The biggest problem with bib tights is that for some reason manufacturers insist on selling them like bibs in small, medium, and large, instead of like pants with a length and waist size. So unless you happen to be the exact proportion of length to width that the manufacturer had in mind, you are SOL. While a M fits me great in Descente bibs, in these tights the length is insufficient-- the inseam seems to be about 30" or so. With no adjustability in the bib straps and no stirrups on the feet, you really need to make sure these fit before you buy them. That said, everything else about these is great, the quality is excellent and the material is windproof and warm where it counts without being excessively bulky.

I bought these for cyclocross after many years of Sidi use on the road. I was hoping these would give me the fit of the ridiculously spendy Genius 6.6's I roll on the road at a lower price point, and without the somewhat fragile mechanical buckle. I've been disappointed-- the two straps don't hold your foot in nearly as well as the three straps of my old Sidi Bullets from days of yore and not even remotely close to as well as the two straps and buckle of my Genius 6's. The sole is good and stiff and provides fine traction for run-ups, the weight is totally acceptable, and the build quality is great, but I just can't get them to stay in place at the ankle under hard efforts without cranking them down to the point that my feet are going numb. For me, this is a dealbreaker. These shoes are probably money for a fist pair of clipless shoes or for a spin class, but if you're coming from higher-end Sidis, or if you've spent years teaching yourself to pedal in a circle instead of just mashing down, these will likely disappoint.

These cables shift awesomely when new, but their trick is a slick plastic-y coating that lets them slide through the housing with minimal friction. Sounded great to me too, the catch is that the coating doesn't stay on the cables. The attached photo says it all, the cable on the left is off my bike, which uses a conventional external routing, the one on the right is off my buddy's BMC which routes internally. As you can see, the cable has gotten shredded at every contact point. Mine was pretty bad, especially at the BB cable guide, but on the BMC it was just awful. I had to fish bits of cable coating out of the shifters with tweezers. This is after about 1k miles on babied road bikes, mind you, not decades of cyclocross. And if you want to replace that inner cable? Too bad, Gore won't sell you one. Add to that a frustrating install because it is double-ended (SRAM users cut off the Campy end, and then curse and shout as the cable frays when they try to thread it through), and you have a pretty poor showing altogether.

I would not suggest this product to anyone paying for their own gear, and if you have a frame that routes cables internally, don't even think about it.

These gloves are my go-to for temperatures in the 40-55 range. They are fairly nimble for their warmth-- you're probably not going to be dialing your phone in 'em but you'll have no problems shifting, and may even be able to get a gel packet open. All the details you want are there, from grippers to sweat wipers, and the rubbery-vinyl fold-out "pouch" actually adds a good bit of warmth. This is a really smart design, it's great to be able to flip it out for descents or for the first few hours of an early-morning ride and then stow it later. The caveat here is that the reason the vinyl thing adds so much warmth is that the gloves do a much poorer job of keeping the wind out than the marketing copy would lead you to believe. I find these gloves inadequate once it gets much below 40, so "four season" is a claim that definitely depends on where you live. That said they do cover a respectable temperature range and are a nice design, so I would definitely recommend them, especially if you live somewhere more temperate or already own gloves that do well in especially cold winter air.

After taking these for a 50-mile jaunt in the 50-degree rain last weekend, the verdict is in: these knee warmers are the best I've ever owned. The spandex-on-wool construction is great, the result is a warmer that keeps its shape (no bunching or stretching issues) and is nice and warm. Simple but functional rubber grippers on the inside, both top and bottom, keep it in place well enough. The highlight here is the wool-- it's comfy, durable, and warm even when wet. I went with a medium per the Swobo size chart, which I was a little nervous about but worked out great. The girth is as advertised and the length is plentiful, hitting mid-calf with about 2" of overlap with my bibs on the top (I'm 6'1, 34" inseam). This is significantly longer than my old Pearl Izumi warmers, which anyone with longer legs will no doubt dig. Highly recommended.

While certainly small, light, inexpensive and reasonably well-built, this is definitely not the pump you want to have if you blow out a tube on your road bike. While rated to 115 PSI, unless you have the wheel held in a vise and are built like Arnold circa 1977, it is physically impossible to inflate a tire anywhere remotely near that pressure with this pump. 10 minutes of dedicated effort got a 700x23 road tire to about 70 PSI for me. By this point I was putting so much pressure on the pump that I was terrified of ripping the valve right off the tube and could barely actuate the pump without losing my grip, and I am not a small dude.

Getting the tire to about 40 PSI was a snap and went quite quickly, so CX folks and mountain bikers may find this pump to be a very light and cost-effective solution, but roadies should look elsewhere.

These things have about the same nutritional value as your typical gel, making them really nice to add some variety to your quick on-the-bike eats. The new tube-like packaging (with the blocks arranged in a line) is a huge improvement, eliminating the fishing around with one hand procedure the old bag-style package required. My one gripe with these is that they're really chewy and require water to eat without choking. This gets worse as they got older, and over the course a few months they slowly transition from chewy to inedible, so don't try to buy a season's worth in one go.

I like this guy, it has pretty much every tool needed for run-of-the-mill roadside repairs (assuming you don't have flathead screws anywhere), plus a 3mm hex that I've never used (maybe mountain bikes use 3mm bolts somewhere? Or some brands of cleats? All I know is there is nary a 3mm bolt on any of my bikes). It's light but has a large enough frame to give you good leverage, and the tools are all of reasonable enough length to actually be useful and are nicely forged (i.e. they actually fit the bolts they are supposed to). I wish it were stainless or chromed, because after about a year of being sweated and rained on, there is some surface corrosion on the tools. Nothing steel wool won't fix, though. Swap that useless 3mm hex for a spoke wrench and smack some chrome on it and this would get five stars. It's still my go-to road tool, though.

These are the best gloves I've had in ages. The padding on these gloves is reasonably sparse, giving you very good grip and feel, but still very effective. The positioning of the padding is just to my liking and is definitely designed around road drop bars, with good padding at the base of the thumb for riding the hoods, which many gloves lack. A nice, open back and velcro closure makes them easy to take off (and makes for weird tan lines) and a rubberized pull tab on the wrist is sizable enough to get with your teeth so you can get 'em on one-handed. The construction is soft, supple leather, with some synthetic mesh panels between the fingers, which makes them surprisingly cozy on hot days. Washing them takes some effort but mine are still very adequately Euro-pro white (I use a bit of dish soap and cool water, then let the gloves dry on my hands for a while to maintain shape, and this has worked well). Fit is obviously a very personal thing, so definitely go try them on somewhere before dropping this sort of cash, but I couldn't be happier in this department. For the price I'm expecting some serious milage out of these, but I've definitely put enough milage on them already to have killed lesser gloves and they seem no worse for the wear, so the future looks bright. These seem to be a nice example of a high-end piece of kit that actually gives you some return on the investment not just in terms of style, but also in function and longevity.

These tires are very puncture resistant and the cornering grip and road feel is superb. That is a super-rare combination, as usually tires hard enough to keep debris from penetrating are too hard to grip corners effectively. Big ups to Continental for that. I've been running these in the 700x23 size for three seasons now and my milage has varied by a lot. I had one tire go for over 4,000 miles (I rotate them every 1k miles or so), another one I trashed in under 1k miles due to cuts in the rubber caused by road debris. Wear indicators are molded into the tire, which is a nice plus. These are as good as anything I've run in the rain, but they really shine on dry asphalt. I'd say the optimal situation is swapping these out for something tougher in the winter and early spring, as this is a very expensive tire to trash in the sand and salt. But for summer, they are pretty much unbeatable, which is what you'd expect out of a $60 clincher.

These guys get the job done, but they're really nothing special as tire levers go. A little chunky but not bad at all, and reasonably tough but not exceptionally so. In the course of last season I broke two of these. The shape is nice, though the hooked side is prone to breaking, especially on particularly tight rims or tight new tires. My old Continental levers (which were just a flat piece of plastic) lasted much longer and took up less space in the pocket, and I have yet to find levers shaped as usefully as my old Specialized Pry Babies. But hey, for $2.50, these get the job done just fine, won't dent your rims, and help you not be that guy who rides without the means to change his own tire. And being that guy sucks.

This jersey is like no other I own in any way. The wool material is not the lightest but it is pretty soft and paired with a good baselayer and armwarmers the temperature range this jersey is comfy in is just absurd, easily 30 degrees. If you live in a temperate place this is probably good for year-round. The fit is good, I wear a medium in most brands and my medium of this jersey is snug but not constricting around my torso and chest, a good generous length (I'm 6'1), and hangs nicely on my shoulders without pulling at the armpits when I move my arms. The sleeves on this jersey are LONG-- they hit at about 2" above the elbow for me-- and slightly baggy. I'm not sure if I'm sold on this yet. Bad for showing off your guns and working on your jersey tan, but a little different in terms of style, and if you are pale and are into extra coverage from the sun this is probably a plus for you. The pockets are decent, but no great shakes-- standard three-pocket configuration, no buttons or zippers, no real reinforcement to keep them from sagging as you fill them up. They do end about 2" from the bottom of the jersey, which helps sag a little. There is a white embroidered Swobo logo on one sleeve. Made in Fiji, of all places, from material from New Zealand.