A topic that always gets the blood pumping. Not after a diatribe of hate but opinions from those that use it or have used it. Rapha stuff smells nice but as you’d expect it’s expensive. Planet x have il soigneur for £8.50 posted, does it smell better than deep heat? Only stuff I’ve smelt before had a distinct whiff of rugby changing rooms.

I was given a pot of the Rapha stuff last Christmas and I’ve used it for CX racing and cold road sessions, (in minus degrees), and it works well. I’ll get more when its finished although whether it’ll be Rapha or not depends on availability and timing.

Rapha stuff is quite oily IMO and £££. Personally use the stuff off the zipvit site when racing. Seems good and good value.

Chamois Butt’r from Paceline. Not got a noticeable smell, not oily but don’t get the Eurostyle stuff as that tingles a bit. Unless you like that sort of thing…

I think (know) the op is on about warming balm for legs and the like rather than minty arse grease (paceline euro is great for this btw)

I was given some Rapha samples and it’s quite heavy/waxy, but very warm. I usually go for Born 1 if I can find it as it goes on like cream and is very warm too but does tend to make your legs go very red the 1st time you apply it! Anything by Naqi is also good, used by a lot of professional masseurs.

Yeah after some warming embro, perilous if confused with chamois cream!

Can’t find born1 stuff? Didn’t like the qoleum stuff from zipvit, smelt too much like deep heat for me. Anything specific for the Naqi?

Ta all btw

Nothing above about 8deg unless it’s raining.
Born #1 when it’s cold.
Well below freezing – Portia ‘Hot’. Not sure if you can still get it, I bought two tubs about ten years ago and I’ll have enough to last until I drop dead.

I use and love the stuff. I find all the hot types pretty much the same i.e orange and oily like Vaseline.
Rarely use it for training, unless there’s a bit flesh exposed and its wet.
Otherwise it’s race day stuff and applied as early as possible. I still sometimes get that burning sensation hours after racing.
I once had some nice milky embrocation it was very pale green and was great for all year round use.
I’ve never used it under clothing.

Born is tricky to find in UK and Naqi Ultra Plus seems to be bloody expensive for just a warm up cream as it’s more of a massage oil.

DON’T google Portia Hot at work!

I can go for hours sometimes without laughing but logging on here and just reading something has the effect of sending me over the edge

Thank you mr. Blazin saddles, the term, minty arse grease has just had me in stitches for the last 10 minutes.

As for the OP, I make my own. Fiery jack watered down with a bit of baby oil.

SportsBalm is good too but quite thick, rain’s not getting through that badboy!

Andy, why thank you, we aim to please.

DON’T google Portia Hot at work!

Haha nice work Dave!

DON’T google Portia Hot at work!

I’m at home so I’ll return to this thread in a while

EDIT: old git any particular one you use?

Think I might take a punt on the il soigneur from planet x, only got a couple races left though

I posted this a year or so ago, a couple of folk recommended natures kiss, I never got round to trying it. I’d be interested in how you get on with the il soigneur if you go for it.

I use (and really rate) Nature’s Kiss Hot Stuff. Tis excellent

What’s wrong with plain old deep heat? If its that cold that you need to use it then no-one else is going to worry abou a smell over the temperature. Plus it’ll clear your sinus’

Right, I have been trying a few in the last few weeks, natures kiss from planet x….nice smell(like dentyne chewing gum) easy to go on and ok heat etc,but bloody tiny pot size(not great value), some tingling when ride has finished etc, the soigneur is cracking value, huge pot, non greasy easy to shower off, fairly good heating property etc and showers off without hassle and also has the post ride tingle.
Now for the last bad boy, bought a stick of the CRANK spicy hot, comes like a deo stick easy to apply, very waxy and orange, smells ok,not as nice as the other,no way rain is sticking to you with this bad boy, just follow instructions,repeat follow instruction….wipe off before washing…which I didn’t, I washed hands properly then when my ride started my little chap started burning like boiling water had been poured on it, jeeez didn’t need my bike lights that night as my red end would have put Rudolph’s red nose to shame, then my lower back started to get a really nice hot sensation(again accidental transfer).
Nothing prepared me for when I stopped, oh my lord, my legs felt like I was on a sizzling plate,wow this one is hot, I so wish at this point I had wiped it off before showering as all I did was spread the damn stuff all other my body, I never realized I had so many sensitive areas lol.
So nice stuff but the colour and waxiness may not suit everyone so my choice for ease of use and value has to be soigneur

Fontmoss, I don’t know I just pick up what’s in stock. Blazin saddles mentions Sports Balm, that might be the stuff. Comes in a blue tub, and nothing does get past it, snow rain hot showers, and it seems to get a second breath Sunday tea time!

Deep heat just heats the skin. Embrocation takes a while to work as it sinks in deep. Deep heat/Ralgex seem to have a instant but slightly itchy heat effect. Hot embrocation isn’t noticable when racing, but burns like hell when you stop….but feels strangely nice?

I’m going to make my own embro this winter, just trying to find the last couple of ingredients before doing it. Found a recipe on a website which makes it sound very easy and really cheap so going to give it a shot.

Cheers For the extensive answer swampi!

Atlaz be interested to see the results

Ta old git

I wish you could still get wintergreen in vaseline. Boots used to do it in 70s and possibly 80s. Great for rugby – combination of vaseline and deep heat in one go.

Love the memories of misplaced embrocation – used to get smeared on peoples pyjamas at school. Shocking!

Got some of the soigneur stuff from planet x, felt tingly once put it on rather than warming. Actually felt colder when started my ride, I thought maybe they’d sent me chamois cream by mistake but as I type I can feel it warming. Weird

Got even warmer after my shower :O

So apply then shower then ride for maximal results?