Kit Order Update!!

Hi all,

Just a quick note to let you know that I am communicationg with Voler.com to get our order started. I am looking over material choices so I can make recommendations to you based on material I have personally examined. I have 95% decided on Voler for one important reason: my sanity. They use team stores, where you can order directly and keep me out of it!

How it will work: when the team store opens, which I can probably set up very quickly here (like next week?), YOU can follow the link to the store, order anything you want, pay for it and have it shipped to you. Gone are all the complications of me collecting money based on what I think I'll need to pay the producer and pay all the postage and still break even. Gone is the anxiety of you waiting for me to box stuff up, go to the post office, etc. It seems like a no-brainer from both my end and yours.

The important variable is quality, so I need to look over Voler's materials before we finalize this, but I've had their stuff before and in 2016 I can't imagine it's an issue. There are a few upgrades you can choose in terms of material, chamois choice, etc. There are men's and women's cuts, race cuts, and more casual wear. For the people who just want something simple, you will DEFINITELY have more choices than me picking an item and rounding up all the interested folks.

For jerseys, there would be a single minimum for all orders. If you want a race jersey, or something simpler, that's fine. Short sleeve? Long sleeve? All good. There are choices on full or half zip in some cases, just full zip in others.

For shorts, there would again be a single minimum which would include regular shorts, bib shorts, regular knickers and bib knickers. Again, a few choices for material upgrades, including a winter-grade material for knickers (!!!). There is a basic pad included as well as pad upgrade choices.

For accessories, there would be arm warmers, leg warmers, caps, gloves, shoe covers (!) etc. Basically, all the accessories count toward a single minimum, so if you want to order something I hadn't though of but they make available, I won't stop you. Hell, I'll even see that they have a design ready to use.

There would be a cutoff date for orders. Voler also has a limited program where you can order a single item or set of items yourself, any time in the future, but it's not as cheap and only shorts and jerseys. So we should plan on ordering en masse once I set up the store, and if anyone comes in later, we'll have the option out there to grab another jersey or what have you in the future. Oh, and there are several categories of minimums, so you would start out with one price but if we get enough orders to move up a category, I can have them refund you the accompanying savings.

The one hitch is that they do not ship internationally. Obviously we will still do international orders. Details to come but if nothing else I will collect the international orders and deal with them the old fashioned way (boo!). My guess is that the team store will allow you to place your orders, and it'll just entail me shipping things to you.

Thoughts and comments? Again, I want to get started very soon. I will not be dragging my feet and hope to have a store open before Christmas in case you want to give some gifts. Shipping happens 6-7 weeks after the store closes, but for anyone in the northern hemisphere that'll be well in advance of decent riding weather.