Fernando Carvalho Custom Cycling & Triathlon Clothing Blog

Looking for something original to fill the long Summer holiday? How about a 24 hour cycle race…..

For those with a very low ratio of IQ to VO2 max, you can do the whole thing on your own - the rest of us can enter in teams of up to 8 riders. For more information see  http://www.24heuresvelo.fr .

We actually supply a lot of custom kit for cycling and triathlon events (mainly jerseys for charity cycle rides and similar) and we have supplied custom jerseys to events such as the Help for Heros cycle ride to France  and the London to Paris ride. We can also supply give-away kit for entrants to races to take home with them, such as custom bandanas, buffs, musettes (feed bags) and so on.

We supply a unique pro cycling team in the USA with kit - they are Richmond Pro Cycling. They are one of the top teams in the US, finishing 4th in the USA crit series in 2008, but what is special about them is what they do when they are not racing.

Rather than be dependent on one or two big name sponsors, they decided to integrate the team with their community, teaching local kids to ride bikes and inspiring them to make something of themselves. They also raise money for a lot of local charities. That way that have encouraged the local community (in Richmond, Virginia)  to support the team financially.

Craig Dodson, runs the team and races in it and lives off thin air to pursue his dream - and so he has recently been nominated by Outside Magazine/Crocs Footwear as an “inspiring sole”. This award recognizes five athletes who have dedicated their lives to raising awareness for meaningful causes.

It takes seconds to vote and for anyone who wants to help raise the profile of cycling and supports the idea of cycling teams integrating into their local communities, it is a great thing to do.  http://www.inspiringsoles.com/pages.php?pagename=awardnom_submit&pagecolor=green

You can find out more about the team at http://www.richmondprocycling.com. Well done Craig and lets hope for an even better 2009!

We are delighted to have supplied Berks on Bikes MBC (http://www.bobmbc.com) with their kit for 2008. They are a mountain bike club based in Crowthorne, Berkshire, with an active racing scene as well as organising regular rides in swinley Forest and elsewhere.

We supply custom downhill jerseys as well as mountain bike specific cycling jerseys, made from a harder wearing microfibre (NK Microfresh) that is more resitant to attack from shrubs and branches as well as rubbing from camelbacks and similar.

Mountain biking is growing at an unbelievable speed, and there are lots of companies now organising mountainbike holidays in the sun, such as http://www.a2z-adventures.com in Portugal and http://www.allmountainexperience.com in Italy. Can there be a better way to see a new country than by bike?

We were very pleased to supply custom cycling and triathlon kit to Racing 795 in South East Ireland. They are a growing but active club and we made them some sharp looking kit.

We have been delighted to supply many of the leading triathlon clubs in Ireland in 2008 and we look forward to 2009, when we will be introducing some improvments to the fit of our tri suits to give a more contoured fit, especially on the legs and waist and several improvements to our fabrics in our cycling range.

We are very proud to have supplied Veloventoux with kit for a few years now - they are one of the top organisers of cycling holidays for more serious cyclists in France. They are located about 20 minutes ride from Mont Ventoux (about an hour and a half from Marseille) and have 6 ensuite rooms to offer cyclists and some fantastic rides in the surrounding area.

Veloventoux organise groups to ride the Marmotte and the Etape and other sportives and you can also just stay there and do your own thing, benefitting from their local route knowledge and cyclist friendly facilities or they can organise a full custom trip for you.

They are an extremely friendly and well run organisation and you can find out more about them at http://veloventoux.com

Tri London is one of the UK’s leading clubs for top level triathletes and we are very proud to have supplied their kit for the last couple of years. Their members include Jo Carritt who has just come first in the Wisconsin IM for non pro athletes - see her website at http://www.joannacarritt.co.uk/  - her blog is a masterpiece in understated suffering.

We supply all our clubs with exactly the same quality of custom kit that we supply the leading IM athletes - we will not compromise on quality. Best of luck to Tri London athletes in 2009 and best of luck to Jo in particular (as she organises their kit order!).

We were very proud to supply Lincoln Wheelers with their kit for 2008 and I am glad to say that they have been very satisfied customers. We had to put right a few chamoises for them as there was a production defect, but of course we will always replace any defective item that we produce as we offer a 12 month guarantee on everything we produce and cover any postage costs involved should any item need to be returned.

We are also very lucky that Lincoln Wheelers have been very helpful in testing for us some new ladies non-bib shorts and ladies jersey that we have recently developed. We are constantly adapting and changing our range and we are always looking for riders to test the new kit out as you need a lot of opinions to generate some worthwhile feedback.

Best of luck to Lincoln Wheelers for the 2009 season and thank you so much for the help with the testing!

We were very proud to supply the tri kit for the Oxford University Triathlon team for 2008 and we will be doing it again for 2009.

The Oxford girls managed to whip the Cambridge backsides in ‘08, but the boys had been spending too much time in the pub and lost.

Best of luck for 2009 to Oxford and boys don’t let the girls down this time!

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to find the best possible kit supplier for your club/team/organisation - we think that we are the best available in terms of quality, custom service and price, but how can you compare suppliers? Here are the 7 questions that we think you should ask all the potential suppliers that you contact.

1. Can you send us some samples, free of charge with no conditions attached?

2. Is all work included in graphic design included in your set up costs, or will you have various limits in terms of fees per hour for graphic design work, limits on the numbers of colours a design can have and demands that graphics and logos only be sent in obscure file formats?

3. Can you give us the name and contact details of some clubs that you supply so that we can contact them for references?

4. When you make the kit will you resize the logos and graphics so that they are proportional to the size of each garment and so that graphics can cross seams and match up correctly? (It is extraordinary that some suppliers just print off the same size graphics for a size XS as they do for a size XL, so the kit ends up looking completely disproportionate).

5. What are you minimum order numbers?

6. Can you deliver kit within 4 weeks and are you prepared to offer financial guarantees on delivery times?

7. Can you offer specific ladies cuts across the range?

We don’t believe in small print and there are no hidden extras in the way we run our business, so if you have any questions for us, please just ask!

We have been supplying Richmond Pro Cycling with kit for a few years now - they are a pro cycling team from Virginia who are also very active in promoting cycling in the general community and in particular to disadvantaged groups. They are also kicking ass on their bikes and have become a force to be reckoned with on the US pro circuit, currently ranking 4th in the US Criterium Series.

The team relies to a large extent on charitable donations to keep racing and they have done an amazing job in bringing cycling to a wider audience and giving something positive back to their community. You can find out more at http://www.richmondprocycling.com/ Not all pro teams are blessed with millions of dollars/pounds/euros from wealthy sponsors and they are trying to establish a new model where they give their time and inspiration to their community and in return they get some financial support back. Sounds like a pretty good idea to me…