to be able to wear
Assos cycling kit every time I ride.
Thanks to them being partners of the channel,
but this week I get to un-box it as well.
We've got Assos shorts, Assos jerseys, Assos under-vests,
and Assos socks, all up for grabs.
Four complete outfits can be won.
Now I will tell you how you can enter the competition
a little bit later in the video,
but in the meantime, let me tell you
quite why this gets me so excited.
And yeah we are gonna talk about chamois,
'cause that's a big part of it.
That's not taking by surprise,
you knew I'd get excited about chamois.
You knew I would.
Let's start with a jersey shall we?
So we have here, the SS equipe jersey evo eight,
which is a men's specific jersey.
Voila, and we also have the T.laalaLai_evo7 jersey,
which is a women's specific jersey.
Let's have a look.
Check it out, free phone wallet with your Assos jersey.
Nice.
There we go, both are designed to be towards the aero end
of the cycling clothing spectrum,
meaning that they're nice and tight
and crucially also modern looking,
but you won't look like a total dork at the cafe.
Does anyone still use that word?
- [Man] Just dorks.
- Yeah, okay.
So you've got the aerodynamic similarity
but the cut, or the fit between the two jerseys
is not the same, to account for the obvious
anatomical differences between men and women.
But also the composition of the jerseys is also different.
So essentially, different choices of fabrics
on different parts of the jerseys.
They are intended for warm weather riding
and as you might expect from a brand
with the reputation of Assos,
the fabrics themselves are tailored specifically
to purpose, so on the equipe jersey,
you can see that the fabric on the front
is a 3D, knitted, mini check material.
The idea being that the surface area
of the fabric is increased and that allows it
to wick more moisture and dry faster
than an equivalent fabric.
It's also mega light and also mega stretchy,
meaning that it can be fitted nice and tight
and wrinkle free.
Then on the laalalai jersey,
there is a very different fabric on the front.
It's called a sens-classic tex fabric.
Different aesthetic, as you can see,
but also it's not quite so tailored to warm weather riding.
And apparently the fabric is absolutely ingenious.
So Assos have called it push-pull technology,
meaning that when you're hot,
the fabric pushes moisture away from you,
therefore keeping you cooler, but if your body temperature
then drops, the fabric pulls that moisture back towards you,
creating an insulative layer.
Nice one.
Both jerseys though, have the stabiliser S seven mesh
on the back, so for the highest levels of breathability,
without sacrificing UV protection.
And it stretches laterally, as you can see,
to keep the jersey nice and closely fitted,
but it doesn't stretch vertically.
Now what that means, is that as you load up your pockets
for your ride, it stops the jersey stretching
and having the contents of your pockets
banging around near your bum,
which is a pet peeve of mine.
And while we're talking pockets,
they too have something to get excited about.
So they have a design feature called the triple ramp design,
and basically it's like an extra flap inside the pocket
that fundamentally stops stuff falling out.
Now I haven't often had a problem with that
but you only have to have had it once
in order for it to be a bit of a thing.
And having lost a phone
out of a particularly poorly executed winter jersey
at high speed, several years ago,
that feature too makes me very happy.
Now apparently, these are designed to be your go-to shorts.
So, comfortable and suitable for every occasion.
Nice packaging.
Question is, though, what makes a comfortable short?
Well certainly the chamois is going to be absolutely crucial
given that that's where most of your body weight goes
and also most of the movement happens.
Now the chamois on these women shorts
is of course different to men's shorts
but the bare bones remain the same.
So they both have an eight millimetre thick foam pad
on there and it's in a mesh pattern
which apparently gives greater breathability
over a solid foam and then it's attached
via Assos' patented elastic insert.
So that basically gives the pad more movement,
more freedom of movement, so that any kind
of friction related problems
are transferred away from your skin.
Now lastly, because I'm conscious
that I may well come across as a chamois obsessive,
which would be accurate,
even if it's not something I particularly want to convey,
there is the golden gate.
Now the clue is definitely not in the name,
but it is a neat feature all the same.
So as you can see, the chamois is only partially
stitched in to the shorts, meaning that you get fewer seams,
you get greater flexibility of the chamois
and crucially you get less friction.
Let's get on to the fabric again shall we?
This is unique in the cycling industry.
Assos created it in collaboration
with their fabric supplier.
So it's slightly compressive,
meaning that it gives you plenty of support.
It's also crucially durable and hard-wearing
and yet, soft at the same time,
and it's also been treated with ice colour,
which is a kind of treatment that reflects sunlight,
meaning that you actually stay cooler on sunny days.
And because of the specific stretch properties
of the fabric, two different rates
of controlled four-way stretch, since you asked,
they've actually been able to change
the pattern of the shorts,
meaning that now there's only one seam on the legs
and it runs up the back of the leg there.
Now it's comfortable, but actually it came as a result
of work done to create the most aero skin suit
that they could, in time for the London 2012 Olympics.
Then men's equipe shorts have a typical bit of arrangement,
albeit a typically well-thought-out one
with extra wide straps for comfort
but then the laalalai women's ones have this.
Can you see that?
The mono bib arrangement with a magnetic fastener
on the front.
That is a lot of tech and it's not even the half of it.
Now it is possible to make a simple cycling jersey
and simple cycling shorts but then it's also possible
to turn it into an art form,
and I think probably for a lot of us,
that floats our boats.
And I still haven't finished yet, by the way,
because we've got matching under vests.
Now, a great addition to your wardrobe.
Hoo hoo, there we go.
Stick that underneath your cycling jersey
in less warm conditions to stay more comfortable.
Funnily enough I have to wear one of these
pretty much every single day in the UK.
Mega comfortable, you can see different types
of fabric properties for different parts of your body.
Some with higher rates of breathability,
others with more comfort or more compression.
A valuable, valuable piece of your cycling wardrobe.
And then of course we've still got socks.
We all know the importance of socks.
If you saw the GCN Show this week,
you will also know the important elements
that make up a good sock,
and these definitely look like
they're going to follow the Blythe formula.
So the top of the sock sitting a half an inch shy
of the bottom of your calf muscle, for the pro look.
Nice long cuff, emblazoned with a monogram logo.
I approve.
So like I said earlier, four complete sets
of cycling kit up for grabs.
Two of the equipe men's outfits
and two laalalai women's outfits,
in your choice of size, obvs,
but also your choice of colour as well.
So blue, orange, black, or yellow for the laalalai.
Or red, yellow, or black for the men's equipe.
Tell you what, four absolutely cracking prizes there.
If you want to be in with a shout at winning them,
then of course you need to enter.
To do so is exceedingly simple.
In the video description that you'll find beneath
this video, there is a link.
Click on that and you'll go straight through
to the competition entry form.
Simple as that.
Now make sure you subscribe to GCN as well,
before leaving this video.
That's incredibly simple,
just click on the globe right now,
and if you're after some more content,
we've got a great little video actually,
advising you how to dress for cycling in the mountains,
quite a skill there and then in terms of the GCN cycling kit
which I talked about earlier,
you can see that in pretty much every single video
but a really great one recently, actually,
was Dan and Matt investigating slammed or not slammed.
That is the question.