Archive for category: Life

We have been sponsors of the Race Around Ireland for 5 years now and we are back again for 2015. The Race Around Ireland is Europe’s toughest cycle race and the rules are quite simple – there is a 2150 km course and you have to get round as fast as possible and when you sleep you lose time. So it is not for the faint hearted if attempted solo, but you can go in teams of 4 or 8. Such is the popularity of the race that they are now full up for 2015 both teams and solo riders and this year will be the biggest year ever in terms of number of participants; the fun/agony/ starts on the 30th of August in Trim and we will be there to wave the brave souls off.

For Carvalho Custom, the Race Around Ireland has been a chance to get involved with cycling as a sport available to anyone brave enough to give it a go and it has also been a chance for us to work with some serious endurance athletes willing to help us develop and test our kit; for example Shusannah Pillinger who we first met at the Race Around Ireland (and who is attempting Race Across America for a second time this year, in attempt to be the first British female to finish) has helped us develop our female cycling range and in fact our patented halter neck female cycling shorts (now licensed to Wiggle via their DHB brand) were inspired by Shusannah who really wanted to save time on comfort breaks for these ultra long distance events. It is also good to know that if she is happy with our chamois after cycling 4,800 kms almost non-stop across America, then we must be doing something right! Here is Shu half-way across America in 2014 in her Carvalho Custom cycling kit, before she fell asleep on her bike and fell off, breaking her collarbone…

Anyway, best of luck to all the riders taking part and we look forward to meeting you all in August!

Yes that’s right, because of all the economic shenanigans going on with Greece and so on, it means that a British pound now buys you more than 1.30 euros, whereas a few months ago, it was less than 1.20. As a custom cycling kit & triathlon kit supplier, we sell directly from Portugal to the UK with no British footprint, so that means we can pass on all these savings to our UK customers. For those of our customers who live in the Eurozone, you will still have access to the most competitively priced pro-quality custom cycling & triathlon kit in Europe, you just won’t get the extra 10% off!

You can download our order form and price list from the footer at the bottom of this page.

 

Our EVO pro bib shorts have had a lot of development work put into them – there are a lot of things to consider, but some of the things that we consider are: to make sure that they fit perfectly when you are in the riding position (rather than when you are standing upright to try them on!); that they move fluidly with the pedal stroke; that the seams are located where they won’t rub; the chamois offers rid comfort, antibacterial action and longevity; the straps sit comfortably on the shoulders; the right amount of compression is offered to the thighs; that they will not ride up your leg with the pedal action.

For this last issue, we have in the past offered to have a lycra leg gripper, which is a band of compression lycra at the bottom of the shorts, or silicone band leg grippers. Now we have moved on to offering silicone coated lycra as the gripper – this has the advantage of being more gentle on the thigh muscle than silicone bands, whilst maintaining the position of the shorts better than just compression lycra. Some riders prefer not to have any silicone for reasons of comfort, so our clients can specify. We are also now cutting the end of the shorts with laser, in order to remove an additional seam from the end of the shorts, as just one more small element in our bid to make our shorts the most comfortable on the market!

We have also now finished patenting a new halter neck women’s bib short, that will allow female riders to take a comfort break without having to remove their jersey (as with traditional bib shorts). It looks like our invention will revolutionize the women’s bib short market and we have decided to make this patented design available to other cycling clothing manufacturers, as the demand for them is just too large for our small factory to deal with and we will continue just to focus on custom cycling clothing and club triathlon clothing.

Shu Pillinger is at around the halfway point in her attempt to be the first British woman to finish the 3,000 mile Race Across America. We were delighted when she chose to use our carbon-mesh female chamois to keep herself as comfortable as possible (although how comfortable can you be riding a bike 3,000 miles in 12 days!). There is an inspiring post by her crew about the suffering that this event involves – http://fourlegsgoodlog.wordpress.com/2014/06/15/super-human-endurance/ – super-human is exactly the right word. Here she is about to arrive in Kansas, having climbed up to 3,300m and back down again. You can follow her attempt on twitter on #shuRAAM and on facebook.

Here is Shusannah Pillinger cooling down after cycling 300 miles in the first day of her attempt to be the first ever British female to finish the world’s toughest cycle race.

We are very proud to be her kit sponsor and it is truly amazing what she is attempting to do. Go Shu!!