To lycra or not to lycra

[woodbutcher]

So if you're ride is steel how do you feel about being clothed in lycra ?
I declare my interest in that l do not possess a single item of such bike attire. In fact l am at the opposite end of proper bike wear ( cut off jeans, scruffy sweatshirt and trainers) no bike helmet just an old cap and sunglasses .
l think l need at least a pair of bike shorts (with a padded bum) and l am drawn to retro woollen, if you will excuse the expression.
I am really open minded on the subject and would like to read what other peoples opinions on the subject are

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Wear what you want. No-one cares. And if you do find someone who cares, avoid them. They're weirdos.

 

[Drago]

I wear Lycra. I dont ask anyone else to like it. Whatever works for them.

 

[scarygerbil]

i use these then wear what i want over them
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/900-gel-padded-mountain-bike-undershorts-id_8354334.html

 

[tobykenobi]

I have a steel touring bike and an aluminium road bike. My decision on whether to lycra-up depends entirely on distance. If I am going over about 5 miles it's lycra; if I'm pootling a few miles into town it's normal clothes.

A couple of years ago a cancelled train turned what was meant to be a ride of only a couple of miles to the train station in to about 15 miles. I did it in normal clothes. I had chafing in the nether regions and my hands suffered from numbness. Padded shorts and gloves are essential for longer rides IMHO.

 

[biggs682]

I wear Lycra. I dont ask anyone else to like it. Whatever works for them.

We don't need to know what you wear when not on the bike.

Just wear whatever and the riding

 

[arch684]

I wear both.If i'm wearing jeans i have a couple of pieces of velcro wrapped round the bottom of me jeans and my spd shoes just look like normal trainers

 

[woodbutcher]

We don't need to know what you wear when not on the bike.

Just wear whatever and the riding

Its true that there are no conventions about what to wear when not riding a bike (except maybe at a wedding or funeral) but l recently met a bloke from the uk on holiday here and he was clad in head to toe lycra on his bike and l got the feeling that he was normal and l wasn't. I guess the fact that l had a bottle of Grolsch in my bottle cage looked like l wasn't serious

 

[youngoldbloke]

Have a look at Tudor Sports for classic cycling kit - jerseys, plusses, tights. Timeless kit. If you really want real wool shorts they are available too, but a bit harder to find, and lycra or a lycra mix is so much more practical. Plenty of supplier of vintage style jerseys too, Prendas for example. I've got an early 90's steel Peugeot, and I wear the same kit - modern 'lycra' and club jerseys that I wear on my other bikes - except for shoes. I have a pair of pierced leather cycling shoes I wear with the clips and straps on the Peugeot (and usually white socks with them too)

 

[woodbutcher]

Have a look at Tudor Sports for classic cycling kit - jerseys, plusses, tights. Timeless kit. If you really want real wool shorts they are available too, but a bit harder to find, and lycra or a lycra mix is so much more practical. Plenty of supplier of vintage style jerseys too, Prendas for example. I've got an early 90's steel Peugeot, and I wear the same kit - modern 'lycra' and club jerseys that I wear on my other bikes - except for shoes. I have a pair of pierced leather cycling shoes I wear with the clips and straps on the Peugeot (and usually white socks with them too)

Thanks very much for the link good looking kit and pretty much what l want !

 

[mjr]

So if you're ride is steel how do you feel about being clothed in lycra ?

I don't wear it mainly because typical cycling lycra clothing irritates my skin and I don't think shrink-wrapped is a good look anyway. A few of my clothes contain some lycra and don't seem to cause similar problems, although it's often difficult to predict which will and won't irritate.

I went back to classic padded and hammock saddles rather than keep wasting money trying to find padded pants that didn't irritate massively.

 

[davidphilips]

Anything goes for me, twice a week in cycling gear when cycling with a group but i can be in jeans and a tee shirt on a 60 mile cycle on my own with a carbon bike, or in lycra with steel bike and downtube shifters on a short cycle.

There have been times when another cyclist has passed comment on either a bike i have or the outfit i wear last one was a few days ago when i was cycling on a 1982 koga and one of the cyclists in our group said about everyone having great bikes except for me, all i said was want a race big mouth?

 

[woodbutcher]

Anything goes for me, twice a week in cycling gear when cycling with a group but i can be in jeans and a tee shirt on a 60 mile cycle on my own with a carbon bike, or in lycra with steel bike and downtube shifters on a short cycle.

There have been times when another cyclist has passed comment on either a bike i have or the outfit i wear last one was a few days ago when i was cycling on a 1982 koga and one of the cyclists in our group said about everyone having great bikes except for me, all i said was want a race big mouth?

And l bet the challenge wasn't accepted

 

[davidphilips]

And l bet the challenge wasn't accepted

You are right my friend, got to tell you about the best put down ever to some one putting down some one for either there bike or there clothing.

A few years ago myself and a friend where out cycling on a lovely summers day on vintage bikes wearing jeans and tee shirts when some local club cyclists met us and one of them said some thing about them (me and my friend) not being proper cyclists.

SO my friend started talking to the cyclist that made the rude comment and asked him about his bike and talked about the groupset frame etc, then my friend asked if the bike was still sold with the extra set of wheels?

The cyclist said he never knew that his bike (what ever make it was) was sold with extra wheels and why would any bike be sold with extra wheels? He was told the extra wheels where for the stabilisers because the bike was so slow.

 

[mikeymustard]

l think l need at least a pair of bike shorts (with a padded bum) and l am drawn to retro woollen, if you will excuse the expression

Don't you realise padded shorts are just a gateway clothing?
For many years I resisted the urge to dress like a 1980s extra from "Fame", but this year I've started cycling much further than previously. It started with a pair of padded shorts (worn under "real" shorts), then a jersey or two, then bibshorts (btw don't bother with ordinary padded shorts if your middle is more "sagging" than Sagan - geddit? - bibs can't bunch up round my Pooh-like paunch), and now I have accepted the MAMIL!
Even if I'm just pootling around I might put the bibs on under a tshirt (cos cargo shorts are extremely uncomfortable), but then I have nowhere to put phone/money etc. so need to add a pair of shorts with pockets.
Riding out for a coffee with my partner and no.1 son yesterday, I was struck by how comfy this particular tshirt was - a Gildan work shirt with wicking properties - but wished it had pockets. I then realised that since these shirts are available on the bay for only a fiver - and in my size - I could easily add some pockets using my "material engineering" skills (which sounds much more manly than sewing) for a tenner!
Here's me as "Santa in Lycra" my favourite Fat Lad at the Back jacksey