Tineli is a New Zealand outfit offering high-end cycling apparel and have recently opened their first office in Australia (Victoria) to tap into the Australian market. They specialise in custom clothing and offer an extremely wide range of items in fully custom designs. But they also sell a wide range regular, off-the-shelf gear.
We tested the of-the-shelf Tineli Team Long Sleeve (LS) Jersey, a 200gm, full-zip jersey. It’s designed to be breathable, yet warm and comfortable on cold morning rides.
Material
The material used is a “quick-drying” material that is soft and fleecy on the inside. What’s quite surprising is that even though it does draw moisture away from the skin, it still retains a lot of warmth. In the Tineli jersey, rides start out cosy and warm – yet as the day and the pace heats up, it remains very resistant to wet spots.
Construction
With double-stitched flatlock seams, Tineli claim their jerseys will last a long time (they say "twice as long"). It’s hard to disagree – when pulling on the arms and zips, the load feels to be spread well across the whole jersey. However, the quality of construction (including the size and shapes of the panels) affects more than just its longevity; it also results in a comfortable fit. The lower half pulls in tight enough to stop it from flapping in the wind, while the top half is shaped nicely to allow unaffected chest and arm movement.
Design
While obviously a personal call, we rate the Tineli design very highly. Up close, the colours are rich and bright without being overstated. Although some sections are white, the material used ensures that it never goes transparent. Overall, it’s a fine looking piece of kit that goes equally well with plain black knicks as the matching Tineli ones.
Performance
We discussed the warmth and moisture wicking aspects earlier which were quite admirable. Another really nice feature is the zippered pocket at the back. It’s a little thing that comes in handy sometimes, and yet you won’t miss out on having the three standard pockets; with too many jerseys, it’s one or the other. Unfortunately, the three standard pockets are quite small. If anything, we would have hoped for slightly-larger-than-normal pockets on a winter jersey, to accommodate, gilets, jackets and arm warmers.
The Verdict
At first glance, we thought this would be an uninteresting jersey – an afterthought from a custom-clothing manufacturer. The truth is far different, the long sleeve jersey is well thought out and during our testing we found it to be a high quality garment. In fact aside from the pockets at the back which we found to be too small, it ticked all of the other boxes.
The Long Sleeve Jersey retails for $134.95 and is available from all leading bike shops or you can organise with Tineli to pickup the next day from your favourite bike shop.
If you want to look pro but don’t believe in wearing team jerseys you didn’t earn take a look at the ‘Tineli Collection’: www.tineli.com.au
