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Road Holland Den Haag Jersey

8
£73.00

VERDICT:

8
10
The perfect top for those sunny café spins and back lane meanders; performance with a bit of class
Weight: 
230g
Contact: 
www.roadholland.com

At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.

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Road Holland takes inspiration from the jerseys worn by the likes of Bartali and Coppi for their European retro style Den Haag top and what a looker it is.

With the danger of every ride becoming a training ride it's nice to just kick back and go out for a spin sometimes. The Den Haag puts you in that kind of mood.

The polo shirt styling and neat buttoned rear pockets don't shout 'racer' or even 'cyclist' so it looks just as good off the bike as on. The three-button neck adds to the casualness and provides a decent amount of venting should things get a bit warm.

It's a quality garment, you can feel that straight away. The Merino and polyester mix is super soft against the skin while the detailing and neat stitching go some way to justifying that £73.00 price tag. The embroidered chest motif and Road Holland logo on the rear pockets adds a certain touch of class.

There is a range of four colours (the lilac is my personal fave) and sizing from XS to XXL so there's plenty of choice. For reference the medium fitted me spot on with a 32in waist and 38in chest.

Merino is a brilliant material and even though it only makes up 39% of the blend you do still get a lot of the benefits. The insulating properties of the wool means you stay warm in the cold and cool when the sun comes out. It's fast wicking to so should you put the hammer down and get a bit sweaty you and the jersey will both dry quickly. Add that to the fact Merino is anti-bacterial and you won't need to be washing it after every ride; I managed to get a week of commuting out of it before it needed a freshen up.

The pockets are deep and strong enough to take a phone, keys, couple of tubes etc. and thanks to the button closure everything is secure. You don't get any sag either although things can tend to bounce about a bit if you're really spinning the pedals.

On the bike it's best suited to a more upright position because the rear isn't dropped like most cycling jerseys but the rest of the cut is tailored, keeping excess material from flapping about. It's still a relaxed fit though.

It's not just a commuter or café run jersey, though. The Den Haag can be used for sportive riding or fast placed club runs. It's quite thick so I'd say it's best suited to spring, autumn or cool summer days if you're really going to ramp the effort up. Things can get a little toasty at max effort.

Overall the Road Holland jersey is a beautiful bit of kit that makes you feel good when you slip it on. The fabric is soft enough to be worn directly next to the skin and you don't get any of the scratchiness associated with some (typically cheaper) Merino garments. The quality is really top notch and so far seems to be very hardwearing after about 300 miles of riding with a heavy rucksack in places. All the buttons are easy to do up and undo while on the fly and are still as secure as when the top was new.

Looks, styling, comfort and quality are all at there in abundance, I can't see much to find fault with.

Verdict

The perfect top for those sunny café spins and back lane meanders. Performance with a bit of class.

If you're thinking of buying this product using a cashback deal why not use the road.cc Top Cashback page and get some top cashback while helping to support your favourite independent cycling website

road.cc test report

Make and model: Road Holland Den Haag Jersey

Size tested: Medium

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

It's a more relaxed jersey for the non racer for those easy days commuting or just spinning round the lanes. Road Holland say it's about old school style with new school materials which I think is pretty much spot on.

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Merino (39%) polyseter (61%) mix

Two rear button down pockets

Three button polo style neck

Sizes - XS,S,M,L,XL,XXL

Colours - Racing Green, Midnight Blue, Road Black, Rochester Lilac

Made in Miami, Florida

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
9/10
Rate the product for performance:
 
8/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
8/10
Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
 
8/10
Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
 
9/10
Rate the product for value:
 
8/10

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Its a lovely jersey to wear on and off the bike

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

The styling and the feel of the fabric

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

I'd llike a slightly dropped tail

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes.

Would you consider buying the product? Yes.

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes.

Overall rating: 8/10

About the tester

Age: 35  Height: 180cm  Weight: 76kg

I usually ride: Whatever needs testing or Genesis Flyer, fixed of course!  My best bike is: Kinesis T2 with full Centaur Red

I've been riding for: 10-20 years  I ride: Every day  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, commuting, club rides, sportives, fixed/singlespeed,

 

As part of the tech team here at F-At Digital, senior product reviewer Stu spends the majority of his time writing in-depth reviews for road.cc, off-road.cc and ebiketips using the knowledge gained from testing over 1,500 pieces of kit (plus 100's of bikes) since starting out as a freelancer back in 2009. After first throwing his leg over a race bike back in 2000, Stu's ridden more than 170,000 miles on road, time-trial, track, and gravel bikes, and while he's put his racing days behind him, he still likes to smash the pedals rather than take things easy. With a background in design and engineering, he has an obsession with how things are developed and manufactured, has a borderline fetish for handbuilt metal frames and finds a rim braked road bike very aesthetically pleasing!

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10 comments

Avatar
Forester | 9 years ago
0 likes

Have to admit I ordered one, it arrived today from Memphis! and looks great- cold wash only though. Just right for a retro Genesis Equibrium rider.

Avatar
paulfg42 | 9 years ago
0 likes

No Team Z jersey though.  20

Avatar
Fixie Girl | 9 years ago
0 likes

Like that they are US Brand..

Retro is fine but buttons, really.. They are impractical with gloves and always fall off!

Avatar
Tony Farrelly replied to Fixie Girl | 9 years ago
0 likes
Fixie Girl wrote:

Like that they are US Brand..

Retro is fine but buttons, really.. They are impractical with gloves and always fall off!

But as it's a summer jersey most of the time surely you'll be wearing mitts so they shouldn't be that much of a problem. I did a big ride in a buttoned jersey last year and doing them up and undoing them wasn't a problem - and believe me, manual dexterity is not my strong suit.

More of an issue for some might be that on a hot day you can only open three buttons so far unlike a modern jersey with a full length zip. Mind you, that didn't seem to bother them too much back in the days before cycling jerseys had zips. Or maybe it did and they were just stoic about it.

Avatar
richardp27 | 9 years ago
0 likes

It's nice, but is there anywhere in the UK that you can actually buy it? As far as I can tell you need to get their stuff from the website, and then there is a $30 delivery charge for everything, and you have to pay the return costs if it doesn't fit.

Avatar
badback replied to richardp27 | 9 years ago
0 likes
richardp27 wrote:

It's nice, but is there anywhere in the UK that you can actually buy it? As far as I can tell you need to get their stuff from the website, and then there is a $30 delivery charge for everything, and you have to pay the return costs if it doesn't fit.

Excuse the blatent plug, but my business, Velotastic sells these in the UK.

Avatar
paulfg42 replied to badback | 9 years ago
0 likes
badback wrote:
richardp27 wrote:

It's nice, but is there anywhere in the UK that you can actually buy it? As far as I can tell you need to get their stuff from the website, and then there is a $30 delivery charge for everything, and you have to pay the return costs if it doesn't fit.

Excuse the blatant plug, but my business, Velotastic sells these in the UK.

Nice site. Didn't order the jersey but did get a couple of cycling caps for the summer.

Quite a few eyesores in those vintage jerseys!

Avatar
badback replied to paulfg42 | 9 years ago
0 likes
paulfg42 wrote:
badback wrote:
richardp27 wrote:

It's nice, but is there anywhere in the UK that you can actually buy it? As far as I can tell you need to get their stuff from the website, and then there is a $30 delivery charge for everything, and you have to pay the return costs if it doesn't fit.

Excuse the blatant plug, but my business, Velotastic sells these in the UK.

Nice site. Didn't order the jersey but did get a couple of cycling caps for the summer.

Quite a few eyesores in those vintage jerseys!

Thanks for the order.

You ought to see some of the vintage jerseys we reject  3

Avatar
ped | 9 years ago
0 likes

ooh, suit you sir!

That's lovely.

Avatar
mikem22 | 9 years ago
0 likes

Nice but not sure I would spend £73 on a soft polo shirt with pockets.

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