Q36.5 cements its position as most unique kit in cycling with 2020 winter releases

It’s a busy time at Eurobike. There are vendors, distributors and bike companies spread out over 14 airplane hangers on the Swiss-German border town of Friedrichshafen. The city itself is perfectly ordinary, but it is a cycling circus unlike any on earth. I make my way over to the SRM booth. People are eyeing the company’s new indoor training bike. A screen is affixed three feet away where a model demos the bike on Zwift.

It’s here that I meet Mario Kummer. He is tall and lanky and looks like someone who has spent a life dedicated to cycling and sacrifice. He has, but in my rush to prep for EB, I don’t put that together until later. Today he is an industry man, attending as a friend of Q36.5, showing off the company’s new designs. He mills around the SRM booth shaking hands with nearly everyone that passes through - a familiarity gained only after years spent working inside this small, insular world.

While we’ve only just met, Kummer’s manner is that of an old friend. We start chatting about Q36.5’s new 2020 kit - the beginning of a “new era” for the company, he says. Two prize designs come out of his backpack - iterations of their already well-conceived bibs and lightweight jerseys. Every bit is examined in awe. While Kummer has likely seen the designs dozens of times, he is still genuinely excited.

Both the bibs and jersey are meticulously made in a way most are not, and as our meeting wraps, I’m curious. The weather is turning in central Europe; will Q’s new 2020 gear be key to riding warm this winter?

If I had to burn it all down - every bib, gilet, long sleeve, sock, jacket, arm-warmer, leg-warmer, glove, over-shoe, cover-shoe - everything - I’d think hard about replacing it all with Q36.5. On this, Kummer and I are aligned. A four-time Tour finisher, he is a lot like Q kit itself. Unassuming but self-assured. He has an impressive palmares and has had a good career after racing. All the same, he is quiet about it. That parallel is clear after I start using the kit I get for this post, and later, Google his accomplishments - an Olympic gold medal among them.

A quick Q.36.5 primer: if you ride in Toronto, where AlphaVelo’s Q-concept store gave me my first glimpse of it, you’ll know the brand well. It was conceived as a kit lab focused on temperature regulation; it’s founder, Luigi Bergamo, is a bit of a mad scientist. He plies his craft using high-density stretch fabrics - stuff seldom seen elsewhere in the industry. (Interesting fact: the only other time similar high-density stretch woven fabric has been used to make performance kit - like the kind in Q bibs etc. - was for the banned Speedo LZR full-body swimsuit.)

Specifically with bib shorts, the result of all this experimentation is ultralight weaves of 205 threads per cm squared (vs 44 in other high-end bibs). What started as the pursuit of the perfect bib has evolved into the use of extreme fabric experimentation for their entire collection. My first chat with Bergamo was exactly four years ago. Now at the end of Q36.5’s first “development cycle,” what’s been created for winter 2019/2020 is Q2.0. A further maturation of cycling clothing that was already pretty grown-up.

It’s difficult to constantly re-imagine cycling essentials year after year, particularly next-to-skin layers, yet there have been many attempts. Rapha’s merino turtleneck, Castelli’s wind-cutting layers and Assos’ polypropylene ‘winter’ and ‘deep winter’ system have been equally influential and effective for many and jump to mind.

Q's Teddy Berry intimo base (below left, grey) builds on that pattern of innovation and indispensability, but furthers it. As a standalone, it would be better described as a technical crew-neck for bikes and could easily be labeled a masterpiece because of how different it feels and functions compared to everything that’s existed previously.

Breathable, quick-drying and body-mapped to perfection, it fits tight under jerseys and jackets (and boasts a double layer around the chest that acts as a tiny furnace). I was skeptical about this being "just another layer" when I took it out of the box, but I’ve quickly realized that it sets a new standard entirely for the meaning of "essential." You can make a strong case for the Long Sleeve WoolF Jersey in this regard, too.

This is a lightweight long sleeve and a great transition layer for autumn (add the teddy layer + jacket and you can take this into early winter. Similarly strip it down with a lightweight layer and gilet and ride in it in spring). Furthering the company’s use of ultralight, high-density fabric it weighs just 195g and is conceived extensively around fit and function - both of which are excellent manifestations of a specific vision executed in jerseys demarcated by their true originality.

Finally there are the Termica Long Salopette bib shorts. Updated for 2020 thanks to a thermo-regulating lining called Heat Fiber made from coffee-bean processing residue. I thought thermo-regulation was just hyperbole. It’s not. The bib warms muscles as you pedal and generate heat but stays dry - which is perfect for cold weather and colder descents. The compression, lower-lumbar support and exceptional pad set a new standard for quality.

While this might be the beginning of a new development cycling for Q36.5, it’s hard to imagine further iterations improving on what already exists. This is true of Q kit, and of the industry generally. Several companies are pushing boundaries in design, creating segmentation for every riding condition.

Kummer and Bergamo, anchored to the vision of experimentation, believe there’s still room for advancements. Wherever that research and development takes the industry, I’m certain Q will be at the front, pushing the pace.