Is this ‘gravel’? I’ve been scratching my head for some time. The marketing images on the MAAP website show it a little dirty, so that’s a clue, and it’s said to be for ‘alternative paths’. In the UK that usually means muddy bridleways, or it’s what your parents say politely when describing your drastic career change. In any case, the MAAP Alt_Road ½ Zip Jersey isn’t quite so overtly gravel as the Rapha Gravel Jersey, but it’s clearly not an all-out road jersey, so what is it? The clue, I think, is hidden on the neck label.
The easiest way to find out is just giving it a load of use, so I’ve taken it bikepacking in freezing conditions, road riding in warmer weather, and gravel riding somewhere in between to find out what ‘Alt_Road’ really means. Is it one of the best gravel jerseys, or even one of the best cycling jerseys in general? Scroll down and find out. If you want to go full matchy-matchy (and let’s be honest, we all do) we’ve also got the MAAP Alt_Road Cargo Bib Shorts covered too.
Design and aesthetics
This section is where MAAP gear really shines, and the Alt_Road ½ Zip Jersey (which I’m going to abbreviate from now on) is no exception from a visual perspective. The colour palette from MAAP is pretty much always spot on, especially if you’re into the slightly more edgy side of design. Compared to some of its other offerings this jersey is actually pretty understated, which I also like.
The petrol blue exterior is gorgeous, married up with a very dark grey warped chequerboard motif front and back, which matches the rear pockets. Other than that the only contrast is a brighter, almost juvenile blue zip and rear patch, and a reflective salmon pink stripe on the rear. Again, it’s a pretty simple package, but it looks really stylish.
Nominally it’s a half-zip, but in reality, it is what most of us would think of as a quarter-zip; we wouldn’t want something so functional as a zip spoiling the clean aesthetic of the drunken chessboard now, would we?
While the outer looks pretty homogeneous in construction, save for the contrast grey pockets, the material for both the side panels and the pockets is a more rip-resistant nylon outer, but in reality, you can’t feel much difference at all and I only realised about the side panels while re-checking the…
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