Q1 2012 V-Kit Order
It hasn't always been this way, where we thoughtlessly disembogue 140 characters or less in messages sent into a medium where our crimes against language, spelling and grammar will live for ever.
There was a time when we wrote letters. These letters were carefully composed and penned onto thick, quality parchment paper and sealed in wax. These letters were then dispatched to the farthest reaches of the world where they would be carefully read and digested before a response was given. Technology and innovation are often taken as synonyms for progress, but with that progress usually comes the death of ritual and tradition.
As we close the books on the Q4 2011 V-Kit order, we open the books for the Q1 2012 order. Our insistence on the highest quality products made to our exacting standards translates into a long wait while the kit is manufactured. This presents a challenge when loving family and friends want to give the kit as a gift to a velominatus, because the timing of our delivery timetables rarely coincides with the intended occasion. To work around this problem in the past, we have arranged for a letter which is carefully crafted and personalized before being printed on thick parchment paper and sealed with a hand-dripped wax V-Seal for wrapping and giving on the day.
With the holiday season coinciding with our next kit order, we introduce the V-Gift Letter for wrapping and laying under the tree, announcing to the recipient the impending Glory of Merckx which will befall them upon the arrival of their kit several weeks later. We also offer a version of the letter for the Keepers Tour in the event that any loving family or friend intends to make a gift of the ultimate cycling trip to their Velminatus/a. The letter is free, with the cost going towards postage only.
With that, we officially open the 2012 Q1 V-Kit order. The only thing that remains is the choice: Zwarte, Witte, or Winter. However you choose, choose wisely and choose carefully as orders are custom made. Place your order by midnight on January 6 for the next V-Kit shipment, scheduled to arrive in late February.
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A point of clarification: all packages from the Q4 2011 V-Kit order have been dispatched.
Merckx! The professionalism is astounding. Might have to foward this to my loved ones as a hint. Mercks know I don’t want plates or cookware this holiday season.
Please tell me this comes delivered by owl.
@Blah
Nay, velomi-owls.
A few years back I decided I was tired of mainly corresponding with a few of my good friends via email. We’ve been exchanging letters since and I find it vastly more satisfying to hear from them every month or so and have it arrive in the mail and be thoughtfully composed rather than pounded out in a haphazard second. Letters are awesome!
Aye, I need to get in on the V-Kit! I’d love, love, love a skinsuit for cx racing! Much better than my team kit.
@Blah
Nipple lube, but wouldn’t a delivery by domestique be much more appropriate?
@itburns
Indeed, via a cyclist quite literally delivering the mail!
I have archived my treasured V-Gift Letter in my cycling scrap book that has grown over the last 20 years. As great as the feeling of getting the announcement that the impending Glory of Merckx is about to befall me was, I gaze longingly forward to the day the V-Kit in all of its glory arrives. Legend has it that my V-Gift letter arrived in mid September 2011 tracing its speed of delivery to favorable trade winds that aided the falcon messenger. I trust the V-Kit delay is due to it being shipped across the Atlantic on a Spanish Galleon, and they have encountered heavy seas (or a slow Swiss customs agency).
Lovely loveliness.
And forgive my importuning nature but… casquettes ?
Oh yeah!
This time I’m definitely in!
A-Merckx
disembogue …..is this a neologism Fronk?
– beautiful one if it is
@Dr C
No, it’s a word.
@mblume
Its fantastic you liked it so much; the fact is, I’ve done a handful in the past and your response over on the Gear page got me thinking that it would be nice if people knew about the service.
@Dr C
Means to pour out, like a river does into the sea. I like to think of it as spewing.
@all
In case you missed the other announcements here and on twitface, all kit has been shipped; international shipments are not fast, though, and customs is a black hole, so impossible to say when you’ll see it. Thanks to everyone for your patience.
@mcsqueak
Velowlminati? Though certainly delivered by bike messenger seems more apropos.
@frank
Is tracking possible with international shipments? It has always seemed possible keep on top of the malcontents at customs and Parcelforce f/wits if you can ring them up and talk to them. If not, things can go awry quite rapidly. Last time I had kit from an ebay seller in the states, I got the letter telling me that I owed duty two weeks after I’d rung them up and paid.
@Chris
Absolutely – you can request it in the notes when you place your order. Its pretty cheap, actually, so I may just add it to all on the next round; it simplifies the process quite a bit and cuts down on the amount of emails I need to answer to the “where’s the stuff I paid for ages ago” effect.
@frank
Bugger, missed that! I’ll just have to ring them up every hour or so. I’m sure that if I say I’m expecting a shipment of candles from Frönk, one of the Founders, they’ll drop everything else and fast-track it.
Some US cobble goodness
@RedRanger
Ugh, better than Portland where they’ve actually removed cobbles because apparently a few blocks of cobbles over a FLAT road was too much for some ninnies to handle.
Bah humbug!
Fronk: So when are you adding the bib knickers and tights to the line?
@RedRanger
Absolute carnage. Good vid. I like the dude about halfway in drilling in with the panniers on his bike.
@frank
I think that V-wax-stamp could be your finest moment to date – sublime
@RedRanger
Very NICE!!! That’s quite the gradient that they are on there.
@Marko
I reckon this was his morning commute, and was pretty perplexed to find a bunch of Lemmings joining him
I hope there was a prize for best dismount, the guy three from last who eploded in the middle gets my vote, and why did the last guy have a pig’s snout – marvellous
Makes me think again, take my #1 bike to Roubaix ride…..Mmmmmm
@redranger
great video! i’ve always wanted to try that ride. but why, in the name of merckx, can they not figure out that if you’re climbing up that cobbled hill (or any steep grade like that) & you come to a stop, JUST GRAB THE BRAKES & UNCLIP. after seeing riders roll backwards, derail their chain, fall into other riders, c’mon people. grab them levers. same w/ trying to walk up it, just use your brakes as you go up. i know it seems counterintuitive, but the whole rolling-backwards thing shoulda been conquered when you were 5.
@RedRanger
Did that guy at the end have a pig snout on?
@RedRanger
Dirty Dozen occurs on the Sat after Thanksgiving, so here’s the latest story and slideshow from the local paper from this past weekend. If anyone ever wants to try it, slap on your compact or MTB triple and you are welcome to stay with me.
@seemunkee
No, that’s his real nose, and he’s very sensitive about it.
@actor1
you’re point is well made, though I have to say, I’m glad they didn’t, as it would have halved the amusement factor if they had!!
red ranger, great video
that is just carnage!
Posted this on the “Gear” page but getting no love as the action seems to be here at the moment:
Any advice?
@Blah
Are you vane or Lampre Man?
@Blah
At 178cm and 87kg, I went extra large on bibs and jersey last year. I have very big guns (not boasting, but suggesting that the weight is in my shorts””okay, now I’m boasting). I’ve taken off some 10kg this year; shorts still fit well, but the jersey is a little on the big side. Not ridiculously so, but I’d probably scale down a size next time.
@Steampunk
Thanks. That’s the info I’m after.
In other Castelli gear I’m XXL and XXXL, jersey and bibs respectively. XXXL? WTF? I know climbers are small guys, but it’s like the Italians are ignoring their population when it comes to sizes. I’ve been there – they’re not a small people. Certainly not as small as a Large or Medium size suggests. I cannot conceive of the guy who wears a Small in that brand.
NB: The US may be a big enough market that you get your own sizing scheme.
@Dr C
Of course you take your own bike. Its called a Roubaix, isn’t it? Should it break? Well, what better place for it to meet its maker than in the hallowed grounds for which it was created?
@Blah
Its not so much the Italians as it is the Pros. This is the same stuff, made in the same factory, as the Pros wear. Last year’s Fall order saw a week’s delay because they had to interrupt their production to make a new rainbow kit for Thor.
Unless you’ve got the pro-level stuff, the kit is smaller than what you’ll find in stores, so an XXXL is not as disappointing as you might think. Look into the sizing chart, which is accurate, but if you’re on the line between two sizes, go up unless you like a race fit.
@frank
@Dr C
You have to bring your 2012 Expert Roubaix. I’ll have my 2011. As I wrote to the Keepers, if catastrophe hits and I crack the frame I just hope it is before the factory tour so I can be a kid in a very expensive candy store with expert input from the Velominati. Bike and rims are definitely built strong, though. Fire roads, unexpected massive potholes, nasty temporary “big” chip seal – has handled it all with just a chain slap of defiance.
How does this compare to The Cobbles? We will find out. Hope I haven’t just cursed myself.
@frank
Thanks for the heads up and the help. Good advice and timely as usual, frank.
@Blah
Here is another data point for you. 188 cm, 71 kg. Large bibs are snug.
@Nate
fixed your post.
@Frank / anyone else who rides in The Kit
what are the bibs like for longer rides (7-12hrs) are they going to be usable at that distance or is it Assos only for them?
cheers
@lejogle
They’re great. Again, its the Pro stuff, the chamois is not a cheap little thing. I’m currently doing 7 hour rides almost every weekend in them, and they’re working out great.
@lejogle
Frank’s being modest, of course. The real reason he often works from home isn’t so he can get rides in during the week, it’s so that he can wear the V-Kit 24/7. Makes getting ready for a ride go that much quickly if you don’t need to change first.
@lejogle
I’ve done a few 5-6 hour rides; they’re the only bibs in my drawer I’d call on for that length. Very, very comfortable.
@ Frank & Steampunk
cheers, will ensure my order is placed then!
it will help save my voice from repeating “rule #5” as I ride!
@lejogle
I’ve done a bit over 7 hour on the same pad (not v-kit though), it’s fine.
@Chris
DAMN! You guys are making me feel weak! My longest ride this year was just over 6 hours. But, it was in the kit and was fine. Great pad on these shorts.
@Buck Rogers
It wasn’t very quick and probably doesn’t count as it contravened Rule #17 somewhat.
Now to for a big roller session to placate @frank for the username irreverence. Sorry.
@ϾϿ
This is a Velominatus-formerly-known-as-Chris kind of thing? How does one “somewhat” contravene Rule #17? It seems pretty cut and dry, no?
@Steampunk
An excellent question and the only thing that I can really say in my defence is that if my LS V-Kit had arrived before that ride then I would have been wearing it. Like many Velominatus Budgetatus, I cannot yet afford to cast out anything that does not comply.
@Blah
By owl? That would be sweet. I’m pretty sure it won’t be delivered by a messenger on a fixie wearing an old school pro team cap.