I_ride_my_bike said:
Somehow I just don't believe these reasons for buying yellow jerseys. Visibility? yeah ok, there are lots of great looking jerseys with discreet reflective striping that will offer mucher better visibility than yellow. As for people spending over $100 on jerseys plastered with corporate logos, you people are stupid. I saw a guy wearing a $120 T mobile jersey and I just had to laugh. He spent good money to freely advertise for a multi billion dollar German telecomunications giant. The corporations love the fact that people are spending money to advertise for them (very bizarre concept in the ad world) but as long as there are people with ego's who want to pretend to be pros, then there is good money being made selling products that advertise various corporations (most of them which have nothing to do with cycling) I don't know whats worse, that or all those guys walking around with those lame Hollister T shirts. Hey look I got a Hollister shirt, I'm just as unoriginal and dependant on whats popular like the rest of you! lol
Your mistaken hypothesis is that people buy them to pretend to be professionals. There may be a small percentage out there that do that, but it is a very small percentage.
The truth is that most people that buy the team kits buy them for the same reasons that people buy Dallas Cowboy jerseys, New York Yankee caps, or hockey jerseys, etc... that is to pay homage to the people they admire in professional sports.
The difference is that people who watch cycling actually engage in the sport in a very public venue. Therefore outsiders (and apparently some insiders) it is seen as pretentious. In reality, it is no more pretentious than wearing a Yankees cap while playing a sandlot baseball game...
I admit that in the case of cycling, the team kits should be extremely inexpensive since we should get a discount for wearing advertising, but that isn't the way it works. In fact, have you seen the cost of Rock Racing kits?
But then again, thinking about it, in wearing a Yankees cap, you are advertising the Yankees... talk about a major money making corporation!!!!!
Now, if professional cycling clothing was impractical for amateur use, such as Nascar drivers' clothing would be for amateur driving, then I think I would tend to agree with you. However, since professional cyclists wear clothing that is perfectly suited for amateur cyclists, then I see no reason why we shouldn't pay tribute to our athletic idols by wearing our super hero costume of choice while riding. Of course, I am too cheap to do so.
I'll stick to wearing a variety of bright colors, including yellow.