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café du cycliste lucette gilet

i actually owned one, a bright yellow version, not the one with the round headlights, but the more modern oblong versions. yet it still featured a starting handle in case of obstinacy on colder mornings, the wheelnuts could be tightened or loosened by no known spanner or wrench and i had to offer a "thanks, but no thanks" to a well-meaning neighbour who offered me the remainder of his carton of anti-freeze. when time came to cart around something the size of a drumset, the rear seat could be easily removed by means of releasing two clips, while sliding the boot lid sideways accomplished a similar process.

on the cold mornings referred to above, heat could infiltrate the interior very quickly due to the engine's air-cooling, while an excess of heat was dispersed by opening a flap beneath the windscreen. and aside from the 70mph top speed, the car's finest moment was not only its proximity to riding a bicycle, but a finessed rolling movement on cornering while those four wheels remained pretty much glued to the road. though i generally have no truck with motor cars of any shape or form, i cannot deny that it was great fun to drive, especially with the roof rolled back (though scottish weather didn't allow for that to happen too often).

i've always thought it a great shame that while fiat have revived their cinquecento and volkswagen their beetle, citroen have not found it in their hearts to bring back the 2cv.

it's a car that features in a fifteen minute video posted on the front page of the café du cycliste website. yes indeed, the principal velocipedinal content tends to find itself with front and rear springs appended, but all is saved by the central placement of a more elderly citroen 2cv than that once owned by yours truly. there are french shades of danny macaskill, but it alludes remarkably well to café du cycliste's eccentricities in the realm of cycling garmentage, if only as far as their obscure naming regimen.

for where else would you come across a men's gilet listed as lucette? i cannot deny that i have tended to keep that information quiet during the post-ride coffee conversation. no matter what café du cycliste have decided called the gilet, it is a particularly attractive item of apparel, whether on or off the bicycle, particularly due to the italian merino blend tweed style front panel which keeps the wind firmly at bay. though a comfortably close race-fit, the four way stretch provides the ability to cope with any guff you may have stuffed into the rear pockets of the jersey underneath. this is aided and abetted by a couple of buttoned adjustable side loops.

doing so, however, is scarcely an onerous problem, given that lucette provides two capacious tweed-covered rear pockets in which to store a spare pair of gloves, a mini-pump, musette, coffee money and the all-important digital camera. all this without overly disturbing the svelte look. the back section with its wide black central stripe is bordered by two highly reflective panels ensuring a high level of night time visibility.

the mighty dave t, for whatever reason, is somewhat disparaging of gilets in general, but i rather love the little blighters, particularly this one. a few wind-smitten rides on the outer edge remain as testament to not only its constitution, but an impressive flexibility when fighting a similarly wind-smitted bicycle. granted, it is highly sparing on the thermal insulation front, but the windproofing offsets that particularly well, allied to the undeniably stylish tweed covering. in fact, that particular feature is the very one that might well have you dipping into your savings to the tune of £180 to suffer less when you have your race face on. if there is such a thing as state of the art applicable solely to gilets, lucette is already there.

the only thing missing is the citroen 2cv team car.

the café du cycliste lucette gilet is available in sizes ranging from xs to xxl at a retail price of £180.

café du cycliste lucette gilet

thursday 27 october 2016

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