Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Vélocouture


It's a curious thing that so many people feel obliged to dress up in garish lycra outfits in order to ride a bicycle.
I've never really liked the idea of dedicated cycle wear. People in Europe certainly don't seem to feel the need to get changed into a special outfit just to hop on a bike.

Earlier this month Peter Trute of the Daily Telegraph expressed his concern that he didn't look "cool" when he was riding his bicycle. I doubt anyone at the Telegraph would know the first thing about being cool, but if he rides around in overstuffed lycra then he certainly doesn't.

Some people reckon you can go faster and longer by adding a bit of spandex to your wardrobe but those hard dudes who took on the Tour De France in the early days seemed to do ok without it.

For those of you who do care about your riding appearance I submit the following photos collected from the world wide web showcasing some of the nicer outfits people wear while commuting on their bikes.

This is Malora and some of her friends from Point83 Malora sent me one of her excellent calendars and some postcards earlier this year. You should get yourself one.

point83 women by Denny














Or perhaps this cartoon explains why they do it...

2 comments:

Denny said...

Glad to see a couple of my photos in such good company :)

And, happy to have met and ridden with Amanda of The Ditty Bops!

-Denny
My Flickr Page

Anonymous said...

Whilst I accept that some popeple like to dress fasionably whatever they do for most of us (men I'm talking mostly) what we wear when cycling is for practicality.

Padded lycra shorts, waterproof oversocks because cycling shoes have big holes in them, Ron Hill Tracksters when it's cold or you're in the long grass and somethnig fairly hugging around your top half. Anything that flaps about is a waste of energy, just like a flat tyre though I admit that no-longer wear a proper cycling jacket. I used to wear one because when you fall off they protect you very well, but they also get trashed and I prefer to spend the money on my bike.

Thing is there is no way I'd cycle around in a £300 suite and in some jobs, looking like you've been dragged through a hedge backwards is not acceptable.