Review: Hoss Polo Pony Short Sleeve

Who:
From Hoss’s website: Hoss Technical Gear was created to offer the MTB enthusiast stylish, functional and affordable MTB apparel. Hoss was founded by cyclists, each with 17 years of prior experience in the apparel industry. With that insight and experience, Hoss is able to produce functional and comfortable cycling clothing that is also affordable. Value pricing is at the core of every product that Hoss makes.

Product Tested:
Hoss Polo Pony Short Sleeve (Grey)

Website’s MSRP:
$ 29.95

About Me:
6’0�? 210lbs, 27 year old male. I’m a mountain biking enthusiast who enjoys rocking the big 29er wheels on the trails and off.

Testing Grounds:
Fullerton Loop, Chino Hills State Park, the streets of Placentia, my office, various social functions

First Impression:
I picked up the shirt from RL’s pad and my first thought was cool. Nice looking grey polo with a clean design. I felt the material and found it to be solid and durable. I was going to enjoy testing this!

Strengths:
I think Hoss came up with a very good idea with a jersey that can be worn both on trail and off. With rising gas prices, more and more people are commuting around town on their bikes. But most bike clothing companies only offer advertisement infested (a la Biker Fox) form fitting jerseys or really loud jerseys a la Fox racing. The Polo Pony is a great shirt because it not only wicks away moisture, but it also looks great while going to church, work, children’s birthday parties… anything you can think of that requires more than a t-shirt but less than tie.

Just a few weeks before receiving this polo, I rode from my house to my dentist’s office. I was too embarrassed to wear a jersey so I changed into a cotton t-shirt. Thankfully, the dentist office was only a short ride away. If it was any longer my t-shirt would have gathered up all of my sweat and clung to my body. Yuck. If I had the polo jersey just a bit earlier, I definitely would have chosen that to wear instead.

Worn at a birthday party

Like other Hoss jerseys, the Polo Pony moves sweat away from the body to keep your body cooler. The jersey never gets that heavy, soaked feeling that cotton clothing does. Instead it moves away the sweat and dries off quickly.

Weaknesses:
Once when the wind and my speed lined up just right the collar flapped and tickled my ear. I’ve only had this happen to me once and it threw me for a bit. I thought it was some grey bug or something until I reached up and felt the collar flapping. It stopped bothering me the moment I realized what it was and to this day, I’ve been unable to reproduce it. As you can see, I’m really stretching to find any weakness with this shirt.

Summary:
The Hoss Polo Pony jersey is a comfortable, flexible and stylish jersey that can be worn just as easily on the trail as it can on the way to the office (seriously, paired with some jeans for casual Friday and voila! You’re done). The best compliment I can give this shirt is that it has become a permanent fixture in my wardrobe, both for trail riding and casual wear. Get it if you don’t want to look like a dork while picking up some milk from the store… then again the cleats clicking might just give you away.

Comes in black (shown), beige and olive

For more info about the Hoss Polo Pony Short Sleeve Shirt, click here.