Buff's

Had a normal one last year and it was great for work, but lost it.

Just been on the Buff site and seen the Merino ones for £21 – anyone tried one? They are longer, so wondering if they gather too much and get too warm.

…paying for buffs? I’ve got like 6, never spent a penny.

Well done you.

They are a frightening waste of money for what they are, it must be said. Cost pennies to make.

Elfin’s Top Tip: The body section of a toddler’s t-shirt with the top bit cut off makes an excellent Buff-type thing. Free, too. The same might work with a section of sleeve from a baggyish adult t-shirt or sweat top etc.

Or just cut a section out of an old worn out Merino top or similar, stitch together and wear with the seam on the outside.

Why anyone would want to pay twenty one pounds for something like that is beyond me.

They are a frightening waste of money for what they are, it must be said. Cost pennies to make.

I’ve got an original Buff, I think its excellent and well worth £12.

I can’t really see how you can compare a toddlers t shirt to a seamless bit of stretchy microfibre.

top viz tips there from fred (is it not considered shop lifting when its from mothercare then?)

OP, not tried a merino one myself, the first one i had did tend to smell a bit

real cheapskates can pick up the same thing (seamless fabric tube) from millets/blacks for peanuts and as one size fits all….

toddlers round here wear seamless bits of stretchy microfibre. they are a but like buffs

£21 you can get an On-One merino vest for £10 when they have their offers on you must be able to muster a buff via the arm holes and a whole lot cheaper?? Oh and I;ve never bought one either but seem to have hundreds given away free at events, or won at Bristol Bike Fest!!

at this time of year, polar buff ftw.

TK Maxx.

Oxford brand buffalike 3 pack for £6 at the moment. Had a few for years and they work just fine. I got Mrs TT a merino Buff last year and it has to be V V cold for that to be worn – and she feels the cold.

Yes, they are a lot less smelly. As an under-helmet cap, I think there’s a bit too much material. Very cosy as a scarf/facewarmer though.

I have a selection but not merino. Most of the time I wear one that is part micro fleece and part thin fabric. Also have a Windstopper one cos I get headaches when it’s cold, do find it quite a tight fit though but could be due to my hair.

Brilliant invention and you can wash them you know. 😉

I put all my free ones round my dogs neck – very cute and keeps him warm this time of year…

For elfin’s top tip to work, you have to have access to something that cost money in the first place, and it has to be stretchy to go over yer bonce. I have none of the things elfin suggests, so I might as well buy a Buff. I’ve got two, a red and white bandana style one, and one I bought earlier this year with lots of arrows in multicoloured dots. I love ’em, theyre just right to fit in the neck of a zip-up fleece or a flannel shirt, and can be pulled up around your chin. Wouldn’t be without mine, the red one’s a few years old now.

I can’t really see how you can compare a toddlers t shirt to a seamless bit of stretchy microfibre.

I discovered last week that Tesco also sell em. Only they call em dish clothes.

Really like my merino one, it’s my luxury winter riding and walking item. Don’t find they get too warm but then only really wear them when it’s cold.

my wife has just bought a polar buff, and id agree, its a frightening amount of money for what it is.
it performs excellently though.
however, one size does not fit all, if i wear it, my throat is compressed so much that breathing is difficult and i sound like ive been breathing helium.

Have a merino one, used it in anger for the first time the other night. Definitely an improvement on my ‘normal’ buffs, not that there’s anything wrong with them.

Extra length wasn’t a problem, will possibly come in handy when it gets proper cold!

Cool – just ordered a merino and a normal. The cost is quite insignificant compared to the rest of my outdoor work gear – Goretex Class 3 hi-vis jackets, Goretex boots etc.

First things first, there is only one “Original Buff”.
Yes there are now cheap copy products out there, but thats what they are, CHEAP COPY’S!
Buff is a global company who still make there products in Spain, where they began making Original Buff’s amost 20 years ago.
So dispite 15 or so copy products out there on the UK market, even with 3 for a tenner offers and such like, Original Buff sales are not suffering. As most people know, in life, you get what you pay for. The Original Buff is made from a mico fiber, which is breathable, high wicking and has good wind resistance. 3 things you need from your cycling headwear and 3 things the cheap far easten made copy products wont give you. So a few more £’s = alot more comfort when your buying multi fuctional head wear.

As for give aways, yes Custom Buff’s are often given away, as part of the marketing, event sponsorships and because the guys at Buff are generally a good bunch of guys, who live n breath Buff and the Buff lifestyle….

It is a shame the Buff company don’t make a Merino version. I have both and now only use the Merino. It’s long enough to use as a hat under the helmet as well as cover the nose and protect the neck. When it gets wet it doesn’t irritate, a problem I have had with the original Buff. I got mine in a Outdoor shop closing down sale for a tenner. All the ‘free’ cheap copies I have got, from magazines and the like, I use as cleaning rags.

The Original Buff is made from a mico fiber, which is breathable, high wicking and has good wind resistance.

…And which is available for just a few quid a metre, from online sources and fabric retailers/wholesalers. I daresay you could get tubular lengths in whatever spec you wanted, if you hunted around a bit.

Good idea, but way overpriced imo.

I’d really like to know why Buffs genuinely are so much ‘better’ than near identical ‘copies’.

Ermm, Blurboy…

Merino Buff, from Buff

The cost is quite insignificant compared to the rest of my outdoor work gear – Goretex Class 3 hi-vis jackets, Goretex boots etc.

Does this mean you are considerably richer than me?

I got a merino buff-like thing from Tiso last winter. It’s not as quite long as a buff but is double-layered, which is how I tend to use buffs anyway.

It’s too thick to have under a helmet but I find my Endura skull cap thing better for that than a buff anyway. As something to keep my neck warm and to stop up the gap between a jacket collar and my neck, however, it’s great.

On the bike I find it too warm except when the temperature is sub-zero, so far it only got used on the bike during the big freeze last winter. Off the bike it’s great whenever it’s cold. It lives in one of my walking jacket’s pockets now.

Ooops …. must admit I wasn’t looking to buy one at the time so didn’t check the web site – impulse buy in local shopping center! Might have even been a Buff make – no original packaging. Never seen a Merino Buff in a local store just the micro fibre … and no I haven’t checked the stockist list on the web site either! Slinks quietly off ……..

I find merino ones too warm even for my razor cut scalp in the depth of winter, bog standard works just fine for me.

Elfinsafety: OK,lets sort this, tell you what im going to do. As your not convinced by what myself and the other singletrack users have said. The next time your at an event and the Buff crew are there or if your at a trail centre and you see one of our vans, id like to invite you to come over and make yourself know to me, where I will personally present you with an Original Buff of your very own,(made from our own micro fiber, which we knitt in our factory) free of charge.
That way you will get to find out for yourself, why the Original Buff’s are so much better than the not so identical cheap copys out there….
How’s that sound?

Sounds ok.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not dissing youse as a company, but in these austere times, I think it’s best to question the cost and value of everything.

I’ve worked in clothing and cycle retail, owned a large number of various products by various braynds, handled countless products. In my experience, there are often claims made by manufacturers/distributors which simply don’t add up. I’ve actually often had just as good if not better quality products from certain companies than those which are meant to be the ‘industry leaders’. I’ve had some ‘big name” cycle gear which has bin so poor it’s gone back for a refund. And often, the spensive stuffs are still only made in Far Eastern sweatshops, so I just can’t see where the mark-up is justified.

As for ‘you get what you pay for’: not always. Quite often, speshly in the cycling business, stuff is sold at a premium price despite only being a mediocre product. Add ‘cycling’ to the ‘lifestyle image’ of a braynd, bump the price up by a fair whack. Quite honestly, a lot of stuff out there is simply a rip-off.

So wait, now anyone can just wonder over to a buff person, and all they have to do to get a free buff is inform them they’re that bloke off STW that doesn’t think buffs are worth all that?

OOoooh. I think Buffs are crap too.
I’ll be at Llandegla very soon.
GoreTex jackets are totally poo and I have no idea why anyone would want to buy either a Cannondale Scalpel or Orbea Orca…..

and all they have to do to get a free buff is inform them they’re that bloke off STW that doesn’t think buffs are worth all that?

they’ll have to be a four foot tall mockney, otherwise they’ll know it’s not elfin 😀

Elfinsafety sounds like a genuine person to me, hence why id help him out with a product.
RealMan your abit of a goose for thinking that way really and making a comment like that, what gives?

Elfinsafety: OK,lets sort this, tell you what im going to do. As your not convinced by what myself and the other singletrack users have said. The next time your at an event and the Buff crew are there or if your at a trail centre and you see one of our vans, id like to invite you to come over and make yourself know to me, where I will personally present you with an Original Buff of your very own,(made from our own micro fiber, which we knitt in our factory) free of charge.
That way you will get to find out for yourself, why the Original Buff’s are so much better than the not so identical cheap copys out there….
How’s that sound?

I am Elfinsafety and I claim my free buff

ewwww – poor people 😯

Get a cravat, you peasants !

Elfin, sure, you can buy microfiber material, but then you have to join it. Buffs are a seamless tube, they’re woven that way. A tube of cotton, like maybe a sleeve off an old shirt, won’t stretch over your head, and joining microfiber do that it stretches is fraught with problems, like you’ve got to stitch it fully stretched otherwise the stitching will snap as soon as soon as you try to stretch it.

Theres one buff for one Elfinsafety, if he wants it. As this is about converting a non belever. If some faker takes it first, then so be it and a thousand flats wished uppon there rear wheel this winter…….

Macca out

we have had in 2010 and 2011 sponsorship from Buff for our marshalling team as do many other events. We are thus able to give one of these excellent pieces of kit to our marshals the first time they join us and help support grass roots XC racing.

This is what they think

And for the avoidance of doubt all the Buffs go to the marshals, I even bought the one recently for this winter. (no glory or money in grass roots race organising! )

Yes sponsorship for 2012 would be nice, but regardless they have supported us and for that we thank them.

Bought a merino one for a trip to Africa. Wore it for a week solid on Kili, and then reasonably regularly for the next two weeks, including as a dust guard on safari. Three weeks without washing, and it didn’t smell. Kept me nice and warm on the mountain, but wasn’t too hot on the plains.
Yes, expensive, but like all good kit, worth it.

I’ve got a couple of original microfibre buffs, and a four or five magazine freebies. The ‘proper’ ones definitely are nicer, fabric is definitely better quality, and i tink i get a ride or so more out of them before they start to hum, but I’m not sure if they are (assuming you budget £4 for mag purchase to obtain freebie one) a whole £7 nicer.

What i will say is there seems no difference between the ones offered by Oxford and Box (motorbike outfitters, I have three of those too) and the free one, so of you are after better quality than a free one, there is little point in going for the budget jobs unless you can have a feel/stretch of them in the shop: you may be paying for the same thing just diferent pattern.