Cyclist
In The Drops: Naked Optics, Pactimo Flyte Jersey, Mavic Cosmic Elite SL shoes and Kai Bosch
Take a breath and fill up the cafetière because it’s time to move into the drops.
The Olympics are over and I’m already missing the wall-to-wall coverage of speed climbing, water polo and a certain breakdancing PhD graduate from Australia. In the place of Paris 2024, France remains at the front of our minds with the Tour de France Femmes. Demi Vollering has had us on the edge of our yellow-coated seats after winning Stage 3’s time-trial, taking the maillot jaune before crashing on Stage 5 to Amnéville once the race had finally made it across the border to France.
It’s been rather quiet at Cyclist HQ this week. It appears that it’s the school holidays. I wouldn’t know, I don’t like children. Regardless, the evidence of summer remains rather lost anywhere north of Hadrian’s Wall.
This week on the site, we took one for the team and shared our predictions ahead of the Vuelta a Espana. Spoilers, we think Wout van Aert is going to sweep the green jersey with ease. Elsewhere, Katherine Moore reviewed some gravel shoes and Laurence Kilpatrick did a serious deep dive on wheel tech. Robyn Davidson and I brought you up to date on pro matters with the Tour de France Femmes and Vuelta. We also gave you an update on the transfer market which has seen some key transfer revelations over the past week.
Let’s not beat around the bush. You’ve come here for the cycling goodies. Well, lucky for you we have a whole wardrobe (and some music recommendations) for you this week. Let’s shift into the big ring and move into the drops.
Naked Optics Blade and Volt PRO sunglasses
In true Gen Z fashion, I came across Naked Optics through Instagram. Based in Austria, the brand believes that ‘all good things happen when you are naked’. Quite the slogan, I’ll say.
Originally a ski goggle atelier, Naked Optics soon branched into cycling, now offering a wide selection of cycling eyewear fit for road riders. The brand has also collaborated with a number of Austrian and German athletes described as ‘naked heroes’. They include Instagrammer Stevie Schnieder, mountain biker Stefan Müller and skier Patrick Bätz.
Naked Optics’ latest cycling glasses are the Blades, which are made using a sustainable plastic mixture called CO2RE and are available in five different colours. Not to get all Swiss, but I went for a neutral white frame with a violet lens. That said, Naked Optics offers interchangeable lenses for all its cycling shades.
The Blades provide a really balanced coverage. The field of view is apt for road riding and the lenses have you covered in shaded and sunny light levels. However, at home in Glasgow, the sunny weather is few and far between.
The Blades’ thick frame doesn’t impair the comfort of the glasses, which may be due in part to the flexible nosepiece. On top, there’s a small slit in between the frame and lens to allow better ventilation and prevent fogging up, a feature that worked well for me.
The only gripe I have is the brand’s lettering on the lens. Although I am all here for embracing the naked name – I am no prude – the text does encroach on the field of view. This often led me to think that I picked up an insectile companion when out on the road.
This is not a problem in the darker Volt PRO Max. In this model, the speckled frame hugs its way around the lens. These lighter accents add some character to this slightly menacing-looking pair of shades. In the CAT 4 lenses, you can get them with the signature of Max Fredriksson, the 2016 runner-up in the mountain bike world champions, inscribed on them. These shades are much darker and are more suitable for the typically brighter continental climate rather than the British one.
Otherwise, Naked Optics’ glasses wouldn’t be too out of place in London’s Fabric, Berlin’s Berghain or Glasgow’s Sub Club. They’re fit for the roads and the raves.
- Buy now from Naked Optics (Blade £59)
- Buy now from Naked Optics (Volt PRO £59)
Pactimo Flyte jersey
The Flyte collection is Colorado-based Pactimo’s aerodynamic and lightweight range. The Flyte jersey is the lightest and most aerodynamic jersey the brand has produced to date. Given that Pactimo provides the kit for Tour de France Femmes squad Human Powered Health, this is quite the statement.
The jersey is loud in its design. To me, it feels as though it parodies the corporate stylings of pro cycling design. This is meant in the sense of them being slightly kitsch, but I’m not knocking it. The jersey is packed with references to Pactimo’s home state of Colorado. The flag appears on the jersey, as well as on a tag on the left-hand side of the kit. Also, the Boy Scouts’ green and yellow hues radiate a youthful willingness to explore.
The jersey feels engineered for aerodynamics. There are no flapping bits of material on the bike and the fit is skin-tight. The sleeves harbour the aero-stripe texture that has now become customary in the pro peloton. Pactimo describes this as similar to the ‘dimples of a golf ball through the air’.
The panels down the side are well-ventilated through a beehive-like mesh, while the semi-locking zip means it will remain in place anywhere down the jersey to control the degree of extra ventilation. The pockets are plentiful, including a small gel-sized pocket on the inside of the jersey. Perhaps this is for a race radio, something I will never have to worry about.
- Buy now from Pactimo ($150)
Mavic Cosmic SL Elite shoes
Mavic is well-known for its components. What’s lesser known is that Mavic is an acronym for the Manufacture d’Articles Vélocipédiques Idoux et Chanel. Every day’s a school day – even in the summer holidays.
The Annecy-based brand’s repertoire goes beyond wheels, however. In its newest road shoe release, Mavic brand brings us the Cosmic SL Elites, which are a rework of the brand’s former Cosmic Elite SL shoes that have been on the market for some time.
The Comsic SL Elites offer two types of fastenings – the trusty Boa dial at the top and a Velcro strap at the bottom of the tongue for any extra adjustments towards your toes. The shoes come fitted with carbon composite soles and a comfy heel Mavic describes as ‘anatomic’.
There’s plenty of ventilation in the shoes, which Mavic says helps clamp down on ‘hot spots in your feet’. The sharp-angled ventilation panels around the shoe also look sleek and contrast the usual sweeping lines used in some cycling shoes.
Overall, the shoes are impressively lightweight. The feathery TPU mesh around the top half of the shoe is ideal for summer rides and it helps to keep the bulkiness and excess weight down. As someone who has very clunky and sweaty feet, this has all worked to my advantage.
For the dirt-conscious, the Cosmic SL Elites come in black and grey as well. To me, darker colours just make more sense for cycling shoes and I have never understood why cycling fashion has propagated white as the flagship shoe colour. That’s a topic for a different day, however.
- Buy now from Mavic (€150)
What we’re into this week: Kai Bosch
To continue the Gen Z theme, I found musician Kai Bosch through TikTok. I promise TikTok is more than Andrew Tate, silly dancing and influencers flogging cheap clothes made in terrible working conditions. Seriously, I promise you.
This rare TikTok gem is currently on track to become my most-played artist of the year. In fact, his song Tulips is leading the charge for my most-streamed song of 2024. Bosch’s music spans a wealth of indie-pop soundscapes. The lyrics encapsulate a feeling of growing up, letting go of adolescence to live and love with all the responsibility and consequences entangled with it. It’s all very Lorde-like. Yes, remember her?
In his latest release Everything is Beautiful, Bosch opens his next musical chapter with a bombastic synthpop anthem. It celebrates the excitement of a new romance and discovering an earnestness for life again.
I was lucky enough to see Kai Bosch’s show in the West End of Glasgow a couple of months back, and I can confirm that he was everything you’d expect and more from a young artist. He wore a Scotland football shirt and angel wings – beat that.
The post In The Drops: Naked Optics, Pactimo Flyte Jersey, Mavic Cosmic Elite SL shoes and Kai Bosch appeared first on Cyclist.