National Cycling Caps now available

National champion wool jerseys have long been a mainstay of ours. Cycling, to me, is as much or more about history and geography as it is the bikes and riders. The stadiums of the grand races are the peaks of the Alps, Pyrenees and Dolomites, the “walls” of the Ardennes and the plains of Castilla y León.

Back when we changed the logo in early 2011, we experimented with national stripes and flag colours being a part of the logo design since it was a large part of our products. For the Cima Coppi cap, we started making caps with jersey offcuts for two of the panels and designed the brim with an offset logo.

We’re putting the same features together, using our black knit offcuts and embroidered brim detail, to introduce a set of national caps. Let us know what you think. Check them out in the online store or pick up an Italian one for the upcoming Giro.

Paris-Roubaix Tees – Now available for pre-order

We’re going to do a run of tees based on this design I have been working on for a bit. The Cuba trip gave my mind time to refine it, but delayed us a bit in actually printing them in time for Roubaix.

If people are interested, or have feedback, have at ‘er. We’re going to do a very, very small run of them next week, to ship out likely around the last week of April. Then if there is more interest we’ll do some more at a later, unknown date. We’re going to donate $2 of each shirt to Les Amis de Paris-Roubaix, because they in big part keep the cobbles going. They’ll be printed on American Apparel Slate Grey shirts. We’re going to get the process started on Monday, so give feedback now or buy one up! And Tell your friends!

For pre-order, visit the store.

New Custom Club Jerseys – Fort Garry Bike Club – Winnipeg, MB.

I made up these 100% wool jerseys for the Fort Garry Bike Club in Winnipeg, based on their design and graphics. It’s a minimal, contemporary jersey with an asymmetrical weighting with the left side chest crest and arm stripes. The back shows the entire Fort Garry crest, with their bottle cap logo. I embroidered the logo in their colours, and used a high quality Gunold thread for the Fort Garry text to give it some sheen. When the sunlight strikes the letters of the Fort Garry text, it looks bad-ass… almost flaming.

It has been a pleasure to work with Mark out in the ‘Peg and I can only imagine that these jerseys will be a great main layer in the cold, and perfect on its own on those warm, summer Winnipeg days.

Thanks Fort Garry, and enjoy!

New Women’s Podium Jacket for 2012

One of the new products coming in for the New Year. The Podium Jacket is a women’s specific cut with very feminine lines and a simple understated approach to the extremely popular Track Jacket. Featuring a seamless randonneur pocket, full zipper and high collar it’s perfect for alpine riding and cold weather. It’s currently available in Ciclamino Purple, Vuelta Red and Cima Coppi Team Blue.

We have been testing it as a second layer over our wool jerseys and arm warmers and we found the two layers and warmers are comfortable down to a frosty +5 degrees Celsius and could be pushed a little further if it was really needed as we were riding in +2 with wind making it feel like -1.

Let us know what you think of the new design and the features it has. There are a couple at OnTheRivet currently, so check em out!

On inspiration

I received an incredibly inspiring email on our return from a short trip out to Tofino. A good friend of mine wanted a new cap so I made him a Giro cap at his request, which he wears handsomely, I might add. I was then told of a conversation between father and son that followed, in which, 5 year-old Miles (pictured above) was informed that Cima Coppi attempts to source all materials from recycled, or offcut origins. As followers of the blog know, we don’t subscribe to the standard supply chain and instead ‘dumspter-dive’ still useable new or preloved materials for our jerseys and hats. The cap in this context uses a yogurt container for the brim stiffener and off-cut wool for the body of the cap.

The result? A nice cycling cap for sure, but more importantly, for us at least, a little idea of what is possible with unconventional thinking. Miles, for his part, is holding a very impressive cardboard airplane he constructed the next morning to show his father, all out of materials he found in the recycle bin. Inspiration, full circle. Thank you Miles.

First step: a recycled airplane across the lawn? and in twenty years: a recycled airplane across the country?