X-Bionic is, quite simply, brilliant. If you want to speak to someone that will effuse over how great it is, give us a call and ask for Dave!
With years of technical fabric development that began with ski and motorbike socks, and with countless design awards and hundreds of patents across many sports; X-Bionic are at the forefront of technical cycling apparel. You may or may not have heard of them, though if you have it is probably through their famous X-Socks.
The Swiss company were founded by German scientist, Dr Lambert and are focused on producing apparel that gives a real and quantifiable performance advantage. This is evident from the moment you pick up a product. For starters the box of each item has more technical information on it than most websites and once liberated from the packaging the distinctive feel and look of each piece screams R&D, from the humble sock through to jackets designed in conjunction with Lamborghini.
Much of X-Bionic's focus is to do with minimising the body's wasted energy and this is most evident in products such as The Trick jersey and bib shorts but it is seen throughout the range. X-Bionic's products are designed to work seamlessly as a system - giving you the confidence to partner base layer with jersey, Gilet and Jacket - safe in the knowledge that your body's temperature and performance are optimised, whatever the conditions. The focus of these products - in contrast to almost every other analagous offering on the market - is not so much on the immediate removal of sweat from the body and jersey but to the use of that sweat in the natural thermoregulation of our body. In other words, the best way to mimic the body's own cooling and temperature stabilisation methods in a way that leads to performance advantage.
During exercise, as much as 97% of our energy expenditure is directly involved in Thermo-regulation (the regulation and maintenance of our biologically optimal operating temperature) and as such, any help we can give ourselves in avoiding excess heat loss or gain will quite obviously lead to big advantages when it comes to exercise: even a 1% energy saving will increase our potential by 25%.
It is to this end that X-Bionic have gone about developing complex, fabrics that assist the body in rapidly reaching and maintaining the optimal temperature and they combine this with differing levels of compression to help stabilise muscles to avoid oscilations that lead to early fatigue and increased recovery times.
The SphereWind Vest is a light, windproof gilet but with the added bonus of performance-enhancing temperature regulation. The vest is light and simple, embodying protection and comfort with an unembellished design. The 3D-BionicSphere System on the back guarantees optimal temperature regulation on the vest's interior, perfectly taking up thermoregulatory duties from your X-Bionic jersey.
As with the X-Bionic jerseys, the SphereWind Vest features special 3D structures on the spine which help to cool the body through perspiration much earlier. Your brain generally decides when your body switches to cooling mode based on signals from the nervous system. The SphereWind takes on the role of external temperature controlling garment come the chillier autumn/spring months and in combination with X-Bionic jersey, simulates warming of the whole body through the spinal column and the body's sensors signal this warmth to the brain, starting sweat production much earlier - long before overheating starts to affect your performance by causing your body to expend energy through cooling.
As with all gilets and wind vests, the purpose of the SphereWind Vest is to keep the cold wind off of the riders' chest, a task that the SphereWind performs perfectly. With most gilets however, there is often a trade-off with increased perspiration and overheating. The SphereWind Vest eliminates both these issues. X-Bionic use a Symbionic Membrane to rapidly dissipate moisture generated inside the vest when working at higher intensities. Like most PTFE based fabrics, the Symbionic Membrabe carries water vapour to the outside; unlike PTFE membranes however, the SphereWind stays dry inside by having a surface that also breaks the surface tension of beads of water that collect inside the jacket, allowing the fabric to more swiftly transport the moisture to the environment. Imagine a volume of water in a container trying to evaporate, then imagine the same volume of water poured over a surface : the water that is spread out evaporates far faster and this is effectively what the Symbionic Membrabe in the SphereWind accomplishes. A Diffuser design on the inside of the collar features longitudinally arranged ducts to transport moist, warm air out of the jacket and supports internal climate control.
If you are new to X-Bionic then you would be forgiven for thinking - upon picking the vest up - that it would be too hot or bulky for use in the UK but ultimately the X-Bionic SphereWind Vest, like all X-Bionic kit, is ideally suited to the British weather. Wide variance in temperature is common over a 3 hour ride and if you intend to train during the colder months, you would be hard pushed to find more suitable clothing. Temperature change both in terms of climatic conditions and intensity of effort are nullified by using X-Bionic clothing and yield performance benefits as well as providing a more comfortable riding experience.
As a result of it's exceptional function, you can ride 90% of the year with the following items in your arsenal:
Trick Jersey
Trick Shorts (Possibly Tights if you feel the cold)
Energizer Short Sleeve Base Layer
SphereWind Gilet
Arm / Leg Warmers
If the temperature hits the zero mark or below then your may want to invest in a Spherewind Light Jacket.
The aesthetic won't be for everyone. With that said, as more people discover the brand it will become it's defining, stand-out feature and will become 'cool' - we guarantee it! In the future, all cycling clothing will be made this way.