• Nema Guide jersey
• £30
• Jungle
• 01423 780088

Who’d have thought that there was still room for innovation in jerseys? Get some good fabric, make it the right shape, job done. Well, Nema has come up with a neat new feature in its Guide jersey. Round the back there’s a mesh panel down the middle just where your hydration pack sits. The idea is to ward off the unpleasant sweaty back that can result from wearing a pack, and it seems to work. The rest of the jersey is of a particularly soft and comfy wicking fabric, and the combination of that, the loose fit and the long front zip make this one of the coolest jerseys we’ve come across.

That’s the good news. There’s a few niggles, though, mostly relating to the shape. The Guide seems to have been designed with fairly upright riding positions in mind and lacks the longer rear that many bike jerseys feature. If you’re a bit lanky and/or adopt a slightly racy riding position you may well find a bit of a gap opening up betwixt shorts and jersey. While we like the long front zipper when it’s warm, if you zip it all the way up it gets a little bit too snug. It’s got a nice big zip pull on it, though. And the traditional rear pockets have been sacrificed for the rear vent panel.

A strip of the same mesh features between the torso and sleeves, which are finished off with a very slightly stretchy hem. The main hem is, as befits the casual style of the Guide, just a hem. The whole thing is held together with flat-lock stitching and thus far shows no signs of coming apart anywhere.

Positives: Lovely comfy wicking fabric, well made, cunning back design
Negatives: No pockets, tight neck, comes up a bit short on some riders

We love the fabric and the clever back design does work, but we’d quite like at least a pocket too and the fit niggles are a bit, well, nigglesome. That said, the Guide isn’t unreasonable money and you could easily be a better shape than us to fit inside it. And there’s a choice of tasteful colours.

Performance: 3/5
Value: 4/5
Overall: 3/5