Galibier Masaka Fundraising Jersey

The Galibier Masaka Fundraising Jersey is a good summer cycling top that aims to support the development of professional cycling in Uganda. It works well at keeping you cool and raises money – those have to be very good things.

For more options check out our best summer cycling jerseys buyer's guide.

> Buy now: Galibier Masaka Fundraising Jersey for £65 from Galibier

Galibier has funded the entire production cost of this jersey so that £52 of the recommended retail price goes directly to the Masaka Cycling Club.

Sitting near the equator some 80 miles south west of the capital Kampala, this area of East Africa boasts some of the continent's top cyclists, according to the Masaka website. 'Yet this talent faces many daily barriers,' the site explains: 'Poverty, corruption, access to food and clear drinking water, basic medical support, safe infrastructure, equipment and the opportunity to participate in races throughout the region to showcase this talent.'

The Masaka cycling club has brought a network of cycling fans together to address these issues and create a more inclusive cycling community. It includes businesses like Galibier and the Dutch organisation Team AMANI.

It's a network that is helping to support riders like Masaka's Paul Kato, who was the Ugandan National Road Champion in 2016, sprinter Fred Wasswa, junior racer Richard Kemya and women's captain Florence Nakaggwa, who the team hopes will be their first elite level female rider.

You can find them all in the team section of the club's website, smartly decked out in their bright orange Masaka Cycling Club kit. So how well does their replica kit perform so far from the searing heat of East Africa?

Winter's tale

This short-sleeved jersey is really made for warm summer days. So reviewing it at 51.5 degrees north of the equator, during some of the wettest months of the year has been a challenge.

Most of my trips out on the road have seen this thrown on over a base-layer and it has performed well. There's a full length front YKK zip, that allows me to ventilate on some tough climbs, and is easy to operate with one hand. There's a neat reflective tab at the back for added visibility on night sections and three rear pockets that are all easy to access.

I like to have at least one zipped pocket for bank card and house keys – brain fog mid-ride makes this a vital requirement for me – and that is not on offer here. But all three pockets are suitably deep and they securely carried an impressive amount of kit on my last 200km ride. I managed to stash phone, wallet and keys in one pocket, repair kit, pump and inner tube in another and waterproof in the third. Everything stayed where it needed to with minimal bounce.

The sleeves feature elasticated ends that are perfectly comfortable but don't offer a lot of give. My preference would be for a band of Lycra that has a little more flex and can offer a snug fit no matter how large your arms are.

There's a silicone gripper that runs around the waist of this garment and ensures it stays in place and this is enhanced by what Galibier calls a 'dual material compression band'. This tops off what feels like a well designed and functional piece of cycling kit. I found the top really comfortable and a joy to wear.

Turbo aesthetics

I wanted to get a sense of what this was like in the heat, worn next to my skin. So I removed all my recent washing from the clothes horse that occasionally doubles as an indoor bike. Then I waited for the heating to come on and closed all windows before undertaking 40 minutes of vigorously static pedalling.

And as the heat built up, the jersey started to play to its strengths. It's made of different grades of Italian Airmesh material. So there's a little extra wind resistance on the front panels and noticeably larger holes for breathability at the back. Then under the arms, those holes increase again to ensure a good flow of air where it is most needed.

This meant that even when I was wheezing my way through 'intervals' and dabbing at my face with a spare towel, the jersey kept me cooler than I would have been in the majority of my own cycling tops. It's really comfortable against your skin, breathes well and would be a great piece of kit on a long, midsummer ride.

When I opened the door and stepped outside, it dried quickly, so I'd expect this to perform brilliantly on a hot summer's day on the road.

And taking a training ride around the spare room meant I was able to really appreciate the aesthetic appeal of this jersey in the adjacent wall mirror.

The 'athletic' sizing would better suit someone with less of a penchant for KitKats and ice-cream, but the elasticated side panels ensured a comfortable fit and my size 'large' felt absolutely spot on (I am a 42in chest and 34in waist). It's worth noting that Galibier offers this in both men's and women's fits.

It's not the most stylish design – but if you like orange (and frankly, who doesn't?) then this is going to tick a box for you. The black panel on orange background might remind you of the old Holdsworth racing top and it's not a million miles from my own club kit. There are a lot of different fonts on here though – the mix of Galibier, Masaka, Bike Matters and Curve logos all seem to be fighting for attention. I really do feel that there was potential to do a lot more with the look of this top to really celebrate its Ugandan origin.

A very minor nod towards its country of origin comes in the form of subtle Ugandan flag detailing on the arms. While the actual club kit also has this design running around the neck, for some reason this replica option features a plain black collar. And when you compare this to the team jersey of Sierra Leone's Lunsar Cycling Team, which weaves the flag's white, green and blue into an intricate design, this does seem to be a missed opportunity.

The Ugandan flag could easily be mistaken for its Belgian counterpart. So expect this to elicit as many comments about that country's Spring Classics and Eddy Merckx as it will about the Tour d'Afrique or Uganda's Charles Kagimu, who won gold in 2023's Africa Continental Championships.

Value for money

The Masaka Fundraising Jersey is perfectly functional although £65 is quite a lot of money when you compare this to other similar jerseys. Galibier's own Regale Ultralight Jersey costs just £46.88 and was highly rated when Shaun reviewed it. He said he was impressed by its comfort, durability and lack of compromise.

But if you want to support the idea of making cycling more accessible and equitable, then the Masaka Fundraising Jersey is going to be hard to beat.

Buy this and you'll walk away with a really good cycling top that celebrates a growing group of highly talented athletes, safe in the knowledge that a good chunk of what you have spent is going to be used to address inequalities in our sport. And wearing the top on your local club runs is going to help to build awareness further.

The Galibier website says that the company has made 25 deliveries of new cycling kit to Masaka so far, so this is already having impact on the ground. You can, of course, make donations directly through the Masaka website.

There are lots of other ways to support the sport overseas, too. You can donate money and kit directly to Sierra Leone's Lunsar Cycling Team. Or you can try to track down one of their replica jersey's made in association with manufacturer Le Col. It no longer seems to be available on the main Le Col website but we did find one on the SportPursuit website. The design incorporates the flag of Sierra Leone and looks stunning.

Away from professional cycling there are organisations that aim to make cycling more accessible. Cycling Out of Poverty and Prodigal Bikes send donated bicycles out to the continent of Africa and these are also worth consideration if you want to make a small contribution to help promote cycling around the globe.

Conclusion

I've got a few issues with the design ethic of this jersey. So much more could have been done with it and there are a few too many fonts battling it out between the Galibier, Masaka, CURVE and Bike Matters logos. But it is a really good summer top – and if it can handle the needs of professional cyclists near the Equator, it should keep you cool on a streamy August ride through the Cotswolds. This is a great fundraising initiative and one that is well worth supporting. If it inspires an interest in the talent currently emerging from teams like Masaka, Lunsar and AMANI and helps to level out the inequalities in professional cycling, then that has to be a good thing. Perhaps it could inspire a UK wing of the Masaka Cycling Club.

> Buy now: Galibier Masaka Fundraising Jersey for £65 from Galibier

Verdict

Very good summer top that performs well in the heat and will help to level the playing field for emerging African cycling talent