Sea Otter 2015: One Industries goes casual. Prototype 661 pads.

We got a good look at some of One Industries new clothing for 2015, which includes a good few pub-friendly tops and shorts, as well as stuff you’d be happy to wear out anyway and then ride in if the mood took you.

We also had a ‘You! Come with me round the back and see some secret stuff’ moment and got to see some of the stunning new protection that 661 is working on for 2016…

Firstly, here’s the Atom short, which includes a removable chamois, zippered pockets and a 13in inseam.

 

More conventionally, we have the Ion 1/4 Zip jersey, with One Industries’ typical flat collar yoke that keeps it out of the way of chins/beards and helmet straps.

 

 

Right, now here’s where things get a little more pub-friendly. This is a full-on technical riding shirt, from the ‘Trails to Ales’ range (yes, really). There’s a two-way stretch flannel, a 30SPF sun protection, under arm vents and neatly laser-cut pockets.

How’s this for a smart riding short? Possibly too smart to go out and get muddy, the Tech Casual short. And this has two-way stretch fabric too. So that was the Tech Casual range…

Crossing the ride/pub divide, we now move on to the Vapor XC Short that is a great riding short that won’t look too Red Bull Rampage in the pub/cafe after the ride.

661 Prototypes

Now, on to 661’s prototype gear for 2016. Not all of it will look exactly like this, but it’ll give you a good idea. Starting with the padded top – it’s very light jersey-style top that contains a slim D3O back panel, padded shoulders and hips. The pads are removable to tune it to the kind of protection you want and it looks light enough for regular burly XC use. The sleeves also feature 661’s wonderfully named ‘Pad-Lock’ for attaching elbow pads and keeping them in place with simple snaps.

Moving on to the knee pads, there’s a more sculpted look to them, with additional lower knee protection and some very subtle reflective logos that’ll light up in car headlights (or press flashguns…)

There is also a larger knee pad that gives riders options if they want shin protection from pedals, but don’t want to go the full Stormtrooper look.

The pads are engineered to be as light and vented as possible to make all-day wear bearable.

For more gnarly stuff, there will be a hard shell padded, er, pad.

There’s also a very light padded sleeve for enduro riders. These were used on the first EWS round and we’ll see more of them in the future. The production one will be black rather than banana though.

Possibly the nicest looking product we saw were the diminutive new elbow pads. They’re tiny, but still offer full elbow protection. We’ll eagerly await their appearance later in the year.

 

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