V-Announcements: VLVV Product Line and Long-Awaited V-Casquettes

New Kit design (VLVV) and V-Casquettes

Whenever I drive somewhere in my car, I find myself wondering what the road would feel like from a bike. Driving in a car feels like cheating, especially on a windy day; roads are gobbled up at constant speeds irrespective of the conditions. On a bicycle, you learn what it costs to move up a gradient or ride into a gale.

I slip down into the basement a few times a day to admire my bikes. It is not unusual for me to pull one down from the wall and sit on it and imagine I might be riding it. If I change a component, I’ll bring the bike upstairs for a few days so I can gaze at it and evaluate how amazing it looks. I changed the bar tape from white to black on my #1 once, just to try my hand at what it would feel like to ride with black bar tape. When I changed it back to white a few days later, I felt a visceral sense of relief.

This is more than just being a Cyclist; this is the life of a Cycling Disciple – La Vie Velominatus. It isn’t our sport or hobby; this is our way of life. Everything we do revolves around the bike, whether we happen to be riding or not.

We have long had a Rules-Centric V-Kit available, and today I am delighted to announce a new product line centered not around The Rules, but around La Vie Velominatus. The design concept is simple: a clean design with a nod to the most iconic kit design ever, La Vie Claire. A full V-Kit line including a Witte (white) and Zwarte (black) jersey, a Witte Long-Sleeve jersey and gilet, Zwarte bibshorts, Zwarte Women’s bibs and shorts, and a new V-Shirt.

In parallel to this, I am over the moon to announce that we finally have V-Casquettes coming; one to match each style of kit. They are handmade in Italy by Apis, the premier cap manufacturer in the world and who make the caps for Omega-Pharma Quickstep among others.

The V-Kit Pre-Order window is open as of today and will be closing on January 1 at which time the order will be sent to manufacturing. (Orders may be modified or cancelled any time before January 1 at which time everything will be finalized for manufacturing.) The expected ship date is mid to late February. Please note that orders are shipped in the order they are received.

The Casquettes will be arriving at Velominati Headquarters in the next two weeks or so, depending on whether the troubles in Europe are impacting shipping schedules. Orders will be shipped as quickly as possible once they arrive, but we are not able to guarantee that Casquette orders will be arriving in time for Christmas (although we will do our best). The VLVV V-Shirt is available to ship as of now.

All products are available at The Gear. Please let us know if you have questions or if you are having trouble placing an order.

VLVV.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

wilburrox says:

Nov 29 2015 at 3:22 pm

Okay, so, I could be precise and measure some stuff and convert over to the bigger #s and figure out what would work... OR, I could be lazy and ask, so how do V kit sizes compare with Castelli stuff? Giordana? Pearl Izumi? Speshy? Hincapie? Capo? Mavic? My experience is American sizes I need med but European stuff I'm closer to large. Pearl Izumi has the M/L size (have to order direct as rarely at shops) that is about perfect though lean to med if M/L not available. Castelli would do well for M/L sizes there but with them I lean towards L most of the year. Mavic is exception to european sizes in that their large stuff might as well be XL. Giordana is perfect as med. Hincapie and Speshy? med. The new white jersey if very, very nice. I like it a lot. Cheers.

BTW: Steelers are looking good right now vs the Bluebirds of Seattle.
frank says:

Nov 29 2015 at 5:09 pm

@wilburrox

How'd that work out for you in the end? GO HAWKS!
wilburrox says:

Nov 29 2015 at 5:11 pm

@frank

@wilburrox

How’d that work out for you in the end? GO HAWKS!

Rats! Cheers
Gianni says:

Nov 29 2015 at 6:15 pm

@wilburrox

If you owned the castelli V-kit, I can tell you the relative difference for me. I went down a size in bibs and stayed the same in jersey but the kallisto jersey is not as tight as the castelli. So I'm happy with the jersey fit, that castelli V-jersey was a snug mofo. Or I'm a fatter fuck.
frank says:

Nov 29 2015 at 6:38 pm

@Gianni

@wilburrox

If you owned the castelli V-kit, I can tell you the relative difference for me. I went down a size in bibs and stayed the same in jersey but the kallisto jersey is not as tight as the castelli. So I’m happy with the jersey fit, that castelli V-jersey was a snug mofo. Or I’m a fatter fuck.

Please also take note that our Castelli kit was the racing line, not the stuff you can get off the shelf which is cut more roomy than their racing line.

I'd say the V-Kit is in general a little looser than the old Castelli but in a very good way. The Castelli had to be sized down to account for the stretchy fabric that would sag if you put feather in one of the pockets. The Kallisto to me is more true.

I also went down a size in bibs, but the bibs are designed to be very tight for muscle support which enhances endurance. (Maybe.)
frank says:

Nov 29 2015 at 6:42 pm

Thanks to everyone for their kind words on the design, and thanks for the orders we've already received. Your support is very very much appreciated!
bea says:

Nov 29 2015 at 10:40 pm

@frank

@frank

@bea

Seriously? Women get shorts? Not bibs?

Thanks for the feedback! The overwhelming feedback I get is that the ladyfolk don’t like having to disrobe when going to the loo; but I will add a bib for the women and we’ll see if there’s any interest. It should be up a little later today. Cheers!

Women’s bibs are now online and available.

Waaaw! That's service!

I pretend to be 'one of the guys' and actually have no idea what women wear. But I definitely prefer bibs over shorts, even with the (very) occasional undressing in the wild (and strangely enough almost always in winter).

Nice kit!
bea says:

Nov 29 2015 at 11:55 pm

@bea

@frank

@frank

@bea

Seriously? Women get shorts? Not bibs?

Thanks for the feedback! The overwhelming feedback I get is that the ladyfolk don’t like having to disrobe when going to the loo; but I will add a bib for the women and we’ll see if there’s any interest. It should be up a little later today. Cheers!

Women’s bibs are now online and available.

Waaaw! That’s service!

I pretend to be ‘one of the guys’ and actually have no idea what women wear. But I definitely prefer bibs over shorts, even with the (very) occasional undressing in the wild (and strangely enough almost always in winter).

Nice kit!

Actually, thinking about it, it's hard to find decent bibs for women, so I guess most women wear shorts. On the other hand, it's also hard to find nice, non-pink shirts with good-size pockets...
tessar says:

Nov 30 2015 at 1:13 am

@bea

@bea

@frank

@frank

@bea

Seriously? Women get shorts? Not bibs?

Thanks for the feedback! The overwhelming feedback I get is that the ladyfolk don’t like having to disrobe when going to the loo; but I will add a bib for the women and we’ll see if there’s any interest. It should be up a little later today. Cheers!

Women’s bibs are now online and available.

Waaaw! That’s service!

I pretend to be ‘one of the guys’ and actually have no idea what women wear. But I definitely prefer bibs over shorts, even with the (very) occasional undressing in the wild (and strangely enough almost always in winter).

Nice kit!

Actually, thinking about it, it’s hard to find decent bibs for women, so I guess most women wear shorts. On the other hand, it’s also hard to find nice, non-pink shirts with good-size pockets…

My fiancée definitely prefers bibs. With a decent sports bra - or even a baselayer - the disrobing is not as much of a problem, and in any case it's less of a problem than finding a discrete place for the actual bladder-relieving activity that follows. However, after being very impressed with dhb's top-of-the-line ASV bibs, we ordered a pair of their halterneck bibs to try.
Ventorum says:

Nov 30 2015 at 1:48 am

Hi guys, just a little question here. What will you do if someone in your area decided to start a group (and possibly a clothing-line) called "Velominati - Trackbike Propoganda"? :D