Jersey crimes...

I think that it is wrong that so many people wear team jerseys belonging to teams that have some of the worlds best cyclists etc.

How can you feel comfortable wearing something that in reality does not represent you at all?

How can you wear something that others (the teams) spend years of hard training earning?

Maybe I am just too serious about the whole cycling all together although do you think I have a point?

 

It's just like people wearing football jumpers, cricket shirts etc. People want to mimic their heroes or just look cool. Whatever the reason it's all good marketing for the sponsors, whose names are emblazoned all over the world.

I do agree with you about wearing national colours or world championship rainbows, they should be reserved for those who earn them. The national federations should not allow these jerseys to be reproduced. Personally I would feel stupid and embarrassed to wear my national team cycling outfit - unless of course I had earnt it - which will never happen.

 

Professional athletes dont earn those jerseys. You earn an Ironman finisher's shirt, a marathon medal, the rainbow jersey. Professional cyclists are paid enormous amounts of money to wear those jerseys by their sponsors, and those sponsors pay money to print up those jerseys so average people can buy them. While a winner of the worlds might own the rainbow jersey, and be deemed worthy enough to wear it, team jerseys are owned by the sponsors, and they would love for the amateur athlete to wear them and get the name out. So do you like a team? Wear the jersey! But, if you wanna be cool, wear the jersey of a team thats cool to cycling aficianados, but maybe not known to the general public. Over here in America, anything but us postal signifies you as, "in the know"

 

I got a Tour De France Green & Yellow jersey as a present last year. I wear them for training and don't care if I look foolish in them. They serve their purpose. I can pretend I'm Superman for a day. I don't care what other people think...

It is good if I win the Sunday morning sprints when I'm wearing them. If I get beat I can offer them to the winner for next week...

All in good faith & fun.

Don't take your clothes too seriously otherwise we'd all have to ride naked.

ANd you don't want that to happen.

 

Surely the only jersey crimes are people wearing some of the horrendous designs that are out there. That said, full USPS kit (I've seen people with the socks and helmet and everything) just screams, 'I know nothing about cycling but that Lance Strongarm is really cool.' There's nowt wrong with trade kit or national kit, just try to make it a relatively obscure team and don't go for the full matching get-out, socks and all. If you have something which not many people ride, eg the TdF green jersey mentioned, is pretty cool I reckon, less sure about the yellow jersey - but only because it's a bit of a manky colour. I'd go for the blue points jersey from the Giro, kind of obscure but also pretty tasteful.

 

riding the jersey of the italian national team is pretty cool too. It looks awesome, and being from america, its very cool

 

I think that perhaps you are a bit uptight.

 

Having fans buy and wear the team jersey's is exactly what the sport should want. Whenever the average fan feels a connection to the top level of a sport the sport is better off.

 

I guess the only time its bad to wear a pro team jersey is if you were trying to pick up chicks while wear a USPS jersey, claiming to be hincapie!

 

Is it more cool that a chick might know who Hincapie is or more uncool that she wouldn't know you're not him? Heh.

apolock1 says it well.

 

I always get annoying comments when wearing pro kit with jersey and knicks matching, even a more obscure pro team. But if I mix and mismatch different sponsor labels no-one says anything.

I wear my club jersey, and I get comments about my riding ability based on the preconceptions people have of the club (which is made up of basically laid back and humble members) when wearing this kit I'm known as a hubbard.

I wear a better known local kit, and get called a wanker.

All I can say is, ignore the BS about kits and jerseys, because there is always going to be some wanker out there who stokes their own ego over commenting on your apparel/ability. this crap is the only thing that really annoys me about cycling, which is otherwise such a fantastic sport.

 

The wearing of championship (national or world) or national team jerseys should be a crime punishable by death.
You must earn the right to wear such a jersey. Just getting them willy nilly to wear on a sunday bunch ride is pretentious.

Team jerseys are fine, you can show support for your heros if you wish (often it's the only option when there are so few nice plain jerseys at the shops).

I own an Australian championship jersey from 2002. It is in a frame with Robbie McEwen's signature. That is where it belongs and I could never have brought myself to wear it.

 

tafi

who cares if i buy a replica national team jersey. some of us like to dream, eh? obviously nothing can replace the actual jersey of a national team or world champion, so why worry about disgracing it with a replica. you need to pull the stick out of your butt and adjust your saddle.

graison

 

what a vitriolic response, and about jerseys of all things! They dont earn the jersey, they earn the right to be on the team, two completely different things. I can go to a goldsmith, and get the exact same thing made, but its not the same, it has no meaning behind it. The jerseys are important to them, not because they are national jerseys, and they are some sort of holy relic, but because they mean that they are on the national team, and it is being on the team that is important. If you are not claiming to be on the national team, but instead just like the jersey, or are patriotic, then i see nothing wrong with wearing a national jersey. We pay thousands of dollars in taxes, some of which actually goes to fund these teams, we better at least be able to wear the jersey!

 

I'm thinking about getting the Irish team jersey just because it looks so nice. I've not got a drop of Irish blood.

 

Me thinks you're a bit uptight as well. OOOh Robbie McEwan...

 

Why get stuck into Tafi (and me for that matter) for showing respect for our national colours. If you want to wear your national jersey even though you haven't earnt it, that's fine. I'll just think you're a dork, and that's my business. And if you enjoy ridiing your bike sans the seat, then that's your business as well, but don't accuse others of doing it.

 

If it were just your personal opinion (this is mainly to Tafi), that YOU dont want to wear national colors because you believe them to be sacred, thats cool. But Tafi went so far as to tell other people what they should do, "The wearing of championship (national or world) or national team jerseys should be a crime punishable by death. You must earn the right to wear such a jersey. Just getting them willy nilly to wear on a sunday bunch ride is pretentious." This sort of response is more than just, i choose not to wear national colors, this is more like, "you are a traitor because you wear them..." I really hope you dont live in America, i already get obsenities yelled at me just because i ride a bike on the road (and not b/c im dangerous, a group of us cyclists will be standing around in a parking lot, and passing motorists will curse at us) I would hate to get yelled at within my own group because of the jersey i wear. We cyclist need to stick together, especially here in america. You know what this reminds me of? Discussions where people say that you shouldnt have an expesive bike unless youre really good (you have to earn the right to ride OCLV or Ti)...

 

Spoilsport , what´s your problem ? don´t you like people to have fun . We´re not talking about people with the team shirt shorts socks gloves and bike etc just people who like the look .
And what´s wrong with a little hero worship ???
Bet the sponsors love it ,all that free publicity and the team guys don´t standout as much when training , giving more privacy for them .

Mind you you´d have to be colour blind , or just have a taste bypass to buy some of them ( Chipo´s lot for example )

 

I've heard these concerns before so don't worry that you're not the only one to express them. I don't know that there's anything wrong with being terribly serious about cycling. But I have my doubts that any good purpose is served by getting all caught up in the fashions and treating the teamwear as some sacred cow.

Fashion has to be one of the silliest concerns ever invented by mankind. It's a subjective thing. There is no right. There is no wrong. And whatever you think is right will change. If you want to dress as Batman, complete with cape and yellow utility belt, go ahead. I won't be willing to ride beside you as Robin but wear what makes you happy and ignore the self-proclaimed fashion trend-setters. Fashion is about being one of the sheep and blending with the flock. Do it if it makes you happy.

By the way, your "Lance Strongarm" comment had me rolling. Hilarious.

Darned, apolack1, you had me then you went and dumped that "in the know" stuff on me. Do you like USPS? Do you own their riding apparel? Do you like it? Then wear it! It doesn't mean you do or don't know about cycling. Those who choose to rate your knowledge of cycling based on what you're wearing are simply demonstrating where bigotry comes from. It's not so different from deciding that a man is human or not human based on the color of his skin. One has nothing to do with the other but those who gain security by feeling that they're embedded within the majority will likely try to find something wrong with you if you look/dress differently than they do.

Scary..... just plain scary.

Thank you, Nicko71. And a thanks to some others who expressed similar sentiment.




(Yeah, I know I'm going to get it for this post so I'll just cower over in the corner for a while.)