The Wearing-o-the Kit

Who doesn't want to look this good on the bike? Photo Graham Watson.

Is it awesome to wear matching jerseys and shorts? Yes, but it took me a long time and a trip to Italy to have this revelation. Is it a violation of The Rules (#14)? Perhaps.

I always had a drawer full of black bib shorts and a drawer of jerseys. It makes it easy to get dressed to ride, black goes with everything. Grab clean shorts, meditate over jersey selection and boom, suit up. I was never compelled to buy a professional team kit as I’ve never been a rabid fan of any team, any rider or any team kit. I may become Sean Yates in my Motorola jersey for a fleeting few seconds but that’s about as far as it went until I finally made it to Italy.

When driving around near Lucca I kept seeing older guys (my age) out on the road, a foot from the tractor trailers, unfazed, fit, wearing matching jerseys and bibs. I didn’t recognize the kits but these guys looked impossibly good and since I’m a devout Italophile, that’s all it took for me. If that’s how it’s done in Italy then I’m all in.

Luckily Cervelo rider Ted King (self-anointed King of Style) agrees with me.

Among a smattering of other worthy reasons, cycling rocks because you can experience exactly what we pros experience. You can ride the bikes we ride, wear the helmets we wear, pedal the roads on which we race… and you obviously have the opportunity to rock the clothes we wear. So why the crap not?

Moreover, if you’re going to piece together a bicycle outfit, instead of the ragtag/patchwork look, why not look good when doing so? We look good, so you sure as heck might as well hop on the bandwagon and look nearly as good as we do.

I had a run-in with the KoS about my issue with tall socks (and punctuation) but we have agreed to disagree about sock style. Ted’s website is worth a visit as he is a well spoken pro and he gets to hangout with Thor.

In truth I don’t really own (or wear) too many matching kits even now. I own two local club outfits and now four Euro-esque pairs, one set I really can’t wear much because I look too much like Cipo in his zebra Aqua Sapone days and it scares people. I bought an early (pre) Garmin-Slipstream set as I am a fan but never dared wear it when the team was in the same town for two weeks training. Everyone would be embarrassed if we intersected.  But my wife and I are now killing it in our Heinrich and Henrietta Haussler Stylin’ All White Cervelo outfits*. In mine I am actually descending more boldly as I channel H.H. from the wet Stage 13 of the 2009 TdF. All is well unless Heinrich turns out to be last doper of many dopers from the doomed Gerolsteiner team.

So don’t be afraid as neighbors look askance and they pull their kids inside as you leave the house in your bright billboard of matching jersey and shorts advertising, say, an Italian cement company. Wear it loud and wear it proud knowing looking good on the bike is important and it’s the Italian way.

*more violations, Rule #1 and #4

Gianni

Gianni has left the building.

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  • As a kid I rocked team kits as soon as possible. My first jersey and knicks were netti plains with some mesh gloves, the 1st Jersey I bought was a Supermercate Brianzoli team Jersey that was donned by the sublime Francesco Moser. Man I loved that Jersey and still have today in the back of my wardrobe.

    I also had a mad love of the PDM team which has turned into a bit of an obsession and have one of the largest PDM collections I know of anywhere in the world as a fan to match my impecible Concorde Squarda in the 1991 flavour which allows to rock the old or the new team kit as team rode both variations on that bike.

    Also my 2009 Cervelo Test Team kit would not be complete without my 2009 Cervelo S2. It would be lacking to have one and not the other when you have team builds on your bikes. While I may not be pro my mindset is and if it wasn't for circumstances I may have been pro myself but alas that's a whole other story.

    But my 2008 Look 595 demands nothing less that my plain Castelli kit although I see the V kit would look spectacular with it and will be purchased once the funds are a lil more flush.

    I think though its all about how and where you wear it especially if you have the body to pull it off and fortunately I do and I make it look fuckin awesome while doing so so why the hell not. I know am now a rec cyclist these days but I dont club race and my group rides are limited so why the heck can't I enjoy kit I think looks spectacular and I have access to and comes from the most beautiful sport of all - I am with Ted King all the way on this

  • Wow, I didn't know there were so many rules to having fun.  What the hell does it matter what you are wearing as long as you are on a bicycle having fun, putting your hair (or lack thereof) to the wind?!  Stop reading senseless websites (I  know I will) and instead ride another hour or two, it will make that matching kit fit a lot better.

  • Funny thing is, this was the first article I read back in the summer of 2010. Been looked since.

  • Funny thing is, this was the first article I read back in the summer of 2010. Been hooked since.

  • Is it against the rules to wear a manufacturer kit when not riding one of their bikes?  For example, I have a moots mountain bike but my road bike is not Moots.  will I look like a dolt if I wear my moots kit while riding the road bike? I come from a mtb background where the etiquette seem much more relaxed so I come here to learn the road rules.

  • A couple of points:
    1. I've only passed through Italy when racing, but was based in France and Belgium most of the time when I was there. The rule was: Team kits for teams that you don't ride for or haven't ridden for are worn by the little kids, old guys and sad-sacks. A Melbourne friend of mine rode dilettante in Italy and was in the Italian national selection squad for the worlds, but didn't make the team on race day and still has a national kit in plastic that he has never worn and never will because he never 'made' the team. It's been a few years, but not long ago, anyone serious would have shaken their heads at a rider who turned up to a training ride wearing kit to a team that he didn't ride for.
    2. Getting a 'team kit' printed up in Europe is cheap and easy. A group of business-owning cyclists that ride together will create a club and get the names of their businesses printed on their professional looking club kit. I once asked a friend which team is that when seeing a different kit in a bunch out on a training ride and he said, "Oh, that's not a team. That's my dad's cyclo-touring club. They only go out on a Sunday and they got a team kit printed up with their businesses on it."
    3. H.H. was a short-hand sign-off for Heil Hitler in the Nazi regime.

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