Has anybody tried already a Castelli Gabba jersey??

[gitsome]

Ive been wearing mine al the time this spring its become my most versatile layer I think. Pefect w a base and arm warmers down to the 40's. With a thin wind shell below that. Able to go into the 50's-60's without the arm warmers and no worries on rain etc. Great shirt.

Whats the deal w the black marker in pic above?

[HillRPete]

gitsome: Looks like the marker is included for those having to black-out the logos, cause of being sponsored by someone else. Nice touch.

Dryest warmest winter in a long time here, mine (LS one) didn't get out much. But sure the rain will come now that I've ordered some ass savers.

[gitsome]

Ahah...very cool. Nice conflict of interest to have,...I guess my credit card doesnt share such a problem.

Im also impressed with how much crap Ive been able to stuff down this jerseys pockets and it still fits comfortably where it should.

[indigo]

Hi,

Am considering buying this, had a couple of questions regarding versatility :

-Is this of a 'normal' fabric that could be worn without a base layer, or would that be uncomfortable ?
-Is this too insulated to be worn on warmer days ? Forecast for Sunday's race is min 8C, max 20C with 30% chance of rain .. would this jacket be suitable or is that already too warm ??

Thanks.

[hna]

I wear my team jersey underneath. It can get somewhat uncomfortable around the zippers if worn alone.

As for the race I would wear a vest over my usual team jersey in that kind of forecast. The Gabba is fine in 20C if it rains, but can get a bit warm if the sun is out.

[gitsome]

I agree but it would be fine with a base layer of some sort I lie Rapha merino base or mesh when its hot, then this would be perfectly useable. Its a gore tex fabric Windstopper its not so different from anything else, just strikes a good balance and well cut, designed, etc. It has a full zipper so you can always open it way down if you are descending then its nice to have bc you can zip it back up I like that they didnt use one of those awful micro-zippers too those are terrible.

[Gearjunkie]

I have a long sleeve Gabba.

+ For days that are 0 to about 8 C I wear a long sleeve light merino base layer underneath my Gabba.

+ For days that are 6 to about 13 C I wear a long sleeve light mesh base layer underneath my Gabba.

+ For days that are 10 to about 16 but wet, I wear my Gabba by itself. Can be a bit clammy.

I wouldn't wear it on days much warmer than that. It's sooo warm. Use a vest instead if it's warmer, so you can take it off. While the Gabba has a full zip plus vent zips, I find it hard to roll up the sleeves, so want to get a SS version too.

Footnotes:
# I always ride hills, so may need to raise these temps if you are riding flats.
# This is head and shoulders above anything else I've tried for wet days. Fantastic piece of kit.

Cheers
GJ

[jo.k]

Just adding a bit of feedback on this:

This saturday I wore my Gabba long sleeve jersey at a race, and it performed flawlessly. Temperature was 4 deg C, windy with about 50 km/h and rain, lots of it. Short sleeve base layer, team jersey and arm warmers and the Gabba LS, along with a Sportful NoRain insulated bib short kept me warm and toasty through three hours of suffering. Great bit of kit!

[Finbar]

Hi

just had a cool wet commute using cheap Decathlon kit - have to say I'm pretty pleased with it.

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/black-mens-n ... 43733.html

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/thermal-ls-0 ... 81224.html

this combination kept me warm and dry (10 degrees C with fairly heavy rain) - the only drawback is the lack of pockets, but I had a commuting rucksack so that wasn't a real issue.

I would say that the LS top was as waterproof as my Castelli nanoflex armwarmers (you can see the water beading and running right off both of them), if anything the arms on the LS top were a bit warmer than the nanoflex.

Based on this experience I am considering looking into a full neoprene jacket for the 'soft Irish' winter!

[djm]

Now added the Gabba Fawesome (vest) and the Gabba short sleeve to the wardrobe.

This means I have three Gabba garments - all in different sizes!

Vest in small, short sleeve in medium and long sleeve in extra large.

The vest even flaps a little bit on the back when I have stuff in my pockets. Most likely I'll reserve it for races. So far it's proven extremely comfortable in wet racing

[Kermithimself]

What do you guys do with your racenumbers and the Gabba? Using pins to attach the numbers would ruin the waterresistance?

[brearley]

my fawesome vest went back under warranty after the black rubberised bit on the back came away from the rest of the vest.
Unfortunately the supplier my lbs used is crap so I've swapped it for an aero jersey.
The Fawesome was nice but had a habit of sliding up, I used it on top of a thermosuit.

[jo.k]

The water resistance wears away after a few washes anyway, so I don't bother to do anything special with the start numbers.

I wash my jacket after each use, and while perhaps you could get more hours of water resistance by washing only when absolutely needed, I have similar experience with Sportful's NoRain fabric. Initially great, but after 5-10 washes really not that much left in terms of water repellency. I will try to iron my "rain" garments dry after next wash, and then perhaps apply some Nikwax or similar form of waterproofing spray.

[indigo]

To those that says the water resistance fades, are you using some sort of special "tech wash" type detergent ?

[jo.k]

I use an "enzyme free" detergent for wool and silk, labelled "Milo" in Norway, as I do with all my sportswear. Whether this helps or worsens the situation i don't know ...