I met Rob from Ardbalir Sports Importers last week in the Tiso cafe in Glasgow to have a look at some of his kit, and first up was a rake of new gear from X-Bionic.
As you can see that hat is very stretchy if it can fit over my head, but it’s still very soft. There’s a few other pieces of headgear, Rob sporting a bandana-come skull-cap below. The different zones of fabric that X-Bionic are immediately recognisable for apply here as well, so I’d be expecting a comfy napper under pressure.
Below we have an Apani merino short-sleeve, It’s constructed in the usual X-Bionic way, compression, cooling, the mix of fabrics and textures from the other base layers, but in a plain black which definitely softens the aesthetics. The merino itself is a soft and open weave, the plains sections remind me of Dale of Norway which was very soft and stretchy, and the open weave dried very quickly. It’ll be interesting to see how it performs out in the field, cybermerino?
The much anticipated long shorts above are on their way, and as you can see they really haven’t held back on the leg length. I like the look of these, the dimensions should work, and I know this fabric is good ‘un.
The shirt and 3/4 leggings below look like a cracking winter combo, elbows and knees designed to maintain fabric performance even when stretched across the joint when it’s in motion or locked at a tight angle.
The jacket above is a new softshell, and there’s a lot of outerwear from X-Bionic now. I liked a softshell pull-on and they’ve got some interesting trekking pants in different weights as well.
Those little techno-sausages you can see inside the jacket are meant to keep the fabric in the correct position to maintain your own wee bubble of equilibrium. What that would be like with a pack on I’ve no idea, your very own air-back system that doesn’t add 600g?
I’ve often criticized X-Bionic for their ludicrous packaging, and they have downsized it for next year, it’s smaller and has less er, pages. But below, I have to say, is the best packaging I’ve ever seen for anything in my entire life. It might be a mock-up of sorts as it’s pre-production, but I want one! Action Man!
I’ve got bits and pieces of test kit, including a sweatband (alright!), so I’ll be back in a bit with more.
Oaft I need to go for a lie down! This has been some day – Lance Armstrong in Paisley, new Montane and now… X-Bionic Merino!!!
btw do the grey/red shirt & 3/4 leggings combo come in womens? hope so! they look very nice indeed. :o)
All the kit seems to come in wummins, in fact a lot of the samples I saw were wummins fit.
I do embrace their wackiness and differentosity.
you know my love for x-gear, if only i could fit in the tops, those long shorts look excellent although they might be longer than my actual shorts!
Wacky and different!? Great just what i like. Cannae wait…
Plenty of stretch in those grey trekking shirts Moggy!
Ange, they have a jacket with vents, not with zips, but like the shuttered vents in your car…
Mm, those ‘shorts’ – are they ‘undies’ or ‘overs’? Cos I can’t see a gusset, and one is rather used to M&S knickers with gussets!
Real men need no gussets, they weaken our resolve with their mollycoddling.
air vents?.. on a jacket.. now that’s a nice wee interesting design idea. Cool.
It’s very Mad Max.
..or The Dark Knight. I’m too young for Mad Max, lol :o)
(I think!)
Ah, Mel Gibson long before his mind turned into Mint Aero…
Good grief, how can you be too young for Mad Max?! Iconic stuff!
Just back from an x-bionic work-out at the gym – the running pants and short-sleeved energiser top. Great :-) The stuff wicks like magic – at the end it was damper on the outside than the inside! And I really like the high v-neck on the top. Only downside is that it’s not designed to flatter people who have a micron more flesh than they should ;-)
Aye Kate, tell me about it.
Wiggle had re-stocked on the X-bionic running pants by last weekend…. I should have some waiting for me at work tomorrow :)
Alright!
I’ve got a wacky heat reflective polo shirt in for test. I’ll tell you, you can’t fault them for trying stuff.
Just to let you guys know as it was mainly of the back of the requests on here we now have stock of the ‘Trekking Pant Short’ or long boxers as pictured above!
cheers Rob
Great, where can we get hold of them Rob?
I’m mostly using my ‘Running Pants Short’ on the bike so far, and I’m finding them very good. They’ll get some winter hill use for sure, but I’d like to try these Trekking ones too.
I’ll promote one of my accounts as i know they have/will be getting stock – The Climbers shop, not got them on-line yet. but i’m sure if you phone them they can sort something out, the RRP is £38, not sure what the ‘climbers shop’ price will be!!
I expect Likeys, Wiggle and Hike Light will follow.
Cheers Rob.
Hope the Climbers Shop get them online quickly – they’ve just sent me a money-off email that I was strugglimg to use! :)
Here, that’s not bad price wise.
Cheers for the update.
As Rob suspected, Likeys.com should have these on their site early next week, alongside the other X-Bionic lines they already carry.
Are these just the blokes’ trekking pants?
Kate – yes, I’m afraid so. Somewhat unusually, X-Bionic only launched the trekking range in blokes fit this year, with the women’s range to follow next year.
A quick question for the ladies re the X-Bionic trekking range: boxers or the trekking pants short (i.e. those nice almost knee length ones featured above, not that I’m frying to influence your decision ;-)? Which would you choose?
mmm tricksy question…
I have a pair of Energizer boxer shorts (womens) and as someone who has trouble trying to find a decent pair of comfy undies to fit, these are excellent. The fit is great, the material is pleasing next to the skin and although they’re short they don’t ride up.
However the Trekking pants do look good! I had a look at the X-Bionic website and it seems there is a womens Trekking range?? http://bit.ly/jlSmK
I have knee/IT band problems and have been told to keep the quads/hamstrings warm when out so for the winter i think the longer trekking pants would be good for me. Trouble is no-one seems to stock goodies for women! Such a pity.
Also, PTC – the grey/red top and 3/4 leggings above – what is the name of these, i wonder if they come in a womens version?? very nice indeed. (are they the Ski-Touring range, i’ve looked at the wee pics on the website and they look like the same ones?).
I cannae mind what they were, just “winter” comes to mind, I’ll need to have a look at the workbook.
I think I’d go for boxers; I have a pair of the Energizer boxers and like the fit. Also I run hot when I’m moving and rarely wear ‘long-johns’ even in the depths of winter, so I think boxers’d give me more flexibility.
Right, I ordered the Trekking Pants from Likeys yesterday afternoon and they’re here this morning :)
Other good stuff:
– The length looks great, plenty of thigh warmth and no riding up
– They seem like a lighter version of the running pants I’ve been very pleased with
– The front says ‘Front’ on it, just to avoid confusion!
Not so good:
– The picture was grey, the ordering dropdown said black, I ordered black, grey has arrived. I suspect they only come in grey, but the x-bionic website won’t play at the moment to check that
– the packaging is of the ludicrous ‘a tree killed with every pair’ variety, a glossy box with a pair of fold out wings, containing an inner glossy box containing the pants, all emblazoned with numerous marketing diagrams and bullets. “Oi, X-bionic… NO NEED!!!” grrrrr. The running pants came in a very minimalist plastic bag so I thought they’d mended their ways, but apparently not…
And the best bit of all? Among the marketing blurb on the box is the claim, “Close fitting with a stimulating effect” – I can hardly wait!! ;O)
Ah good lad!
I’ve worn them a couple of times and they’re miles better than the other XB shorts, wash well too.
I can see them being worn under my work pants this winter as well as on the hill. Clothes move well over the top of them I’m finding, so layering looks good. I dunno about under powerstretch yet though.
Stimulation was limited to vibration from my current heavy coughing unfortunately :o)
I’ll get something up on them shortly.
mattc, Not sure why Likeys have them as Black as Grey was all that is available until the spring when we should be getting black in!
Had mine for a few weeks and used them a couple of times and are now my undies of choice for the hill!
We’ll pass your comments on to X-bionic regarding the packaging, we’ve lost count of the times we’ve requested that they do something about it, just hope that the growing tide of opinion on this will one day make them change!