Should You Wear Team Kits?

[Oldman]

Team kits? Knock yourselves out.

Championship jerseys? No way. (Unless you've earned it, of course.)

+1. If you haven't earned the jersey; don't wear it unless you are clueless to the significance and then wear it to cover yourself. National champions won't care one way or the other and if you haven't won "the jersey"; your opinion is pretty much a fashion critique. Definitely don't like seeing hairy guys wearing bibs and no jersey....

 

[Swabian Lass]

Definitely don't like seeing hairy guys wearing bibs and no jersey....

Don't like seeing any guys wearing bibs and no jersey. It's just not a good look.

 

[Met de Versnelling]

Team kits, sure, i figure it's the same as Football for me. I wear my Chelsea top playing football, and so i'll wear a team kit when i'm riding. Just shows support for a team.

Championship/Classification jersey's are no. Unless it's Polka-Dots, cause that's just a beast jersey!

 

[Deagol]

I saw two guys on Sunday wearing the old Garmin kit (the orange & blue one). One of them was, I think, the US national TT jersey ???
I think the one Dave Zabriskie is supposed to wear (had a big white star ala Captain America on the front) ??

Anyway, these guys were not on the team.
same ride I saw a guy in a generic rainbow jersey... he was most definately NOT world Champion.

I see generic yellow jerseys and polka-dot jerseys around here semi-frequently, but curiously no green points jerseys. No giro or Vuelta jerseys.

I would not wear any of these things, but that's not a "rule" but just a preference I realized for my self long ago. Obviously, not everyone goes by this, and that's fine.

 

[Rouetheday]

I was with a group following the Tour back in the early nineties. Several members of the group had bought pro team jerseys from vendor's along the route. I hadn't but not due to any philosophical objections to them- I'm just a cheapskate. Toward the end of the trip we noticed a guy sporting a strange jersey no one was familiar with. It wasn't all that stylish or colorful, a bit drab, really, with French lettering across the chest. Turns out he had bought it at a local bike shop near Macon, I think. It was the jersey for the amateur team sponsored by the shop. The rest of us were all like, "Why didn't we think of that!". You just know that guy was never ever going to run into anybody back home with the same jersey.

 

[RedheadDane]

More pressing issues in my life to worry about then "why is the 130kg dude on a 10k Willier coming towards me wearing a Lampre/Katusha/Rabobank kit"

Of course then you'd have to wonder why said person couldn't just stick to one kit...

As far as I was aware the only real rule reading cycling wear was it has to cover the “naughty bits” when you’re out in public otherwise you’re likely to get locked up.

Very sound rule right there!

Team kits? Knock yourselves out.

Championship jerseys? No way. (Unless you've earned it, of course.)

I probably mentioned it before, but I agree with that statement. Team kits, cool; show's you're a fan of said team!
Special jerseys: Don't!

Don't like seeing any guys wearing bibs and no jersey. It's just not a good look.

Guys... what's a bib?

 

[craig1985]

 

[craig1985]

Of course g00gle came up with this:

 

[craig1985]

I wouldn't mind owning this one:

 

[Machu Picchu]

Of course g00gle came up with this:

Well personally I'd prefer if people wear a jersey, any jersey: team/yellow/rainbow I don't care but please wear a jersey!

 

[Stingray34]

I probably mentioned it before, but I agree with that statement. Team kits, cool; show's you're a fan of said team!
Special jerseys: Don't!

Why not?

Are we all contenders?

What's so special?

 

[RedheadDane]

Ooh... thought that was just shorts...

Why not?

Are we all contenders?

What's so special?

Guess I just think you need to have earned them. By special jerseys I mean championship jerseys and classification jerseys.

 

[Stingray34]

Ooh... thought that was just shorts...



Guess I just think you need to have earned them. By special jerseys I mean championship jerseys and classification jerseys.

The reward for winning a championship is usually a pro contract, therefore, by extension, pros have also earned the right to wear a trade team jersey. It's OK to wear one 'earned' jersey but not the other? What about championship jerseys like Hushovd's Garmin rainbow jersey, can you wear that to show your support for Garmin?

 

[RedheadDane]

The reward for winning a championship is usually a pro contract, therefore, by extension, pros have also earned the right to wear a trade team jersey.

Don't most people who win a championship already have a pro contract?

 

[Stingray34]

Don't most people who win a championship already have a pro contract?

Juniors and elite under 20-23 riders show themselves at nationals and worlds and get signed. 99.9% of the peloton is a former national or world champion at some discipline/age group. The other 0.1% got a different colour medal. The championship jersey is something of a pre-requisite for a team one.

I can understand the fetishisation of certain jerseys. If some people choose not to wear something, that's perfectly fine. It's the foisting of that choice onto others that is repressive. There's a lot of bullies hiding in bunches.

A wise person (so wise I had to marry her) once pointed out the absurdity of the recreational rider refusing to wear such and such whilst riding their bike: such arbitrary rules betray a pretension, a desire to align oneself with the world of elite cycling by association. To say 'I'll wear one when I win one' gives an illusion of proximity to a world one will never inhabit.

Not that the pros really care: I remember a race in Curacao where pros visited for an end-of-season jaunt. The local amatuer team in the race wore the arc en ciel, right alongside Tom Boonen in his!

 

[bammbamm1961]

Only if you are on the "Team" - otherwise find a local club that gives back to the local community and helps develop your skill............ OR that Black Dog Brew jersey with the cool mascot! ;-)

 

[mewmewmew13]

Here we see a super fan wearing a ProTeam Kit he even has the official helmet, sunglasses, team rain cape and BIKE! That's a super fan moment if I've ever seen one

Its not so bad, the Pro rider behind seems to like or enjoy the moment.

PS: Take it back on the rain cape, its from some defunct team

Darn, I miss him racing!
...fun to watch

 

[yardbirds68]

Team kits? Knock yourselves out.

Championship jerseys? No way. (Unless you've earned it, of course.)

If it is so sacrilege in the "rules of cycling " to wear a champions jersey, not having earned the "right" , then tell me why every interent bike shop sells them TO THE PUBLIC , incuding "official" sites of Garmin, HTC, Liquigas etc.????

When it comes to personal choices, likes and dislikes, there are no right or wrong opinions,............ wear what the hell you want! Don't listen to the fred/poser road cycling supporters.

 

[Archibald]

watching the finale of the Eneco stage, I saw several kids running about in the finish area asking for biddons - 2 in full vacansoliel kit chasing greipel.
good on 'em.
no different to seeing some kid in full football kit, and great to see them enjoying the sport

 

[avanti]

I see quite a few cyclists wearing Rainbow jerseys; in days gone by this used to be a no-no (at least in the UK).

 

[patterson_hood]

As a guitarist this Thread reminds me of similar discussions you hear about who should be allowed to play expensive guitars. The snobby attitude of people who thought a parent buying their child a Fender rather than a Squier was wrong is very reminisent of the attitudes here.

Strange as it may seem for someone on here I don't cycle so I don't have any cycling jerseys (It's not that strange, I like soccer and rugby league but don't play either anymore) but I'd happily wear a pro team jersey or a rainbow jersey the same way I'd wear a GB rugby league kit or national soccer kit.

For example, I've not earned my Croatian national football team jersey but I'll still wear it in the gym or when I'm out running.

 

[MacRoadie]

I see quite a few cyclists wearing Rainbow jerseys; in days gone by this used to be a no-no (at least in the UK).

This would be the ultimate no-no.

 

[Bag_O_Wallet]

I saw a dude in full HTC-Highroad pulling a Chariot kiddie-trailer.

Perhaps I'll snip off the tags on my old Planet Energy skinsuit and go for a ride with my 4 year old.

 

[Stingray34]

This would be the ultimate no-no.

Wearing a white jersey with some colourful stripes is the ultimate no-no? Do you write for GQ? Are you Carson Daly?

C'mon, the Western world is crumbling around us and you're concerned about what people wear on their bikes? Did you watch the London Riots and remark that black hoodies are so last season?

The spirit of the Spanish Inquisition lives on in the petty hearts of weekend warriors.

 

[yardbirds68]

This would be the ultimate no-no.

Maybe to "YOU" its the ultimate no - no.........but are you the spokesmen for everybody who rides a bike?