Giant Elevate Short Sleeve Jersey

The Giant Elevate Short Sleeve Jersey is a great race-ready lightweight summer garment with plenty of appeal, especially for Giant fans. Sure, the obvious branding might put some off, but under the image is a great jersey.

• Pros: Comfortable yet racy cut, good quality
• Cons: Small pockets with no security pocket, prominent Giant branding

To be honest, by the time you've read this far in this review it's likely that you've decided already whether you like the Elevate jersey or not. It's always going to be the case with such obviously branded kit – you're either willing to be a riding billboard or you're not.

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Regardless of whether or not you ride a Giant bike, and whatever your opinion on one of the biggest brands in the business, you should know: this jersey forms one half of some very good summerweight, performance-bred kit.

The race fit is spot on, with plenty of stretchability in the 'TransTextura' fabric, which also incorporates a 30 SPF rating for those bright sunny days. It moulds to the body superbly; so well, in fact, that the size medium that technically probably was a touch small for me was still comfortable with no cutting under the arms.

The sleeves are made of the stretchiest Lycra, with a slim fit around the arms. Giant hasn't included grippers here, and I applaud the decision: the natural elasticity of the cut does the gripping work without unnecessary pressure points or friction against the skin. This can only be a good thing when the heat is on and the sun cream comes out to mix with salty sweat.

Meanwhile, the waist does receive a gripper band on the rear flank, but it's low profile, with the elasticated (almost old-school looking) hem fitting snugly around the waist. In the medium size, I found the rear of the jersey to be a bit shorter than I would usually expect, but I'm in no doubt that a large would solve this problem.

However, what a large probably won't solve is the surprisingly small pockets. Even in the medium size, the pockets are incredibly small, which is a problem if you have relatively big hands like mine. I'm sure this is fine for a crit racer who might only want to carry a gel or two around with them, but for a 100km-plus ride? You're left short.

They're quite flexible, but as soon as you start trying to store a spare tube, mini pump (which sticks out more than usual anyway because of the pocket's shallowness), the usual puncture kit, energy bars and gels plus – potentially – a packable gilet, and you've long since gone to find your saddle bag.

Maybe Giant assumes that riders will be using a saddle bag for tools and the like anyway, but decent-sized pockets aren't exactly difficult to fit onto a jersey (unless you're particularly pint-sized). There's also no zipped security pocket. Frankly, I'd happily sacrifice a few grams on top of the 150g total weight if Giant could rework the first, and add the second.

Also, as I alluded to at the beginning of this review, in my opinion that branding could also do with a little toning down. I like the colours and the underlying design, but if you don't ride a Giant or you're just not into the brand as a whole, I suspect you're going to be put off.

The quality can't be underestimated, though – the seams are strong yet comfortable and flexible, and the zip is easy to work on the move, and it washes easily.

Value isn't its strong point – at £100 it's pretty pricey, although it's still cheaper than some, such as the Le Col HC jersey. But if you wanted to save yourself £20-£30, recent reviews on road.cc show there are plenty out there to consider – many of them with more accommodating pockets...

> Buyer's Guide: 20 of the best summer cycling jerseys

Functionally, though, aside from my gripe regarding pocket capacity, there's nothing wrong with the excellent Giant Elevate jersey. The problem is, you probably decided whether you wanted to buy it when you saw the pictures. And that, for many, will be its main flaw.

Verdict

Without doubt a very good race-cut jersey, but it has its limitations