REVIEW
Mountain bike apparel is funny. It looks funny. It feels funny. It’s also funny in that despite mountains of the stuff jamming up drawers and storage containers, I wear the same stuff over and over and over again. I still semi frequently wear shorts I was given at a launch event in 2018. Other than a few repaired seams, they’ve been faultless.
For pants, I bought a pair of NF pants at a showroom clearout, at least 4-5 years ago now. The logos have all fallen off, but they’re still structurally sound.
For tops, I either wear a synthetic T-shirt from Uniqlo when the weather is warm, or cycle through a few Icebreaker long sleeves when it’s cooler.
Gloves are probably the thing I switch up (and wear out) the most. I like a really simple, thin glove, with no strap as a preference. Right now that’s pairs from Chromag, Gore and 100%.
That’s it. That’s my wardrobe. I cycle through the same 5-6 pieces of clothing on the majority of my bike rides, and I use them until they fall apart, or until something better replaces them. We’ll see if that’s what winds up happening here.
We only got one photo of the pants.
Gizmo thinks everything is a treat.
Deniz also complained about my shoe choice, as if our readers can’t imagine what this would look like with riding shoes swapped in.
Speaking of which, I think I’m done with On shoes and Icebreaker socks. Neither last long enough for the price. The pants zip at the cuff for easy on/off.
The material of the Ridgway pants is quite thin. The pants are stretchy and light weight and good for anything not-too-hot, not-too-cold or not-too-wet. I went with the Med/Long versions as they looked like exactly the right size on paper. When I first tried them on, they seemed small, so I stuffed them away for a while, got on the horn to Yeti, and asked for a pair of Large/Long. When those arrived, they seemed a bit big, so I went back to the Mediums and they were fine. Did the pants change? Did I change? In all honesty, once I wore them on a ride they seemed to loosen up a bit. Both pairs get some use, but the Mediums are the better choice. The beauty is that you can really crank down the waist cinches and they’ll stay tight, so even if the pants are too big they work fine. The Large have a lot more room around the knees, too much for most things if I’m being honest, but are probably just the ticket if I started to wear kneepads again.
Where these pants really set themselves apart is the pockets. I love the pockets on these pants. There are two huge, zippered pockets, one on each leg. They’re easy to access and nicely organized. I can stuff a key and a wallet into one side, and some tools and a snack in the other. This places those items towards the back of your leg, where they aren’t very noticeable while pedaling.
There are also jeans style pockets up above them, into which I can stuff my gloves on one side, and my iPod on the other. You can put so much into these pockets and it all seems unnoticeable when riding. If I want to carry a few things on my ride, either gravel or mountain, these are the pants I reach for.
Yeti Ridgway Pant – 170 USD
Look at those powerful legs!
You can stuff a lot of crap in there.
Take the Ridgway pants, cut the legs off and you have the Freeland short. Same material, same pockets, same fit. All of the great things about the Ridgway pants are here, just without legs. I also went through the same exercise with fit, second guessing the medium, bugging Yeti to send me large, and then wearing the Medium after all that.
One thing I don’t really understand is the two little vent zips on each leg. These would almost make sense if they were on the pants (they aren’t) but I don’t really understand why they’re on the shorts. In a perfect world I’d remove them.
For the most part, these have finally usurped my old Specialized shorts.
Yeti Freeland Short – 140 USD
This looks fine! I’m not sure what it is about my nipples and wool, though.
I keep trying to force myself into wearing cycling specific shirts, and I keep not falling for it. I’ve yet to find a riding top that works better than a cheap synthetic T-shirt from Uniqlo. This shirt doesn’t change my mind.
I’ve also really tried to get into the wool t-shirt game, but that’s not working for me either. Long sleeve Icebreaker shirts fit okay, but the t-shirts don’t work for some reason. My nipples poke out and it feels like my stomach is on display. Thinner material? As well, I didn’t realize how hard I hit the earth tones with my requests here, and I feel self-conscious hitting the trail as a sea of brown.
This is a fine shirt. It fits a bit small to size. It probably looks good on people with smaller nipples and smaller stomachs. It doesn’t look good on me.
Yeti Switch Merino S/S Jersey – 110 USD
I just never made it all the way to the bottom of the buttons, somehow.
The Stagecoach Flannel is a nice, comfortable shirt.
The turquoise and the brown kind of works for me.
Yep. That’s some plants and a half buttoned shirt. I think the pained expression here is a continuation of the pained expression from earlier.
I don’t know why the buttons are undone in the photo. We took these photos a long time ago and I think either I was late for something or Deniz was late for something. Either way, it looks a bit weird with the buttons undone. I apologize for that.
Beyond that, this is a nice technical flannel. I went for Yeti turquoise because I feel like you owe it to yourself to buy Yeti products in turquoise where possible. I haven’t worn it riding. I don’t think I’ve worn it after a ride. But I do wear it around the house, and I’ve even worn it to work a few times. People seem to like it. It’s soft and comfortable, but also still looks like it came right out of the package despite numerous washings. It’s probably a bit more than I would spend on a flannel shirt, but it’s nice and I’m glad I have it.
Yeti Stagecoach Flannel Shirt – 150 USD
We haven’t yet hit a point where the dog isn’t hungry. He also might just be trying to tell me that the gloves aren’t fully on my hand. That is the one thing about super lightweight gloves. You have to fiddle with them a bit to get them seated properly.
I also didn’t seem capable of putting these gloves on properly for the photos. The right one is fine, the left one isn’t. This isn’t a problem with the gloves, this is just a function of trying to get photos completed in ten minutes or less.
These are really good gloves. The first few times I wore them the amount of grip took me by surprise. They almost felt sticky. They’re not longer that grippy. They feel like normal gloves now, which is just fine. Airy, simple and light, these are exactly what I like to put on my hands when I’m riding a bike. The palms are still intact. There are no holes in the fingers. Great, simple, straight forward gloves.
Yeti Enduro Gloves – 32 USD
In Conclusion
This is good stuff. It’s not the cheapest and people might think you’re really into coolers. Would I spend my money on it? The Ridgway Pants are an easy recommendation. They’re super functional without looking ridiculous. The Enduro Gloves and Freeland Shorts are good as well, but there’s more competition in this space so they might be a tougher sell. The Flannel shirt is nice, and the perfect accompaniment to your new Turq. The Merino jersey hasn’t convinced me to start wearing cycling specific shirts. All in all, this is a solid outing from Yeti and there’s a very good chance I’m going to be talking about how I still wear this stuff on 75% of my rides in five years’ time.
Looking at the price of cycling clothing these days makes me cringe. This stuff is firmly into the “investment” realm of cycling clothing. I think that for me clothing that fits and functions well is worth the investment. Most of the clothing that I own is amortized over hundreds of rides. It’s too soon yet to say if this gear makes it that far. I’m quite impressed by the fit and function, and several other NSMBers have been wearing this gear with no issues. I think there’s a good chance these bits hang around for the long haul.