Great shirts. Consider intended purpose and order size accordingly...

By All you can eat for $14.95!? Ranked #49 - Men's Performance Shirts - Short Sleeve July 28, 2009

I ordered 3 colors; all but the Oatmeal. I ordered Larges and XL's. Based on the reviews here I wanted more of a T-shirt fit; not a super tight base layer fit. I am 5'10" and 172.69lbs athletic.

So there is a big difference between the L and XL. The L is tight on my shoulders and pecs (more fitted than tight to be clearer) and has a bit of room through the mid section. Length is perfect on the L and I love how the rear has about 3" more length than the front. If I was using these predominatly as a base layer, I'd go for the M for my build and size. The XL has about an inch in length on the L, but is much roomier, more like a true T-shirt fit. Since I will be using these primarily as mountain bike jerseys, I thought the XL would be the ticket, but they were just too big. In the end I kept the Larges and am very pleased with the fit and function.

As for colors, none of the colors online accurately represent what you get. The Brick appears more orange online but in reality is more red. I really like the color. The blue is definitely more vibrant and lighter. Also much nicer in the real thing. The kelp is not too far off, but again is more green. All of the colors seem way nicer in person than the onine photos.

Someone mentioned a V-neck. Not really. It is a V, but it has a piece sewn in behind the V, so in effect it is a crew, just with an unnecessary, but by no means poor looking, accent at the neck.

Nice weight for summer and Merino really is the bomb. I sweat like a pig and any poly shirt I wear is just plain offensive after 5 minutes in it. With the wool in a 7 day week I can literally commute to work 16 miles round trip on bike M-F, do two full North Shore Fromme rides (an hour and a half to two hours hard) and one Seymour loop (2+ hours hard) all in the same shirt with no washes and it smells no different than day one. I have used Merino as underlayers for skiing, but never for riding until now and forever going forward.

Wicks well and is comfortable. It probably will not wear as well as poly but the trade offs (better temp moderation, moisture management, ability to retain thermal properties when wet and no stink) far outweigh that only negative.

View Details: Backcountry.com Merino Crew Shirt - Short-Sleeve - Men's

Helpful Votes: 0 Yes | 0 No