Vanelli Super Leger Jersey

The Vanelli Super Leger Jersey is a smart and a classic-leaning design aimed at those of us looking for a lightweight aero jersey at a good price. In this colourway, the arms could get grubby quite quickly on sweaty, suncream-slathered rides, but the YKK zip, elongated sleeves and the snug fit are hallmarks of a more expensive item.

> Buy now: Vanelli Super Leger Jersey for £60 from Vanelli

Our best summer cycling jerseys buyer's guide rounds up our top tops, with our best cheap cycling jerseys buyer's guide featuring our favourite budget options.

For the Super Leger's main body, Vanelli uses a porous polyester material to manage your temperature, and I found this worked very well for the warm and muggy days I was wearing this. The long sky-blue sleeves come almost to the elbow and appear to be constructed from a long single piece of non-porous material. However, there is in fact a thin panel of porous material stitched into the arm pit area to provide ventilation, which helps to prevent you overheating.

While it's difficult to quantify or feel the aero benefit of longer sleeves outside of the wind tunnel, they certainly provide an additional few centimetres of slipperiness on your upper arm if you are looking for extra aero gains.

If I had a slight gripe with the construction of the jersey it's the connections between the different fabrics. Luckily, the slightly haphazard stitching connecting the different fabrics on the arm is hidden when you're riding. The sleeves are kept in place by diagonal silicone stripes that line the sleeve, with a break for the different material. The bigger your arms are, the better for maintaining fullness and avoiding sleeve flap. That said, I found no issues even with my puny, very non-Superman-like biceps!

I think that the combination of block navy and lengthy sky blue is a stylish and classy arrangement – but I suppose as a fan of Coventry City (AKA the Sky Blues!) I would say that!

Vanelli tops off this classic look with branding on the chest and the back of the neck that's pretty understated.

Vanelli has kept the collar high and round, so you'll need to unzip the jersey if you want to unmask your inner Danny Martinez and show off your chain bling. Though to keep the weight to the absolute minimum, Vanelli has foregone zip garages.

As with its Proline jersey, Vanelli uses a different material for the three rear pockets, but on this jersey the material feels thinner and less sturdy. I tried not to overload the pockets as seam wear where the pockets join the main body looks like it could be a real possibility, and the semi-slack elastication at the top of the pockets doesn't feel that strong either.

That said, this jersey is clearly built for speed and slickness and I found it perfect for fast 50km blasts around my local roads. I did ride it on longer 100km rides that required more fully laden pockets and I became aware of the integrity of the pockets. I'd suggest if you are planning on wearing this for longer rides that you carry as much as possible on the bike rather than overstuffing your pockets.

Another similarity with the Proline includes the wide elasticated trim at the bottom of the jersey and its silicone gripper strip.

This large size top came through as a tighter fit than the Proline – I'm 187cm tall and weigh 82kg on a good day – though not by very much.

If you are looking for a slightly more relaxed fit, I'd recommend the Vanelli Proline over this jersey. There are no internal labels on either jersey and I found the seams – with one exception – were all tucked away discreetly so there were no snags or irritations.

I'm pretty fair-skinned, and even when I was wearing no sunblock under the jersey, my torso didn't suffer any sunburn. And while I didn't have any issues with sweat patches, there was some salt residue forming by the end of what was an especially hot and hilly day of riding.

Value

For something with zero corners cut on construction that's even lighter and extremely aero, you could consider the Universal Colours Spectrum Light Jersey but at £120 it's over twice the price. This comes in an arresting design, to say the least, but Jamie also really rated it for its excellent comfort and extensive use of recycled materials.

Shaun appreciated the very well-priced Galibier Regale Ultralight Jersey that costs just £46.88, but he found it thin enough to see through in places, which wasn't the case with the Super Leger.

The Lusso Paragon jersey will cost you £105 and your extra 40 quid gets you a slightly less aggressive cut and a jersey suited to lower temperature rides. Ben was a fan when he reviewed it, appreciating its fit, comfort and deep pockets.

Conclusion

Overall, this is a very good jersey for the price, and I felt I was wearing something far more fancy than its low price suggests. There are a few minor shortcomings in its construction, and the pockets may not be ideal for longer days out – but it's light, keeps you cool, has aero qualities and looks good. Job done, especially at this price.

Verdict

A super-light, aero and stylish summer jersey at a fair price though don't overstuff the pockets