It’s December. It’s winter. Unless you reside in warmer latitudes, that means you’ve probably packed up your short sleeve jerseys and bib shorts in a bag that now sits at the bottom of your closet and given in to the fact that going out for a ride means gloves, shoe covers and lots of layers. (Or, you’ve decided to ride an indoor trainer until spring.) It’s not the time of year you’d expect a cycling company to unveil a new lightweight jersey, let alone its lightest jersey ever, but that’s exactly what Rapha just did.
The new piece of kit is called the Classic Silk Jersey. It’s “classic” because silk was first used in cycling jerseys back in the forties, but Rapha’s take on the material isn’t a throwback. It combined the silk, which is naturally breathable, antibacterial, sweat-wicking and quick-drying, with polyester and elastane to give the jersey additional durability and stretch. The fabric weighs 75 grams per square meter — that’s less than three ounces — and that adds up to a weight of only 113 grams (3.99 ounces) in the finished jersey in a size medium. That’s including a full-zip construction with three rear pockets, too.
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