Jersey & Bib Shorts - Matching or not?!?

Wear what you want, you're a cyclist, you look ugly no matter what you wear!

http://humancyclist.wordpress.com/2014/01/02/cycling-is-not-sexy/

Cycling is about how good it makes you feel not look.

Its like anything to do with personal presentation / image / etc : there's lots of emotional baggage goes with it all. Do you care about making a 'positive' impression? Do you want to deliberately ignore the 'conventional' standards of 'smartness' or 'trendiness' ? Do you want to project yourself as 'sensible and functional' or 'trendy and high performance' ? 'Hero' or 'anti-hero' ? 'Look at this great gear' or 'forget the gear its irrelevant' ? Personally, I just like to try and have comfortable gear and keep it coordinated. Its just clothing at the end of the day, and you wont get any agreement in the general population about 'how should you dress'.

I wear Rapha, no-one has ever commented on it.

I think your clothing should match to an extent but it's easier if you just stick to black shorts. I wear a variety of Garmin jerseys and as they are made by Castelli I can match them with the Castelli shorts and socks that also go with my other non-team Castelli gear.

I used to wear a Brazil football jersey when I was young, now I wear team cycling gear. I bet football fans all round the world don't get stick for wearing team gear along the lines of 'You can't wear a Real Madrid jersey because you don't play for them!!!'

Ordered a new rapha rain jacket yesterday and cannot wait for it to arrive. Jealousy is the only reason I can see there being any haters out there for rapha. I am never one to spend money for the sake of it, but I will spend it when I feel I'm getting a quality product, regardless of the name on it

Rather a MAMIL than a MAMIM (middle aged man in Micra)...wear what you like withpride and rejoice in the freedom that is leg powered transport/recreational/fitness vehicle

I can’t afford Rapha if I could I would probably be clad head to foot in the stuff as I think it looks good and appears to be of very good quality

Edit: Although it I don’t think it comes in “Fat Git” size

Can we all talk about helmets now?

Final comment on Rapha... the fact there are haters is the result of great marketing. If you want to get people 'loving' your brand, you have to behave in such a way that people will hate your brand.

As long as you get enough people loving you, the haters can just go on hating...

Rapha have done a brilliant job.

'I bet football fans all round the world don't get stick for wearing team gear along the lines of 'You can't wear a Real Madrid jersey because you don't play for them!!!''

They do. But they still wear it. Probably because most football fans are simple-minded.

Among football fans "Full kit wankers" are generally despised. Wearing a top, especially when you're off to see your team, is part of the accepted culture. Wearing the shirt, shorts and socks is a major faux pas if you're over the age of 10.

I have a magic Help for Heroes jersey that protects me from harm when I'm out. I'm slightly uneasy about people reading words written across my backside (of my shorts, not my actual backside) so my shorts are plain. Now for the point... On 31st August I'm riding the #Londonbikeathon2014 for http://leukaemialymphomaresearch.org.uk/ so I'll be wearing their jersey. All contributions for the charity gratefully received

Wear what you want, if you are good you can wear anything and no one will care. People usually only make fun of people the other way round, fat men on zipp wheels and assos etc. But if they are happy, why not?

evo360 wrote:

Ordered a new rapha rain jacket yesterday and cannot wait for it to arrive. Jealousy is the only reason I can see there being any haters out there for rapha. I am never one to spend money for the sake of it, but I will spend it when I feel I'm getting a quality product, regardless of the name on it

I've got loads of Rapha, the vast majority of which is from their sample sales - the Rapha Paul Smith rain jacket cost me £50 (I think Paul Smith socks cost about that!), pro-level base layers £10 each etc. The rain jacket I have is awesome, and does justify a rather higher cost than I paid.

middleagedmoaner wrote:

I have a magic Help for Heroes jersey that protects me from harm when I'm out. I'm slightly uneasy about people reading words written across my backside (of my shorts, not my actual backside) so my shorts are plain. Now for the point... On 31st August I'm riding the #Londonbikeathon2014 for http://leukaemialymphomaresearch.org.uk/ so I'll be wearing their jersey. All contributions for the charity gratefully received

I reckon you could make a daily mail reader implode with that jersey, bravo!

As for lettering on your backside, my dad told me with glee about a cyclist "all in green" with this "ridiculous lettering saying 'liquid gas' across his bum(!)" I'd never even considered that when watching the liquigas-cannondale pro-team...

Easiest thing is to always wear black shorts. Then they will match whatever top you have on.

Going out with non matching kit is fine - but you look a mess. Its up to you.

I've never heard ''FKW" before.........it's reasonably funny.

I always go for matching bibs & shorts.......always a TDF team too. I'm not a pro but they look quality.

I had a yellow jersey & a pink giro jersey when I first started out & got so much abuse from fellow cyclists for them!

I was even refused race entry once because I was wearing the world champ jersey!

In a nutshell I'd say go matching bibs & top.......oh and cap, obvs

£25 Sky jersey on sale. Can't think of a better quality one for the price. Couldn't care less what team it was.

I've had a couple of different jerseys from TK Maxx as well, always worth a look if you're passing.

What constitutes a full kit though is the question?

Is wearing full Castelli/Assos/Rapha not all that different to wearing full team kit?

I'm not a fan of team kits, even the retro ones, they just don't look as good as the manufacturers regular version of the kit. Why not just wear exactly the same jersey but without all the advertising?
I wear fairly plain retro jerseys that sometimes have a logo/print of the random event that the jersey was used for/bought from. Quality gear (some of it's almost as old as me) and top brands too. My bib shorts have two tiny sportful logos on the back and go with anything really.

I was following a guy the other day who was fully kitted out in Tinkoff-Saxo gear (It's really not the best looking kit is it, I like the team but still....), even down to the arm and leg warmers.....I don't think he had the helmet though. I thought for a second he may well have been part of the team....especially when he danced up the climb at a rate of knots!

Also, do people not realise you can get Rapha stuff pretty cheaply now and again? If it was a choice of being decked out in team gear or decked out in the high quality, understated, simple design of Rapha, then Rapha would win.....I don't even own a piece of Rapha clothing either, but judging by how good they're stuff is......it might happen at some point.

I've also passed someone wearing a Polka dot jersey, on a climb (couldn't have timed it better), I was going to make a comment in jest about taking the jersey off them, but they probably didn't know what they were wearing.

S13SFC wrote:

Retro jersey will plain shorts looks great. It's what I wear.

Did we just become best friends?

I wear red as a metaphor for lantern rouge!

I wear castelli shorts, I find they are the most comfortable over long rides. I wear anything for my top t shirts for short rides and baggy mtb shorts with under shorts. I have just got a Rubiks cube cycling top(from summit different). I like the bright colours, also I look quite dapper.

I wear castelli shorts, I find they are the most comfortable over long rides. I wear anything for my top t shirts for short rides and baggy mtb shorts with under shorts. I have just got a Rubiks cube cycling top(from summit different). I like the bright colours, also I look quite dapper.

My thoughts on Rapha resentment.... its the same as resenting the owners of Porsches and Ferrari's.

On one level (a big one) its pure envy... envy that you can afford to spend so much money on cycle clothing (car), envy that you have the balls to go, "sod it, I know there are cheaper options out there that are just as good, but I want Rapha (A Porsche)"... on the other level, its resentment... its seeing someone with the balls, and with the money, making the obvious, boring choices. If you can afford Rapha, you can afford anything, so why buy Rapha? Its resenting the lost opportunity.

Oh and for me personally, I hate the way Rapha has singlehandedly doubled the cost of lycra.

Not too many years ago a premium cycling top was £50. Now that's the standard cost across the board (Aldi aside). The materials/designs haven't changed, and from my insight into the industry the costs haven't changed, only the margins given to retailers/manufacturers has increased.

Rapha as a brand helps make cycling expensive... it provides the affluent an avenue to spend their cash, an avenue readily jumped on by other manufacturers, and suddenly a race bike costs £5-10k instead of £1-4k and we all have to have more awkward conversations with the wife.