Tested by Coy Starnes Supplied by MEC for testing purposes.
The MEC (Mountain Equipment C0-OP) Mercury Tights are designed for running and other winter time activities that require warmth and freedom of movement. However, due to bad knees, my running days are pretty much over. However, I do still like to hike in the winter, and often do so at a fairly brisk pace when I’m out for exercise. And while these pants are not designed as hiking pants, they will work for this activity just about as well as anything else, and a lot better than some pants, like say for example, blue jeans.
Another potential application is to use these pants for bike riding, or in my case recumbent bike riding. In fact, these are probably not suited for regular bikes since most riding tights and bibs designed strictly for bikes have a pad in the seat area. As a matter of fact, I still have a few pair of bike specific shorts and they remind me of walking around with a loaded diaper, not that I remember what that felt like…but I digress.
One really neat feature of the Mercury Tights is the generous use of reflective piping on the sides and backs of the knees. This is probably even more important for someone on a bike but in any case, it is always good to be seen by cars. On my recumbent the backs of my knees are really not all that visible but the reflective piping on the sides really show up. For a runner they should show up very nicely from behind.
Fit I am a pretty big guy (some would even say fat) and I am testing a pair of XL tights. However, I am not all that tall so mine are a little long for me. However, they are not noticeably long and it has not caused me any problems. One thing I will say though is that tights in general are rather form fitting, so some may find them not so great for wearing in public. Since most of my rides are out in the sticks I don’t generally have any concerns but my strategy is to wear a pair of gym shorts over them if I need to ride to the store etc. As a matter of fact, I usually wear gym shorts over sweat pants for hiking and riding so it is no big departure in style for me, plus, the gym shorts add a little more warmth to my clothes.
Initial Testing I have not had a lot of time to wear the Mercury Tights yet but I am impressed with what I have observed so far. The temperature the past week (since getting the tights) has struggled to make it to the upper thirty’s each day so I chose a sunny afternoon to do my initial test ride. It was 37 F when I left for my ride. I wanted to see how they would do without the gym shorts so I did not wear them over the tights. I rode about 8 miles in approximately 40 minutes. This was long enough to see that they were pretty warm. In fact, I was starting to sweat a little under my wind jacket but my legs were fine. I was riding my recumbent with a faring but it still allows quite a bit of fresh air around my legs, just not as much as when riding my other recumbent which has no faring. Anyways, I had my daughter take a photo as I headed out.
Author sporting the MEC Mercury Tights
I’ll close with the following information taken from the MEC website. And for the record, I weighed my XL at the local post office and their scales say they weigh 10.1 oz (286 g)
Weight: 231g (Medium)
Technical tights for running or other fast-paced winter activities. A soft microfleece interior keeps you warm, while strategically placed vents help maintain a comfortable body temperature.
- Tights are mostly Thermoroubaix fabric; 54% nylon, 26% polyester, with 20% spandex for stretch.
- Outside is coated with Polyamide for durability; inside is soft Thermolite® microfleece for warmth and comfort.
- Thermoair venting fabric at the back of knees, small of back, and crotch, to optimize comfort and breathability.
- Ergonomic shape and fit for total freedom of movement.
- Waistband features a flat drawcord.
- Internal pocket is ideal for gels, keys, ID, credit card, etc.
- Reflective piping on sides and back of knees.
That’s all for now. Please stay tuned for my next report to see how these tights perform.
Update: January 8, 2011
I have been wearing the Mercury Tights for both day hikes and on a few biker rides. However, more of the former since I don’t like to ride when it gets much below 50 F, and for the past month, the high has only made into the 50s a few times, and those days were usually rainy. One such day hike came on December the 14th, two days after we had a pretty decent snow by Alabama standards. With the cold temps the snow stayed on the ground several days so I considered myself lucky to get a chance to walk to the holler with snow still on the ground. I left the house at 8 AM and it had already warmed up to a blustery 12 F and by the time I got home at 11 AM it was a steamy 19 F. I wore the Mercury Tights under my gym shorts and also had on some pretty tall boots so there was only a short section of my leg that was only covered by the tights. I managed to get a couple of photos along the way showing my attire.
Author wearing the Mercury Tights on a rather chilly hike
I found that they provided pretty decent warmth as long as I was walking but I could feel the cold as soon as I stopped for short breaks. This is really no surprise though because any single layer that is not all that thick is not going to feel real warm at temperatures this cold. I did go on a couple of other day hikes and the temps were anywhere from the upper 20s to the low 50s Fahrenheit. The Mercury Tights were plenty warm for all these hikes. I have tried to stay on good trails when wearing the tights because they do not appear to be made to take a lot of abrasion.
I also wore them on a few short recumbent bike rides. I picked up a used Vision R45 recumbent recently and of course I had to test ride it before deciding to buy it. I wore the Mercury Tights over to meet the guy in Menlo, Georgia. I wore gym shorts over the tights but had on my bike shoes instead of my normal winter boots. In fact, my bike shoes are basically low top tennis shoes and not made for cold weather riding at all. It was 24 F when I left the house and when I passed the bank sign in Henagar, Alabama, an hour later the temp was only 26 F. However, I think it may have warmed up few more degrees by the time I arrived in Menlo. Anyways, I only rode about a half mile but my legs felt fine. I drove back home and went for a longer ride. By now (2 PM) it had warmed to 40 F and I did a 12 mile ride around my neighborhood. My legs did get cool, but not uncomfortably so, but my feet got very cold. I really need better winter riding shoes. I do use boots on my other bents but the Vision R45 has the small SPD clipless pedals and is hard to ride without my bike shoes.
I had to wait almost a week for another chance to ride. It was only slightly warmer at 44 F but I found a few degrees can make a big difference in how I felt, especially my feet. I did the same 12 mile ride and this time my legs (and feet) felt fine for the entire ride. Well my feet were getting a tad cold but not enough to fuss. But again, this is not the fault of the Mercury Tights.
I went for another long walk to the holler on December the 24th. It was chilly at 44 F but not too cold. By the time I finished the hike it had dropped to 40 F but I stayed fairly warm and in fact, ended up carrying my jacket in my day pack for most of the hike. I wore the Mercury Tights under a pair gym shorts but left the shorts on for the entire time. This hike was about 5 miles but I covered some very rough terrain. I also had to jump over the creek several times and in the process I must have over did it a little because my right knee has been giving me fits ever since.
So in summary, I have found the Mercury Tights are perfect for hiking in temperatures from the upper 20s up into the 50s. Any cooler and I could feel the cold when stopped for breaks. For bike ridding they did OK at 37 F on my recumbent with a fairing (a windshield made especially for this bike) and were good at 44 F with my unfaired recumbent. I found the Mercury Tights to be extremely comfortable to wear. In fact, I cant imagine anything feeling better…well clothing wise. After a few of my more strenuous hikes I could have gone for a hot tub bath and good massage… Please stay tuned for my last update in about a month too see how I am still using and liking the Mercury Tights.
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Final Update: March 7, 2011
Since my last update I went for several more day hikes and bike rides while wearing the Mercury Tights. They have continued to perform great and have kept my legs warmer than I would have anticipated from such a thin layer. It has not been as cold but we still had snow a couple of times. One was around 8 inches which is pretty unusual for mountainous northeast Alabama.
I did not get a chance to hike in the 8 in snow on January the 9th until a few days later on the13th. The temperature was still below freezing but the snow was starting to melt from the underneath side because the ground was not frozen before the big snow. Anyways, I hiked down to the creek in the holler behind my house at 2 PM. I took my time enjoying the snow but also because it was pretty slick on the trail. I took the long way home so ended up hiking about 4 miles total. The temperature was 28 F when I left the house but it cooled down to 25 F by the time I got home at 4:30 PM. I was hiking just fast enough to stay warm and of course on the climb back up I had no problem staying warm. I wore my 15 inch high rubber boots and had gym shorts on over the tights so as in my previous update, not a lot of my legs were covered with just the tights but the area above and below my knee stayed warm after I hiked just a few minutes.
I then wore the tights on a short bike ride down the mountain on January 15th. There was still a lot of snow on the ground and the roads were pretty clear. However, there were still several shady places where the packed snow had turned to ice and was still on the road. It was 42 F when I left the house at 2 PM but by the time I got home at 4 PM it had cooled off to 38 F I wore the tights under a pair of sweat pants. I rode my wife’s bike because it has bigger tires than my recumbent and is also a little easier to ride on icy roads than my recumbents are. I wore a t-shirt, fleece shirt and light wind jacket up top along with gloves and a boggin. I stayed warm the entire ride. As a matter of fact, I was sweating pretty good on the ride back up the mountain, but again, the Mercury Tights performed well, especially at wicking my excess sweat away from my skin.
We had about another month of very cold weather and I basically did not ride my bike anymore but did manage several hikes. In the meantime I acquired a Crank Forward frame and seat and built it up using parts off another bike I did not ride. On February the 13th I had a chance to ride the newly built up bike for the first time. I thought it might be too warm for the tights since it was around 60 F and warmed up to around 65 F by the end of the ride, but I found the tights were not too warm for these temperatures. In fact, I ended up taking off my wind-beaker jacket, gym shorts and boggin and got a little chilled in just my t-shirt, but my legs did not get too hot and definitely did not get too chilled. I was thinking, a long sleeve pullover of the same materiel as the Mercury Tights would have been ideal. Here are a couple of photos (before and after jacket, shorts and boggin removal) from this ride.
Early in the ride I was wearing the Mercury Tights along with more layers
After it warmed up a little more (and me too) I was down to this
Summary
I’m no fabric expert and do not understand exactly how the different kinds work but I will say that the Thermoroubaix fabric used in the Mercury Tights works very well over a fairly broad range of temperatures. I would not say they are good for sub-arctic conditions but I found them pretty warm even in the mid 20s F, and to be that effective at these cool temperatures, I was surprised that they were also comfortable in temperatures approaching 70 F. I think the wicking ability of the fabric is a huge factor in the broad range of temperatures I found them comfortable. The fabric also feels nice against my skin and I have always found them extremely comfortable to wear. This is probably due to the softness of the inside of the material. The stretchy characteristics of the fabric make them ideal for all types of activities. I would sum my use up as being pleasantly surprised that they are as warm as the are and one of the most comfortable items of clothing I have found for active use, especially riding my recumbent or bike
I am from northeast Alabama where I spend a lot of my time divided among several hobbies that include backpacking and dayhiking, canoeing and kayaking, and just getting out enjoying nature.
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