PBP - Reflective vests?

[alfapete]

26 pages on REFLECTIVE VESTS!

I may be in awe of all your physical abilities, but I do worry about other aspects of your personalities..... or is this the effect of years of audaxing? P'raps I'll try a sp**t*v*.

[Andrew]

Rapha pink passed the check.

Oh, I saw some poor bloke get fined for not wearing his. It may have just gone 8pm but I was still in sunglasses!

[Manotea]

For the record... I thought the PBP reflective vest/gilet was pretty brilliant (sic) and will be part of my kit as long as it lasts.

YMMV!

[toontra]

Yes, the official vests are pretty good as reflectives go. Almost wished I'd got one even though I never wear them!

BTW not all Rapha owners were so lucky. I spoke to one guy who was made to buy a yellow one before passing the bike test.

[zigzag]

i agree - the official pbp reflective vest looks pretty good. however i ordered both jersey and the vest in medium and while the jersey fit is perfect, vest was too big so i had it refunded. yesterday at the closing ceremony i picked up a small one (the only size they had) for a tenner

[Ivo]

For me the official vest was way too hot. On the first night I had serious shoulder problems (work related problem). So I bought a lighter one at the Decathlon in Brest (conveniently located next to the course) and dropped the official one off at the van in Loudeac. It's good autumn or spring quality though.

[Andrew]

For me the official vest was way too hot. <snip>. It's good autumn or spring quality though.

Agreed. I like the gilet muchly; well designed and functional, but it is not summer weight imho.

[EdinburghFixed]

I thought it was pretty good - I had only arm warmers and a jersey so (since I only bothered to put it on when it got dark) the official gilet was an essential part of my layering for me. Incredible value for a tenner.

If you tried to wear it through the day I can imagine it would have been torrid.

On the last run into Dreux my group was flagged down by a motard and made to don our reflectives, although the sun was still an hour in the sky. Not worth arguing over, but bemusing (I was so wasted on the way to Brest that I put my waterproof on *over* my gilet without realising, and rode the whole stretch with nobody saying a thing).

[mattc]

Although I took a £2 job to France, Mr Bunbury sold me his official vest just before the off, and it was a good buy. They are a simple construction but a good cut, and ths zip works - which is all you want in a gilet. The rear pocket access slits aren't really big enough, but you can hitch the thing up easily enough.

The weight was perfect for me. I only wore it at night, and you can always undo a gilet if you're too warm! So it does indeed form a handy extra layer, easily zipped/unzipped for long descents/climbs. (Gilets ideally have meshy backs, but never mind.)

But I have to say that the site of all those block yellow torsos at night did sadden me a little. It felt like a uniform imposed on us, like easily-mislaid enfants. We lost the variety of club/country jerseys which helps make the event so rich. Our Audax England logos were sometimes visible from the rear, but only barely. Next time around it would be good to get gilets that are more meshy to the rear. Or something. (can I cut holes in an existing one? Not sure what the EN regs say ... )

If I'm going to wear hi-viz on the bike, I may as well wear something with bragging rights 

EDIT: oh yeah; at the bike-check I told them mine was in my luggage. So noone saw it 

[Tewdric]

For the record... I thought the PBP reflective vest/gilet was pretty brilliant (sic) and will be part of my kit as long as it lasts.

YMMV!

I agree - it's excellent, although I didn't wear it on the event, favouring the Hennessy crop top.

It will make a most excellent commuting and randoneering gilet with top pose value.

[border-rider]

I was very happy with my £2 Lidl thing.  It was much lighter & more breathable than the official one, and the only time I had a desire to not be wearing it was on the early morning dash out of Paris.

I noticed some people using very minimalist vests - almost like open harness arrangements. No-one seemed to mind.

[Paul D]

My official one is falling apart already; the edging is pulling away in a number of places where I stretched it to get into my pockets or similar.

The only use I can see for it in the future is touring in France or anywhere else these things are required by law. It's quite likely it won't get touched until August 2015...

[Nuncio]

I used my own velcro fixing one.  The velcro was too far down to keep my brevet pouch tucked in so I had to tuck it under my jersey.  This was generally OK but occasionally caused some uncomfortable 'frottage de nipple', as I believe the French call it.

[AndyH]

It's quite likely it won't get touched until August 2015...

What's happening in August 2015 then ? 

[LittleWheelsandBig]

The official gillet was heavy enough that I didn't need much else to stay warm at night, except in the worst of the rain. Wearing it during the day (shortly after the USA-ian died, as ordered by an official) was too damn hot. I'll stick to cooler options like the Mille Miglia vest or a Sam Browne belt where I can.

[Feline]

It's weird how people here talk about getting too hot. I wore arm warmers, a shell jacket and my offical PBP gilet not just at night but often for large chunks of the day too and was often freezing cold. I think this was probably tiredness, but I didn't even take off my leg warmers on 2 of the days! I was never hot.

[Kim]

Wow, is this thread really still going?


There's only one thing for it:  In the style of the YACF jersey photo competition, one for YACFers in their PBP-compliant reflective vests.  One point for each vest in the photo.  One extra point for each original style.  Bonus point when worn in combination with a YACF jersey or buff. One point deducted for SkyRide vests...

[hellymedic]

It's weird how people here talk about getting too hot. I wore arm warmers, a shell jacket and my offical PBP gilet not just at night but often for large chunks of the day too and was often freezing cold. I think this was probably tiredness, but I didn't even take off my leg warmers on 2 of the days! I was never hot.

Yebbut you's a slender lady, innit? Little insulation and 25% less baseline heat production (80W cf 100W) than a blerk. Getting wet won't have helped; evaporative cooling and all that. Being a tall slender gal means you have much surface area and a small heater...

[Feline]

Wow, is this thread really still going?


There's only one thing for it:  In the style of the YACF jersey photo competition, one for YACFers in their PBP-compliant reflective vests.  One point for each vest in the photo.  One extra point for each original style.  Bonus point when worn in combination with a YACF jersey or buff. One point deducted for SkyRide vests...

Not sure what jersey I are wearing underneath the jacket though!

Brest by Feline Lara, on Flickr

[GrahamG]

Let the piss ripping recommence!

[Hummers]

It's weird how people here talk about getting too hot. I wore arm warmers, a shell jacket and my offical PBP gilet not just at night but often for large chunks of the day too and was often freezing cold. I think this was probably tiredness, but I didn't even take off my leg warmers on 2 of the days! I was never hot.

Au contraire, Postie reckoned that you are pretty hot.

As  for the gillet, although it was undoubtedly hi-vizzy, it wasn't as good as my was old and Randonee weary Nike gillet. I found it too heavy and warm without the windcheetah front. Shan't be bringing it out again until 2015.

H
 

[Filthy]

Graham, what shade & make lippy? You did very well to get one to match your gilet, was it waterproof?

[Hummers]

Graham, Postie reckons you are hot too.

H

[Greenbank]

It's weird how people here talk about getting too hot. I wore arm warmers, a shell jacket and my offical PBP gilet not just at night but often for large chunks of the day too and was often freezing cold. I think this was probably tiredness, but I didn't even take off my leg warmers on 2 of the days! I was never hot.

I was never cold, even at night.

I wore just a short sleeve jersey and shorts pretty much the entire time. Gilet was worn at night (as required) and a few times during the day (poor visibility climbing the Roc on the way out, and most of the last 2 days).

I used my rain jacket once (for the rain up to Loudeac), and my knee warmers once (after leaving Loudeac) but soon took them off.

But it was odd for me passing people with barely any skin on show (arm warmers, jackets, leg warmers, etc) whilst I was wearing just a short sleeve jersey and the gilet and wishing that it would get a bit cooler.

My PBP gilet will be put to good use on commuting run once the days start to get shorter. I wasn't a fan of it at first but I really like it now.

[madcow]

I left the official gilet in my hotel room as I decided it was too heavy. But I did wear a Montane featherlite gilet as well as a cheapo hi viz ( EN 471 compliant). I wasn't cold at any time and even felt the rain was refreshing.
I was in most  danger of being too hot -one of the downsides of being a ginga ninja!