We are now moving pretty much all of our production of custom cycling jerseys and jackets to Biofit, which gives and improved fit and better breathability for the jackets, principally by adding an extra lycra panel down the sides and adjusting the cut around the shoulders so that the fabric is relaxed when you are in the riding position. Here is a short film explaining it:
We are the only custom cycling & triathlon kit supplier in Europe who offers a 2% discount for every day we deliver late. We would like to say that we never deliver late, but unfortunately that is not the case, because as with every business, sometimes things go wrong, like machines breaking down, electricity cuts, suppliers not delivering and so on and on and on. So sometimes we deliver a couple of days late, but if we do, then we compensate our clients with a 2% discount for each day we are late. The reason we do this is to show how important we consider it to meet out deadlines. Our industry is know for delivering weeks and even months late and we really wanted to show that we really mean it when we say that we will do everything we can to deliver on time and pay the consequences if we fail.
The ongoing growth of Carvalho Custom from a tiny company from a small town in Portugal to one of the leading suppliers of custom cycling jerseys and other cycling & tri clothing to northern Europe has been a very simple story. We have focused on making premium quality kit, not charging the earth for it by selling direct from Portugal (so keeping costs down by not using national distributors) and offering unrivaled quality of customer service. Whilst other brands have focused on sponsoring leading clubs and triathletes to try and gain credibility, we have just kept plugging away at what we do best, leaving the gimmicks and the expensive sponsorship deals to others. That is why we are the lowest cost supplier of premium custom cycling & triathlon clothing selling in to northern Europe and why we are the only supplier that gives a financial guarantee on late deliveries.
We have had a lot of demand for kids tri suits over the last 12 months as a lot of triathlon clubs have opened up new junior sections. So as a result we have developed a new unisex junior tri suit with sizes to fit 7 to 12 year olds which costs just €54.70/£43.80. Furthermore we have registered our company for VAT in the UK, which means we can now sell all our kit to UK customers at UK VAT rates (so 0% for kids clothes and 20% for adult sizes).
Carvalho Custom sells direct from Portugal without using national distributors, which is why we are the lowest cost supplier of pro quality kit and having been selling into into northern Europe for 10 years now, we are still the only supplier who offers a 2% discount for every day we deliver late!
As Carvalho Custom we like to sponsor cyclists and triathletes who are unusual, with a story to tell. Well if you want a great story, then look no further than Shusanah Pillinger, who this year is attempting to be the first British woman to finish the Race Across America (that’s a 3000 mile non-stop race!). As part of her warm up, she has been putting the miles in out in India, winning the 400 mile non-stop RAAM sanctioned Deccan Cliffhanger race at the weekend, registering not only the fastest solo female time, but the fastest time overall (beating the 10 male solo riders and all of the relay teams).
The Giant Starkenn Deccan Cliffhanger route started from Pune, in Maharashtra state, India, and headed south to Miramar Beach in Goa via the Mahabaleshwar hill station (height 4700ft) in the Western Ghats range and the city of Dharwad, Karnataka state and Shu managed to finish in 26 hours and 46 minutes (she reliably informs us that our Carbon-Mesh chamois was super comfortable throughout….!)
This Summer at RAAM she will try and do something historic and truly amazing and let’s hope that the British cycling community gets behind her to give her the support that she deserves. We are doing our little bit by sponsoring her kit (pictured above) and we are extremely proud to be involved with her RAAM attempt.
This is going to sound like a Monty Python sketch (see below…), but when I first started cycling, shorts were made out of wool with a leather chamois inside. Before you put your shorts on, you had to rub this nasty grease into the chamois to soften it up a bit to make the cycling experience slightly less unpleasant. The first time I saw bib shorts, I thought the guy in the bike shop was winding me up, but now they are pretty much universal (at least for men). We spend an awful lot of time here at Carvalho Custom working on making our ustom bib cycling shorts more comfortable and we have tested endless different designs. So here it what you need to know when buying a pair:
Bib shorts are better than non-bib shorts for 3 reasons:
– they don’t have cut into your belly
– they pull the chamois into place firmly against your backside so that it will not move out of place or rub
– they cover the small of your back so that there is not a window of exposed flesh as seen between the bottom of your jersey and the top of non bib shorts
Obviously some bib shorts are better than others, but there are some nonsense claims made by some of the higher end manufacturers which simply don’t stand up to scrutiny. The important things to bear in mind are that:
– they should be made out of a strong lycra that will not go transparent after a few washes and will give you some compression on your legs.
– they should naturally hang in a curved position if you hold them up by the straps and as a result should be more comfortable to wear when you are bent forward in a riding position than standing up straight. So when you try on bib shorts, try and do so on a bike, or if not available at least in an approximation of a cycling position. They should not fit properly when you are standing up straight! A good pair of shorts will have the panels cut in such a way as they will sit naturally in this riding position – the actual number of panels is less important than that they are well configured, so “8-panel” shorts are not necessarily better than “6-panel” shorts.
– leg grippers are a personal thing. Increasingly lycra leg grippers with or without silicone beads are being used, but a lot of riders still prefer full silicone bands (at Carvalho Custom we give customers the choice). Without a full silicone band, you will typically get some movement of the shorts on the leg when you pedaling, but if they are decent shorts, they should not ride up too easily. This also depends of course on how chunky your legs are….
– the chamois is by far the most important thing to consider. Our chamoises are made by Cytech and use mesh rather than foam for the padding (it holds its thickness for much longer and doesn’t absorb moisture) and also has carbon threads which strengthen it and are anti-bacterial. The problem when looking at a chamois is that you can only really tell their worth after a few hours on the bike and also several months wear. After exhaustive testing, it is clear that mesh is better than foam, but there are arguments to be made about gel. My personal feeling is that gel does not have the same longevity as foam (it can get lumpy or leak as well as loose its cushioning) and although it is very comfortable when you first sit on it, it does not breath as much as foam, so you can get a clammy feeling from it. The ergonomic shapes of chamoises with all the cut outs and so on is not as important as some brands like to make out, although there is some room for personal preference here. Much more important is the shape of your saddle.
I am not going to start on female bib shorts here as that is a story for another day……
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The London Bike and Triathlon show is on from 13 to 16th of February at the Excel alongside the Telegraph Outdoor Adventure and Travel Show. Please come along to our stand LT315 to say hello and see some of the new custom cycling clothing we have recently launched.
We have been very busy these last couple of months developing and refining our custom cycling jerseys and jackets – a really important new garment for us is a lycra cycling jersey, reflecting the fact that increasing numbers of pro riders are now riding with lycra jerseys, in order to minimise wind resistance (by reducing flappage) and let’s be frank to show off how unbelievably trim they are. So if you are built like a pro and want to dress like one, our new lycra race fit cycling jersey (called the “Lycrafit”) is for you!
The main problem with wearing a custom lycra cycling jersey is that the fact that it is skintight means that air cannot circulate between the fabric and the skin like it would with a traditional jersey. This means that although we use high wicking technical lycras, the skin will tend to get damp when you start to work hard and sweat, so after a while it can begin to feel clammy. In order to combat this we have used a perforated lycra for the top half of the jersey which allows the skin to breathe, whilst maintaining the aero functionality of the jersey. The lower part of the jersey uses a lightweight technical lycra without the perforations meanwhile and you can see on the photos the contrast between the two different lycras.
This new Lycrafit jersey also includes longer arms which are super comfortable to wear and the jersey is cut so that it fits best when you are leaning forward in the riding position. So when are in a riding position and your shoulders and arms reach forward, you will tend to stretch the jersey fabric, but we have compensated for this in the design, so that you do not feel the fabric getting tighter when you are riding, in order to maximise your comfort on the bike.
The price is €48.30.
It is one of the privileges of doing the job we do that we get to work with some of the most extraordinary athletes on the planet. One of them is Shusanah Pillinger, who as well as her day job as UK national ultra triathlon champ (that is a double Ironman), in 2014 she is going to do something truly remarkable – to race RAAM (Race Across America), solo. That is 4500 kms (3000 miles) of continuous racing, so she will have to ride something around 350 kms a day for 12 days. Unbelievable.
Anyway, we met Shu at the Race Around Ireland and we felt we really wanted to support her, supplying her with cycling kit to train and race in. As well as getting some publicity for our custom cycling clothing, having elite athletes work with us is a great way for us to develop our kit and to test it to the absolute limit. We will be posting here about Shu’s training and of course the race next year, and we wish Shu the best of luck.
My brother is a half decent road cyclists, but has been suffering from aching knees recently after long rides. He was sceptical, but I convinced him it would be worth coughing up a few quid (£100) to get his bike fitted by someone who knows what they are talking about. So he went down to Cadence Cycling Performance Centre in Dulwich and spent a couple of hours with them. He tells me it is the best £100 if has ever spent on cycling and it cleared up his knee problem pretty much straight away; to think that he had spent 25 years with his bike set up incorrectly! So if you are going to spend a big wedge of money on a bike, you at least owe it to yourself to makes sure it is set up properly – just make sure you go to some proper professionals who know what they are talking about!
One of the reasons I sent my brother to Cadence is because I know them through supplying them with their custom cycling kit, pictured here. We supply around 25 cycling shops in the UK and Ireland with their own design cycling clothing, so if you have a shop and would like to have some unique branding to sell in your shop or to give away to your very best customers, please get in touch!
Here is a short film about the start of the 2013 Race Around Ireland, Europe’s toughest cycling challenge – sponsored by Carvalho Custom.
Thanks so much to everyone for making us feel so welcome and for putting on a world-class event.