Burners

Gel absorption performance

But would it not melt your mid-ride Kit-Kat, Crunchie, Twix? And what about the pocket beer? That would get warm too.

Do shorter rides.

Put them in the cold pockets?

Laminar flow manipulation in a low pressure region (Hackney)

Absorbing into the gilet?

This is a strong argument.

Thermos should get into the cycling jersey game.

I could imagine Foska doing one.

Edible cycling garms? That’s genius.

Hello everyone! ...sorry for the silence, been busy - I'm going to round-up/answer all the outstanding q's in a bit (postage, collection etc).

Good news! The reason I've been busy is I was able to get hold of another 2 metres of the insulation, so there's another wave going out later this afternoon :)

....great to hear 1st round are arriving, been meaning to do a 101 run-down on the product;

MATERIALS
Recycled micro-ripstop nylon. The ciré back of the fabric (shiny glossy finish) gives low air permeability. I've flipped this out on the back, to amp up the textures
The fill is Clo, Vivo Performance: Eco a recycled insulation, perforated to improvability

WASH & CARE
They're robust and fine to go in any wash, but - as with any textiles - over-agitation of long, aggressive wash cycles will diminish their lifespan, particularly the insulation fill. Use as simple a setting as possible, 30º or 40º basic wash / delicates / handwash. Whatever works for you, don't loose sleep over it!
I wouldn't recommend tumble-drying, they'll dry quick in any case.
If they do get creased, if they're stored for a long time, a medium-cool (nylon) setting on an iron will press out. Just press lightly - too much heat and pressure will crush & heat-set the insulation.

USAGE
....is basically however you like!

Stuff under bibstraps to add a windproof/insulation layer to any outfit. Concept is to extend the range & convenience of use, with minimal weight and bulk. You can position how you like - higher on a cold day to cover the neck, I wear mine 'portrait' but try 'landscape to get more shoulder coverage. Also good to cover legs if you're shivering at a train station....

It's a great addition in winter, but isn't a stand-alone winter product. ie. it won't to turn a lightweight jersey into a polar expedition suit ...but having said that, I wear every winter ride, simply because of the how much warmth it adds for so little weight

It really comes into its own in changeable conditions;
)Cool morning starts, and whip out when the sun has warmed things up
)Mountains where you might be cooking up on a long climb, before a long descent in cold air
)Race, wear under team kit, easy to take off/on, unlike a gilet or jacket
) Audax might encounter a variety of conditions, temperatures, riding into the night, and can boost the comfort range of any kit.

STUFF POCKET
Turn the Burner through itself into the pocket. Make sure it's stuffed into the corners, and then to get the 'tail' in when it's starting to pack tight, trick is to hold it in a fist, and stuff in from the top - pics below.

More info coming soon....

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Seriously how great is this whole project. Chopsicle/G thank you so much for the time, thought and effort that's gone into this. I'm hyped to receive mine and test it out.

DEATH TO THE GILET (maybe)

DEATH TO THE GILET (maybe)

As Charlton Heston probably said, you will have to take my gilet from
my cold dead hands.

I look forward to seeing how this works both with and without said item

mine arrived today - it's class, thanks. can't wait to try it out in anger

packs down so small !

Received, perfect and the stuff pocket is superb!

Mine came today. Looks great! Thanks again for organising @Chopsicle

....thought I'd do a little back story to this. Sorry, bit of a wordy dump, but some people might be interested;

As in op, I spent a longtime working across a wide range of products, with a wide range of uses and users. I was lucky enough to work with teams and professional athletes, sometimes able to spend quite a long time in their company, watching the whole process of training & racing. It soon became apparent that these professionals just want 'stuff that works'. Fancy, convoluted concepts carry high-risk of failure - they look to simple, durable, reliable tools for the job.

I knew about the newspaper down the jersey, and would ride past the boxes of papers at the top of the big climbs or in refuges, kindly put out for unprepared cyclo-tourists.

Really love that newspapers are still used to this day, and by Pro riders. Fans offer up papers to those who have missed their soigneurs handing out gilets - or prefer the no-nonsense simplicity of a L'Equipe. Every year you see riders in trouble trying to put jackets on..... Pantani over the Galibier is similarly painful to watch!

Rapha did a special edition gilet, with a nod to the newspaper tradition in '08, with an 'Italian Edition', featuring their signature pink Gazetta print down the vertical stripe panel (pic below)

Dominique Gabellini - the wise, seasoned vet racer, and classic face of Rapha - would also tell stories of riding with a silk scarf back in the day. Part for the style and panache, part for unfurling before a long descent, and laying across his chest, using the densely-woven silk to provide respite from a chill wind.

I think around '14, 15, we started working with technical insulations - Primaloft, Polartex Alpha - and developed products like the Insulated Brevet Gilet, then the jacket, and Windblock Jersey. I did 'design' these products in a sense, but was part of a great team who worked together to make these happen, and was lucky enough to be test-riding and inputting in development phase. Things like BCM (spot the LFGSS'er), F500 and Cent Cols were proving grounds (and fertile space for thinking up more ideas) for these hybrid, windproof products. It was really interesting to tune into what made a difference and where.

Another area for ideas that was bubbling around, was working on aero products. Again, was lucky enough to be able to 'see the invisible' and look at understanding airflow around the on-bike-body and considering windchill effect on different areas. It was really apparent that garments - particularly technical outerwear - could benefit from different performance attributes, depending on where they were positioned.

One final thing on the aero stuff, was working on long-distance projects, putting all this work into a skinsuit, then a rider putting on a non-aero-optimised gilet or rainjacket for cold night stages. ...There must be a better solution?! @hippy ;)

All these inputs and thoughts were bobbing around, and so I used some sampling to knock up a bunch of 'chest pillows'* in the winter of '16. This was in preparation for F500, but I only needed a few km's to know I was onto something good. I think I messaged people as soon as I got in, and made up more for people to ride, explained the newspaper origin, gazetta print, Dominque's silk scarves - it was set to go! ....However, I resigned my role in early '17, and I thought it had sunk without trace @villa-ru has shed some light, that it did progress down the pipe, but not to commercial....

I knew it was a great product - So simple, so many use cases, and so accessible. At the heart was my ambition to allow more people to enjoy more riding in more comfort. A mutual friend introduced me to Albion after a textile show, we got talking, immediately got it, and maybe 6 months later, the Burner was launched. We subsequently worked together on some pop-up weekends (thanks for those that popped in!), and had a lot of fun doing things like repairs and maker workshops. It's frustrating this has been put on ice by current restrictions, really enjoyed doing these.

....it's been brilliant seeing the Burner come to life and being used all over, especially professional riders on ultra-races, Classics, and Grand Tours. In July '19 we received this message from a Pro rider, mid-Tour, after a HC stage, which blew me away;

"Just wanted to say thanks for the quilt!! It's been awesome through the Pyrenees last week. It's so easy to put on and fold in on itself at the bottom, it's genius. And it really puts your mind at easy that you don't rist getting sick by the cold wind on the descent!! Thank you so much"

Was brilliant to receive because it had achieved what we'd set out to do - improve the ability to concentrate on (and enjoy!) riding. Similarly, hope this does the same for everyone - allows more enjoyment of riding in comfort, whatever you're up to :)

*The working title of 'chest pillow' stuck, and I knew it wasn't right as soon as we were saying it - it was really hard to come up with anything else. We struggled for ages, but it came to me out the blue, and knew it was bang on. A play on my name, but something easy, accessible ...and warming! Haha, staring me in the face - Perfect!

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A play on my name

lol I'm an idiot - just got this

lol I'm an idiot - just got this

.....Imagine how I felt when it had been right in front of me for a year!

Lovely story. Thanks for putting that together. I feel very lucky to have one made by the man himself.

That's a great bit of back story. Thanks G.

Fascinating, thanks - I love these kinds of behind-the-scences insights into the design process!

I thought burner referenced the disposability of the newspaper as this square gilet thingy serves the same function, and newspaper is also used as starter for fires

I thought it was a reference to drug dealing and The Wire.

See also;

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