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!
The Trick Bib Tights take X-Bionics core concept of assisting the body in maintaining it's optimal operating temperature and apply it to the whole leg, helping keep your temperature constant during the cooler, changeable months.
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. 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, knitted 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 oscillations that lead to early fatigue and increased recovery times.
X-Bionic is different, of that there is no doubt. Aesthetically it is quite striking and this is mainly due to it's unique knitted construction. X-Bionic clothing is knitted from Polyamide rather than the Polyester used - to all intents and purposes - by everyone else. It is woven on impressive machines in tube form - your jersey, shorts or tights start life as individual fibres that are spun in a specific schedule to create a tube within which are the 3-dimensional structures that lend the garments their technical properties. The sleeves of the jerseys and the legs of the tights are made in the same way and are then sewn into the bodies of their respective 'tubes'. This results in clothing that has minimal seams and that is consequently more comfortable than anything else. In addition, the polyamide material is more like a brushed-cottom in texture and feels far less like traditional Lycra.
The key part of the construction process is the creation of the aforementioned 3D Structures, for it is these that give the clothing their functionality.
Special insulating structures on the spine trick the body's heat receptors and start 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 Trick 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.
In addition to the simulated warming, the Trick bib tights also collect, transport and utilise the body's sweat in order to maintain the optimal muscle operating temperature key to maximising performance. The body produces varying amounts of heat over different areas and where this occurs most (above the kidneys on the back and below the naval down to the groin), Sweat Collectors soak up the sweat and move it gradually through the thickened structures of a HydroPort yarn to Sweat Transporters. These structures, wrap around the body and continually transport excess sweat to the areas where it can have the greatest effect on overheated muscles, in the case of the Trick tights this is on the front of the quadraceps and along the hamstrings and calves. These areas also feature X-Bionic's Partial Compression: heavily compressed muscles suffer greater temperature irregularities which leads to a greater energy expenditure from the body - the antithesis of X-bionic's guiding design principle. Partial compression however, allows for optimal support, blood-flow and nutrient delivery without having an effect on the thermal output of the body, thus helping to maintain optimal performance.
Like the Trick Jersey, the Bib tights feature the 3D Bionic Sphere System. This leaves a thin film of moisture on the skin without the body sensing wetness and provides a cooling layer of moisture. However, in cooler situations where you may not be sweating, the entire system of channels functions as insulation. This means you avoid the risk of over-chilling during and after your activity; headwinds don't drive through the material as they would normal lycra therefore protecting your muscles from a chill that would otherwise require additional energy to counter.
These features are particularly relevant in the UK or areas where the temperature can vary considerably over the course of a ride (elevation gain for example) : you will find that the use of the Trick clothing often eliminates the need for a Gilet and if things really are cold, you may find that you only need to add an X-Bionic base-layer to your wardrobe to dramatically expand the operating temperature range of the jerseys - in normal circumstances the Trick jersey is worn directly against the skin without the use of a base-layer.
The pad of any short or tight is a key component and is where much of a cyclists comfort is derived. X-Bionic's Endurance pad is anatomically formed and as such removes pressure from sensitive capillaries and nerves. Unlike other manufacturers, X-Bionic leave the pad out of the construction process, sewing it in directly by hand as a final stage. This means that the elasticity and fit is not affected by the construction process. It is important to mention here that the pad feels different from many others and will at first raise questions as to it's comfort; it is key that you spend time adjusting the pad so that it sits squarely against you and is comfortable, before sitting in the saddle. The reason for this is that once seated, the pad won't move - and this is a very good thing! The fact that the pad doesn't shift around underneath you means that there is no chafing - we have ridden these for 100 miles, days in a row with no discomfort.
The aesthetic, as mentioned earlier, is striking and 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.