Torm T1 Jersey

cracking write up of your Belgian er, epic, Winprint!

Hi abudhabiChris

Funny you should mention moody Begium murs; I've just got back from a weekend in Gent, Belgium and had the most fabulous time.
Superb sights, food, beer, shops and people.
And she let me take the bike.
One a half hours from Calais and we are in Gent, a cycling mecca in the Flanders region. Obviously the Gent Six attracts a lot of interest for those in the track, but for the roadie there is the GP Scheldeprijs, Paris Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders.
I had planned to head down to the canal, head south and see where the mood took me, but then I dropped an email to the very helpful Gregg at www.chainringtours.com, who gave me a link to De Ronde website, which has everything a cycling tourist should need. Cycling pubs, museums, guest houses and of course the well signposted routes of the Tour of Flanders. You can even hire a Citroen 2CV if your feeling lazy. www.rvv.be/en. Here you have a choice of 72km, 80km, 112km, 114km, 260km and 269km.
With limited time I opted for the Ronde van Vlaanderen Blue route of 80 kilometers.
I started at the Cycle Museum in Oudenaarde and just followed the blue signs, which took me up through the market square and every turn out of town and beyond.
10 minutes of peddling and you are directed to narrow country lanes, where you feel as though you are following the wheel of Boonen, Museeuw, Kelly, Mercks.
It's not long before you hit a short stretch of cobbles and you feel the history shaking though your arms.
Soon after you hit a stretch of cobbles rising steeply before you. Another milestone to tick off the list at the top of the climb.
Up and down muddy lanes, the mornings frost starts to burn off and the windstopper beanie is put in the back pocket. You are thankful for the neoprene overshoes, already covered in mud, keeping your feet toasty and dry.
Left, right, up, down; your every turn is pointed by the blue signpost.
More cobbles. I think I've mastered them. High cadence, loose arms with your rear floating on the bike. A respectable 16mph is achieved.
Another short sharp hill, followed by a long stretch of downhill cobbles. You crank up the speed, noticing a nice long smooth run off in the distance. 36 mph, downhill on cobbles. Insane! Hope my wheel instant caught in a rut.
On route there are picturesque views, houses, churches, restaurants, farms, windmills, and breweries.
Around three quarters of the way around, you hit the infamous cobbles of Kerkgate.
By now the novelty of the cobbles is starting to wear thin. You look for any respite from the constant juddering in your arms. Head to the left for a stretch of smooth mud which soon runs out. You look to the right, no reprieve. Into the middle of the road and the relentless judder through your arms never abates. A less respectable 9mph is reading on the speedo.
A few more turns and climbs and before you know it, your descending into Oudenaarde. Over the river, sharp right and you are back at the Museum, having your picture taken with Eddies Mercks team car.
Having not paid attention a couple of times to the very well marked route the computer registers 93km in 3 hours and 27 minutes. I'm very pleased as a cobbled newbie.
And just to prove youv'e ridden an epic ride, you look down to see you and bike splattered with the light white mud of Flanders.
Coffee, cake and beer are consumed in the Museums Brasserie de Flandrien to celebrate a truly Classic ride.

Chapeau

Probably not upto the standards of William Fotheringham or Matt Seaton, but with a tweak or two, I'm sure Rapha could use it in a blog or glossy brochure.

Is it about the bicycle? Of course.
My Condor Fratello Audax with mudguards was perfectly suited to the conditions, as were my favourite obscure German Cycle Club Bibs from Ciclos Uno, Shutt Winter Tights, Merino Baselayer, Rapha Italian Jersey, Rapha Winter Jacket, Craft Windstopper Hat, Craft Siberian Gloves, Rapha Winter Socks and Endura overshoes.
Maybe a tad too many layers for Abu Dhabi, but good quality cycling kit is must to get you through a tough ride in Europe.
If you can take a leaf out of Coppi's book and look good into the bargain, what a bonus.
Taking another leaf out of Coppi's book, I'm off for a double espresso.

FG,

I bought one an am in Boston, the tax got removed at checkout so the price I paid was less than the headline price. I guess their headline prices include local UK sales taxes? IRS be damned

Stokey

'Get over it'. You make the point well Jon. I truly don't understand where all the hate comes from at times. There's enough room in the market for all-comers. Can we talk about something else now?

You dont have to be VAT registered until you turn over approx £50k or more - which isnt a lot. Torm, at first, may have not been VAT registered so they could assess what the market would do. You can still charge VAT in the expectation that you will register and thus pay VAT to the tax man later in the year.

Anyway, the torm jersey looks nice. Rapha may be nice, never worn one and doubt I ever will. It seems a shame that cycling has this side of fashion anger going on. If someone wants to buy rapha they will, if they want to buy torm (another, simple looking but nice jersey) they will. Get over it.

It's the classic Tradebrands vs Branded product arguement that seems to be the rage at the moment.

Torm need to establish and then add value back in their brand by advertising and promoting.

i'm in agreement with principia phil
i have owned rapha jerseys (size small) and they dont fit as well as the new Torm T5 i recently bought. i also got the base layer which is excellent also.
i think rapha / rouleur is good for the sport but i just hope torm grow from strength to strength ( and dont increase their prices).
i will be buying many more torm items now ive sorted my size and seen the quality.
you can buy a long sleeve a short sleeve and armwarmers from torm for the price of one rapha jersey.
OK you can sell your Rapha top 2 years later on Ebay for 75% of what you paid originally.
i heard both companies use the same chinese factory but i appreciate that once that rumour starts it spreads but it may be false.
I dont think Rapha can complain when their whole image is based on retro stylings therefore "copying"
anyhow, competitions good for business.

principia phil

how old are your rapha jerseys? my classic jersey appears to have waist drawcords, it's last years model.

There seems to be a very heated debate regarding Torm and Rapha, funny that Shutt VR seems to have escaped the controversy.
Anyway, as the owner of both Rapha and Torm jerseys (a club jersey, tourmalet jersey and red/white version of the T1 jersey respectively) here's my "take" on the competing manufacturers products. The Rapha's have a slightly heavier fabric but the cut of both jerseys is different as the Torm T1 has side panels which aren't on the Raphas. These panels make for a better, neater fit than my Raphas which are looser at the waist. The draw cords on the T1 are also nowhere to be found on the Raphas, so the suggest that the Torm is a carbon copy of the Rapha is disingenious. For £45 i've foud the Torm T1 to be a bargain, that sort of money would only get you a 100% polyester team replica and you buy one of those hoping that drugs scandals don't come along to haunt the team you've given your allegiance to!
I would personally give the T1 jersey 5 stars for value, while giving the Raphas 4 satrs for value as other competitors - Assos - have spiraled their prices out of control, which would be fine if they were made in Switzerland, but any i have are made in Romania!

nice, the argyle ones might have me dialling for m'learned friends though

http://www.biciclista.it/shop/pc/home.asp

its nuts eh!, new Rapha item turns up, "blimey look at the price of it" etc etc blah blah blah. new sportwool jersey in a 'classic' style turns up, half the price.. more blah, rip off etc etc blah, blah.

jeeeez people, get a grip.

(personally, i'll take the Rapha as an xmas gift if anyones feeling generous and buy myself a torm as well. double nice)

btw, have you seen the biciclista jerseys, very smart..(and three pockets on the back..call the lawyers!)

http://www.biciclista.it/shop/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=18

Gotta say dancing james if I was a less easy going type than I am I'd take a great deal of exception to your comments up there.

It's not the job of our reviewer to forensically compare this jersey to a Rapha jersey - Rapha (and presumably their lawyers) can do that for themselves. Mat's job to say whether it works as a jersey- most of the people thinking of buying this particular item won't care, for some people indeed similarities to Rapha are a minus not a plus point.

In this case he commented on the similarities with Rapha jerseys because it has been something of a hot topic. As it happens we had some Rapha jerseys in the office when the Torm ones arrived and we got them out and compared them all. Mat's comments are spot on with regard to the T1 the pocket details are similar but not identical to those on the Rapha jerseys, as was what he had to say about the T6 and the Torm armwarmers he also reviewed.

Inceidentally, I've got an old Endura jersey from before Rapha existed that has a ring pull zip on the rear pocket too.

Nice looking jersey good price, buy one if you like it who gives a toss if it looks like a Rapha jersey.

Are we into riding bikes or fashion victims?

Looks like a really poorly researched review.

Can you detail the difference between the shape and cut of the Torm pockets vs the Rapha ones?

Is the angle of the pockets the same?
Same zip used?
Does the zip cover on the neck use an identical shaped piece of material to the Rapha one?
Is the cut of the jersey significantly different or are all the seams in the same place?

It appears they just directly copied a Rapha jersey to me.

Wow. Not quite the same as Rapha for this jersey.
The designers at Torm must have been back to fashion college.
Paul Smith and Vivienne Westwood will be round to the Torm fashionista's for a brainstorming session soon.
Where do they get their ideas?