Ashmei Signature kit

Jersey £128, bibshorts £194, ashmei.com

Ashmei describes its Signature kit as ‘super compressive race fit’. It’s not wrong. The original Signature bibs were among the most form-fitting, comfy-all-over bibshorts we’ve ever ridden in, and that was four years ago.

For 2021 Ashmei has retained those key properties in the updated Signature bibshorts, with that compression coming primarily not from the yarn itself but the incredibly high density of its knit. This gives the bibs their stretchy, lightweight nature while offering an incongruent but wonderful degree of weather-resistance (these don’t really ‘wet out’). Several new colours now join black, and detailing has been made reflective.

It’s a similar story with the jersey – less remodelled, more refined, using Ashmei’s latest merino-carbon blend that has the luxurious feel of wool with the lighter, breathable, fastdrying properties of synthetics. It’s not as figure-hugging as the bibs, but pocket sag is dealt with nicely, and to regulate temperature further Ashmei has licensed 37.5’s material technology, which uses ‘active particles’ embedded in the fabric to help the body maintain a happy core temperature.

Colour-matched merino armwarmers and base layer come in at £44 and £58, and Stripe Merino socks cost £18.