Craft Elite jersey

This lightweight jersey is Craft’s top-of-the-range offering and it puts in an impressive performance during warm-weather rides. It’s mostly polyester with a dash of Lycra thrown into the mix so it’s stretchy enough that the slim fit is perfectly comfortable. The main fabric (the black stuff) doesn’t get waterlogged easily when you work up a sweat and it dries out quickly if it does get wet, while the grey panels, which are mostly around the back, are a fairly open mesh and they provide plenty of cooling ventilation. If you need more, you can always adjust the full-length front zip.

The only down side to all those panels is that you get a lot of seams inside and they’re not flatlock stitched. We can’t say they especially bothered us, but more sensitive souls might have an issue. Oh, and we found the sleeves just a touch loose – maybe we should give up the Twiggo diet and bulk up more.

The neck is fairly low-cut as cycling jerseys go which is okay by us – this is a summer top so you'll hopefully not need to seal out icy winds – and the hem stays in place just fine thanks to a silicone rubber gripper. You get your three standard-issue pockets in the lower back plus a bonus zipped one that comes with a slot for running a headphone lead internally, and there’s a reasonable amount of reflective trim too, which might come in handy now that the evenings are drawing in.

Verdict

Lightweight summer jersey with a good technical performance. The subtle styling will win fans too.