Ted Baker’s Raising The Handlebars brand is a great range of menswear designed specifically for the urban cyclist. In their own words they fuse “dapper design details with innovative accents,” and, while I’m not quite sure what that means, I would say that they’re very nice clothes that look good, and work very well on a bike.
The dapper urban cyclist
Anyway these OHPANT chinos arrived in the post this week, and I have to say that they’ve fast become my latest favourite pair of strides.
Ted Baker put some fantastic detailing into their clothes and they’ve done a great job here, with a very cool paisley-ish bicycle cog print lining on the inside waist band and fastener as well as on the turn ups. Other useful details are the reinforced gusset (always think that sounds a bit naughty) and to my delight, discrete poppers on the pockets as well as a little internal pocket to stop your change slipping out when you put your feet up on the sofa. I rolled up the legs a bit before jumping onto my new Pinarello Lungavito (lovely single speed, but I’ll tell you about that another time) and was pleased to see a reflective stripe to keep me visible in the gloomy November light.
What’s more, they’re a great cut - I can be very fussy about these things, almost as fussy about this as I am about my footwear- but these are just the right side of not too skinny/not too baggy. They look smart enough for work, but are casual enough for the weekend and they show off my vintage leather City cycle boots from Velorution very well, thank you. The texture of the fabric is lovely too and is apparently made of a stretch material, but not so stretchy that you’d feel self-conscious about it. They are, and I hate to say this in fear of sounding like my Dad, extremely comfy. The blurb tells me that they have an anti-bacterial finish which, quite frankly sounds off-putting. But don’t worry, no Dettol whiff attached to these very nice and desirable pair of cycling friendly trousers. I got mine in dark blue but they also do them in ‘tan’.
Nestled underneath my new chinos in my very welcome Ted Baker package was a rather fetching COGCOG shirt. The printed pattern is, surprise-surprise, a bicycle cog pattern, and very nice it is too. Again, it’s a good cut, quite slim but not too tight, and I like the contrasting print on the inside collar and cuffs. Got quite a few complements on this when we popped into the pub last night.
Top clobber from Ted Baker. Glad to see that someone’s designing good bike wear that looks flattering, stylish and tailored. I now have my eyes and my heart set on one of their polo shirts. The bag and shoes look good too. Oh, and I like the shorts and the belt. Think I’ll be applying for a loyalty card.