I bought these back in March this year, so how do a ten quid windshirt and trousers stand up to the rigours of the Scottish summer? Well, pretty good as it turns out. First of all I will say that I bought these primarily to wear under my leathers, however I have been wearing the shirt pretty much daily under my textile jacket on the way to work, not that my Gore-Tex jacket isn’t windproof (it is) but I’ve been utilising it more as a mid layer over the top of my work shirt. There was a lot of talk over on the forum about the bike kit from Aldi and Lidl this year, and as I’m sure other purchasers will attest, the fit of this kit is best described as “comfortably snug” and that was me buying large sized ones. The windproof material is employed across the chest, neck and the front of the arms where you would be exposed to the greatest wind blast which is a very sensible (or cheap if you look at it another way) idea. It’s comfortable to wear and has washed up well with only a little “bobbling” on the non-windproof parts. My only gripe with the shirt is the short zip which is located on the left shoulder and zips up to the neck, which coupled with the snug sizing makes it a wee bit awkward to pull on. The trousers have only been worn a handful of times under my leathers for evening ride outs after the kids are away to bed; they function well and the windproof material again only covers the parts of the body exposed to the most wind (the front of your legs). You need to make sure that you pull them up properly so the sculpted knee is actually over your knee or they’ll be awfully tight when you sit on the bike – can you tell I discovered this the hard way?
Quality wise, these are on a par with a branded windproof fleece I bought a few years ago and seem pretty well put together in terms of materials used – zips etc.
In summary these are well made, well thought out garments that look like they will last a couple of years yet and with a penny change from a tenner they appear to be the bargain bike kit of this year.