Out on the trails in summer, it’s all about breathability. It doesn’t take much to stay happy on the mountain bike in months like these, just good airflow and a consistent ride. The Velocio Ultralight Trail Jersey brings just that to the table with a stripped down, simple shirt that employs the only feature a piece like this needs: the right materials.
Velocio Ultralight Trail Jersey Features:
- Ultralight opaque mesh milled in Italy.
- Made with 88% recycled polyester.
- Extended hem and articulated shoulders provide comfort and coverage while in riding position.
- Unique special-edition Indigo Dye print.
- MSRP: $79
Breathing Easy
Velocio puts out some great biking apparel. The Trail Access pants I tested a while back were some of my favorites I’ve ever worn for MTB. When it came down to it, they were just well constructed and used the right materials for the job. The Ultralight Trail Jersey is exactly the same way. It’s got the right materials and quality construction. ‘Nough said.
No, I’ll say more. Breathability is the big goal for a shirt like this. Riding in the summertime gets really hot, and sometimes rather stagnant. It seems like much of July in Bellingham has been 80 degrees with moondust dirt conditions and little to no breeze. The descents cool you down, but the climbs have been a bit brutal. Every little extra bit of breathability matters in a shirt for conditions like these. The Ultralight Trail Jersey utilizes a polyester-based fabric which is, well, ultralight. The shirt weighs next to nothing. By my scale, it comes in at 135 grams. Just as a point of comparison, that’s less than my daily-use sunglasses. The shirt is crazy light.
It makes a certain amount of sense too, since the fabric is a thin mesh. That mesh is so thin, in fact, that you can clearly see through it when you hold it up to the light. No such issues exist while actually wearing the shirt, so don’t be scandalized too soon. Velocio is here for your breathability, but also your decency. That thin, light mesh material is breathable. It can make climbs on hot stagnant days feel much much better. No matter how slow you’re climbing, the air will still filter through the jersey to cool you down a bit. It was a life-saver this July.
And the shirt’s construction is good too. It came with no rough threads or strange stitching blems. I always hope for and expect that, but I can sometimes be surprised with what makes it through quality control. The Ultralight Trail Jersey showed up in good condition though and ultimately proved to be quite hard-wearing. It’s handled the abuse of months of testing well. I’ve fallen wearing this shirt, and you really wouldn’t know it. The regular course of riding just doesn’t seem to do much harm to it.
All of that is what you’d hope to see for a shirt that’ll set you back just shy of 80 clams. It’s well made and does its job beautifully, but quality isn’t free. For those familiar with the general market of MTB, you’ll recognize that the price isn’t really an outlier though. Whether it ought to be that way or not, in today’s world, $80 is a sort of normal price for a high quality MTB jersey. And this really is a high quality MTB jersey. Not to mention a pretty snazzy one.
Fit: At 5’11” and a lean 170lbs, I tested a size Large. It was exactly what I’d hope size-wise. No notes. No snide comments. Just a good fit.
Buy Now: Available at Velocio
The Bottom Line
In the Summertime and on those long rides where you’re putting down consistent, hard effort, breathability is worth its weight in salt. While the Ultralight Trail Jersey doesn’t have a lot of weight, it sure has a lot of breathability, and I’ve been surprised by how durable it is as well.
The Good:
- Excellent breathability
- Very lightweight
- Good durability
- Fun aesthetic
The Bad:
- Not cheap
- Breathability
- Comfort
- Durability
- Fit
