Craft Cool Mesh Superlight sleeveless baselayer review

One of the most popular summer undergarments out there - does this Superlight baselayer deserve its reputation?

Cycling Weekly Verdict

The Craft Cool Mesh Superlight baselayer is an ideal weight for hotter summer rides, with good ventilation from its mesh fabric and effective wicking and cooling

Reasons to buy
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    Effective wicking

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    Comfortable

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    Light

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Reasons to avoid
  • -

    Polyester garments can get whiffy

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The Craft Cool Mesh Superlight baselayer is one of the most popular summer undergarments out there – Wiggle alone has over 1300 customer reviews on its site. At 52g, it’s definitely lightweight and is made of an open mesh fabric that lets plenty of air circulation through once the temperature starts to rise.

It’s also a good fit and very comfortable as the fabric is soft. There’s lots of stretch in the material, so the baselayer fits closely – an important consideration as it means that sweat is wicked away from the skin effectively and evaporates on the outside of your jersey, keeping you cool.

>>> Hot weather cycling: five tips to help you keep your cool

Craft’s fabric is a six-channel polyester, which helps with the wicking effect. Being polyester, it’s a bit more subject to whiffs than a natural fabric. But since there are no sleeves, the whiff trapping element is kept away from the armpits, where odour usually builds up.

Craft Cool Mesh Superlight

The fabric of the Craft Superlight is very airy but still pretty robust

There are a couple of seams in the body, but these are flatlocked and so not intrusive. Otherwise it’s a very simple garment with a rounded collar and enough length to fit well when on the bike.

>>> Best cycling baselayers: a buyer's guide

The Craft Cool Mesh Superlight washes up well too. I’ve had one of these Craft baselayers for years and it’s still going strong (although it does only come out in summer). The white version is reasonably resistant to greying or staining, although there’s also a black variant if you’re worried about your baselayer showing the dirt.

Craft makes the Cool Mesh Superlight in six sizes from XS to XXL. Being a Swedish company, Craft’s sizing is pretty accurate for a UK rider. You should find that you can size down though, if you want to, as there’s enough stretch and length for a smaller size to still be comfortable and provide a good fit.

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Paul Norman

Paul started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2015, covering cycling tech, new bikes and product testing. Since then, he’s reviewed hundreds of bikes and thousands of other pieces of cycling equipment for the magazine and the Cycling Weekly website.

He’s been cycling for a lot longer than that though and his travels by bike have taken him all around Europe and to California. He’s been riding gravel since before gravel bikes existed too, riding a cyclocross bike through the Chilterns and along the South Downs.