Review: Royal Racing Athletic Ride Jersey

A while back we received a pretty cool selection of kit from Royal Racing for review including the Athletic Ride jersey, Signature shorts and Tybyn gloves from the lovely people of Decade Europe.

Angus has been out and about in the kit for a while now and he seems pretty impressed. He was so impressed infact he threw together a few words and photos for your enjoyment below! Check it out!

First Impressions

First impressions are of a lightweight and stylish ¾ length sleeve top that perfect for the trail centre or smashing some downhill runs out with your buddies. I fell in love with the college graphics and the black and white detailing from first sight and couldn’t wait to give it some abuse!

Fit

The Athletic ride jersey is constructed from “Royals” General Issue fabric. It’s nothing fancy with very little stretch but its certainly very comfortable and seems reasonably breathable!

It couldn’t be much further from the Turbulence S/S jersey that I’d reviewed previously in terms of cut with this jersey being dubbed as part of royals “Enduro/Trail fit” which if I’m honest I couldn’t see why Royal have chosen to make any of the rest of the range in any other cut?

The collar actually sits in the correct place opposed to half way up my throat and my arms actually fill the sleeves instead of having enough room to accidently slip my torso into the arm holes. I found I could easily roll up the sleeves if required, and you could easily run some low profile elbow pads underneath. The overall length of the jersey was vastly improved on the turbulence jersey no need to tuck my medium sized top into the shorts.

Styling

I really like the ¾ sleeves featured on the jersey from both a styling point of view and the extra elbow coverage provided when crashing.

I’m a big fan of the “college” styling. It may not be to everyone’s tastes but it looks great when actually on and I think its something we will certainly see from some more manufactures.

The white and black looks awesome but its probably not the most practical of colours to have a jersey in. It shows the mud pretty badly after a ride and after a big over the bars into a dark peat I never thought it would be white again! I stuck it in the wash with a good glug of Persil crossed my fingers, waited for the cycle to finish and to my surprise it was crisp sparkling white again!

The Ride

Good… I’ve never actually come across a jersey that has had a negative effect on the way I ride my bike but I am a firm believer in the feel good, ride good theory! If you now your looking good in a jersey you like you will relax and enjoy yourself. Nothing strictly to report on here really but I never found it too restrictive, or overly baggy and I can't think of a time where I was too hot!

In my books it's pretty much perfect.

Conclusion

If your after a stylish ¾ sleeved jersey for the trail centre or shuttling some downhill runs I wouldn’t look much further. With an RRP of just £26.99 it’s pretty easy on the wallet too!

Simple and Stylish with a great fit at a bargain price. Royal have come up trumps with their Athletic Ride Jersey!

Royal is distributed in the UK by the Decade Europe LTD.

Stay tuned for our reviews on the Royal Signature shorts and Tybyn gloves in the following days...

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