Cycling Fashion

[Levin]

I know that we have sundry cycling threads but I'm creating a new one so it'll be easier for me to find in the future.

I don't have a bike at the moment but that hasn't stopped me looking at kit. (I held my new wheels at the weekend and saw my groupset, they are both beautiful).

So, a thread for clothes and accoutrements for cycling. Not strictly limited to lycra, I'm sure there are some nice bike cut commuting clothes out there. I used to think that Rapha was the toppest of the line but then I've seen Le Col which is even more expensive. I'm not too struck by the look either. When I've got the money I tend to stick with Rapha and Castelli. I do like these shorts from Ostroy, Floral has a baroque mapei feel to it and this print is nice as well in an attractive green. Both would look good with a plain jersey.

Cafe du Cyclist stuff looks nice but it all seems to be lightweight and hot weather gear. Sigr.cc might be worth a punt.

I've realised that I will need new shoes soon as the sole of my current shoes is delaminating or coming apart. I'm not going back to nylon soles though but carbon soled shoes are ridiculously expensive.

What brands do you buy? Any items tempting you?

[San Bernardhinault]

On shoes, I will continue to fight the fight against "real" road shoes. Yes, you get a marginal performance edge by riding the same things the professionals ride, but almost none of us need to be wearing something absolutely rock solid that becomes one with the pedal. We aren't racing on the margins. Better to have something comfortable that you can walk into a coffee shop wearing and not fall on your arse, or spend your time freaking out about trashing the cleats.

I've gone for full MTB shoes (made by Giro) now on my road bike, and the only downside is that this pair have laces which can then get caught in the chain. But there are nice MTB shoes which you can walk around in not looking like a giraffe on ice, where you can carry your road bike across a stream when a bridge is out (like I had to a couple of months ago), which have straps not laces.

My most comfortable bibs, oddly, are some custom team ones from Owayo, rather than a "proper" cycling brand. But then, I'm never really focused on looks.

[Felicity, I guess so]

I buy team kit usually but that experience tells me that Etxe Ondo are very good quality, if you can get it at reduced price. They do some nice plain coloured gear.
I got some Assos shorts in a Falkirk charity shop for a fiver and they are great. Only Rapha I could ever afford was armwarmers
I do wear road shoes and went from Adidas to Sidi cos Im a sucker for rainbow stripes on white. 2nd hand again

[Felicity, I guess so]

Some might baulk at 2nd hand shorts but there are so many people out there dabbling in cycling I genuinely believe some of the 'worn only once' ebay listings

[Levin]

It's difficult as well in this age of online shopping. You're not going to know for certain that you don't like your new shorts until after riding in them.

I'm sad I'm never going to be able to replace my Mapei 3/4 lengths with an old sytle chamois. I got them from a place that sold end of season pro kit. I want to say bobshop but the look so differnt now.

Assos always feels pricier than rapha. I say feel, I mean looks.

[andrew7610]

La Passione have a range of well-priced jerseys, although the designs may be a little plain for some. I have a plain black merino one and am really pleased with it. If budget is less of an issue, then Paul Smith has some lovely cycling stuff at the moment, although the jersey I treated myself to at Christmas turned out to be a very lightweight summer jersey, and is most definitely cut as 'race fit'.

If you're riding flat pedals rather than than clipping in, I cannot recommended Adidas's Five Ten mountain bike brand highly enough - they're super grippy, have stood up to quite a bit of abuse well, and most of the range look like normal trainers rather than appearing obviously bike specific.

[Sits]

Do people ever buy yellow jerseys?

[Mumpo]

Endura, Endura, Endura. For me anyway their stuff hits the sweet spot between not looking cheap and not looking like the sort of brands people buy just to show off. Functionally stylish.

[Sporting]

I never heard of cycling bibs. The only bibs I knew were for toddlers to clean up their dribblings.

Sorry, carry on.

[andrew7610]

Do people ever buy yellow jerseys?

They do, but they shouldn't.

[Sits]

They do, but they shouldn't.

I thought that might be the case.

[San Bernardhinault]

I've never seen anyone riding in a yellow jersey (or pink or red). I've seen very occasional polka dots, which I'll admit looks kind of cool. It's perhaps not a coincidence, though, that I've never seen a polka dot on the gentlest, shortest climb.

[longeared]

Rule 16, innit.

Respect the jersey. Championship and race leadership jerseys must only be worn if you've won the championship or led the race.

[San Bernardhinault]

The rules are about 70% crap, of course*. This is one that happens to be right.

* The rules that are OK are: 5, 9, 10, 12, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23, 28, 38, 42, 43, 46, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 62, 63, 66, 67, 68, 71, 72, 75, 77, 81, 83, 86, 87, 88. The rules that are actually important are bolded, basically well under 10% of the total.

[San Bernardhinault]

I never heard of cycling bibs. The only bibs I knew were for toddlers to clean up their dribblings.

Sorry, carry on.

You never had training bibs when playing football at school?

Anyway, bib-shorts are basically cycling one-piece things where the shorts go over the full body which means they don't slip down and get out of position and start rubbing and chafing. And more, importantly, don't reveal deeply unwanted buttcrack to the rider behind you.

[ursus arctos]

For reasons I have never fathomed, training bibs were called "pinnies" around here

[Incandenza]

For reasons I have never fathomed, training bibs were called "pinnies" around here

Mrs. Inca called them "pennies"

I once saw a guy on the road riding in a rainbow jersey, which just seemed even worse than a yellow jersey.

[ad hoc]

I realise I'm about to say something that would make wearing yellow seem reasonable to the cognoscenti, but...

They're not jerseys are they. Jerseys are basically sweaters and cycling tops are more like shirts. You don't wear "jerseys" next to the skin for example.

Is this one of the rules mentioned above?

Rule 3
You will always refer to your cycling top as a jersey even though you know it isn't.

[Incandenza]

You don't wear "jerseys" next to the skin for example.

This must be a "separated by a common language" thing, because yes, I would say a jersey is something that is worn next to the skin. A basketball jersey. A soccer jersey.

[ad hoc]

Yes I'd call those things shirts. And definitely not jerseys. A Basketball top doesn't have sleeves so "shirt" is not really the best word either. But not a jersey

Google translate says that "maillot" is "shirt" in English (though my vague school memories of French seems to recall maillot being vest*)

*BrEng vest not AmEng vest

[ad hoc]

But this makes me realise now that we must call them jerseys because the word has come to us through American English. Makes sense I guess. Greg Lemond predates Bradley Wiggins

[Sporting]

I know what bibs are; I just didn't know they were called bibs.

Shirts in US English seems to mean those with buttons as well as t-shirts.

[ad hoc]

Shirts in US English seems to mean those with buttons as well as t-shirts.

Shirts means that in British English too, surely?

[ursus arctos]

Tom Simpson, a quarter century before Lemond, in a British magazine

"I[m hoarse from shouting and cheering – you’ve never seen scenes like this in all your life – world champion Tom Simpson.”

So said Alan Gayfer, ringing from San Sebastian on Sunday night, and here is Tom’s own story of how he won the rainbow jersey.

“This was an easy race for me, really easy – I never felt anywhere that it was hard.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/l...champion-57139

[ad hoc]

I wondered about Tom Simpson. It still strikes me as odd that we call them jerseys though, since as I read round dictionaries and so on it;s very clear that this is an American usage, rather than a British one. I wonder when cycling tops started being called jerseys in English, and why. (The why is answered if this happened first in the US)