Buff Tour de France neck warmers review

Buff makes – well, buffs. It shows how well regarded the company’s products are that they have become the generic term for a tube-shaped neck warmer. These Tour de France designs are rather smart. I particularly like the retro patina to both the retro and straight yellow design, which makes them fit in well with a range of other clothing, rather than their being ultra-bright.

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The Buff Tour de France neck warmers are made of Coolmax Extreme fabric, which Buff says offers high UV protection. It also feels very soft and the neck warmers are completely seamless, so that there’s no chance of rubbing and irritation. The fabric is treated with a silver ion-containing protectant to keep it pong-free and fresh. It’s machine washable and quick drying too.

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At over 50cm, the Buff Tour de France neck warmers are nice and long, so there’s plenty of fabric to keep you warm and they’re stretchy enough to get on and off easily, Buff saying they’ll fit head sizes between 53 and 62cm. I found that there was just the right amount of coverage to keep me warm on cooler spring days and worn with a cap you can get pretty much full coverage of the back and sides of your head.

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If it does warm up, they’re easily stashable in a jersey pocket with little or no bulge and plenty of room for other essentials. They are understated enough that you can wear them casually as well as on the bike too.

The Evry design comes with images of assorted vintage bike riders, stage routes and posters, along with a long French tricolore; the Ypres version comes with Tour de France logos and is a slightly more muted yellow than a standard leader’s jersey. There’s also a Grenoble version with a full Tour route map and lots of mountains on it, as well as black and polka dot variants.

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Alongside the 50cm version, Buff also sells a shorter 27cm length version of some of its designs. It’s made out of less bulky, more technical fabric which weighs just 15g and is priced at £21. There’s also a headband priced at £14. And for really cold weather riding there’s a part-windstopper variant priced at £35.