Review: Review: Hoy Vulpine Men’s Long Sleeve Roubaix Jersey

Comfortable, colourful, and well styled the Hoy Vulpine men’s long sleeve roubaix jersey is a great item for those chilly rides, but it’s not without its foibles…..

Coming as it does in the first winter collection from Hoy Vulpine (the performance arm of Vulpine, in partnership with Sir Chris Hoy) the Roubaix jersey has some neat touches but some quirks as well.

First up, the performance is great, it’s warm enough to work with a gilet on the coldest days, and thin enough to work under a jacket on those really grotty days. Anything above 6/7 degrees and, paired with a decent merino base layer, it will suffice as an outer layer by itself. Keep the speed up and the jersey does the rest. The fleece lined fabric keeps the body’s core at a good temperature without overheating, and it wicks the sweat away well. It’s neither windproof nor waterproof, but it can hold back the draft until the wind whips up, and also holds back the drizzle well. As mentioned already it is a really great layer under a rain jacket as its lack of bulk helps avoid the michelin man look.

The seems are flat, there’s a zip garage, and the washing instructions are printed not stitched – comfort is clearly important for the wearer!

The foibles, well the sleeves are long – granted I wear a shorter length in my shirt arms, but these are a good 4 inches too long! the nature of the fabric means that you can have them longer down the wrist, and also higher up the arm without bulk or odd aesthetics, but there’s no getting away from the fact that they are too long.

To the rear are the standard 4 pockets, 3 open and 1 zipped. The 2 pockets to the outside on the back are a little shorter than most, not a massive issue, but bung a smartphone in there and an element of doubt creeps in. I’ve got a Z5 compact from Sony and it only just fits in, anything bigger and it’s going to be poking out the top and that will certainly bring some fear into the ride (the solution is of course to ride with the phone in the middle and keep the balance even, but that’s not really the point).

The style is simple, uncluttered, and very bold. I love the Cobalt blue colour, it’s vibrant and will certainly help you stay noticable out on the roads! The fit is fairly racey (Vulpine to an Alpine jersey which is merino and more relaxed in fit), and I’d be inclined to size up if it wasn’t for the extra length in the arms!

Overall the Hoy Vulpine Men’s Long Sleeve Roubaix Jersey is a great item, very comfy, easy to wash and maintain, and will do a splendid job out riding – those sleeves do bug me though – but not enough for me to not wear it. In preparation for a pre-dawn -5 ride it was the middle layer in my outfit and did a great job (the extra sleeve length forming a snug seal with my gloves!)