"serious" cyclists rocking skateboard helmets

as long as it's not your fat ass in a KOM jersey

i rly dont care about helmets as long as you wear one, find one youll wear.

however theres plenty good lookin jerseys that arent mock team kit. i mean if you wanna go play pickup in your bird jersey its on you, but you got decent options man.

i will grant that a molteni throwback might garner exception to offered rule. i'll just amend to make it a blanket ed exception and be done with it.

i mean if you wanna go play pickup in your bird jersey its on you

lol

http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2008/11/how-to-look-pro/

DNFTT, dude is like Morbius on the Obama threads.

def agree that fluorescent spandex w/ sponsor logos all over looks ridiculous. there are some non-goofy cycling clothes tho. it's more the floro and the sponsor shit that looks dumb.

tho wrt helmets, they really don't look goofy at all imo. i had a hard time wearing one at first but then i realized that 1. i could die and 2. i don't give a second glance to anyone else wearing a helmet, so why should i feel ridiculous in it?

the real winners are the dudes riding around nyc, brakeless and helmetless

in tight jeans

running red lights

the thing that looks funny abt bicycle helmets is how theyre just sitting on the v top of yr head - someone should design one for the more casual user - most people prob dont give a shit abt the various aerodynamic benefits

in america in general i think the dream of mass bicycle adoption has been somewhat undermined by the fact that cycle design and culture is lead by the hardcore cohort - obvs there are more important factors too - like governmental indifference and aggression - but i do think more people would be amenable to getting into riding if almost everything wasnt abt going fast or riding over boulders and shit

naked dude on subway lycraman: i'm not ashamed of my body outfit!
seinfeld: THAT'S YOUR PROBLEM RIGHT THERE

I dunno if helmets are seen as "goofy" like spandex is, but they're def more common on novice riders and "pro" riders -- in the middle is where it gets confusing. Like, you're not going far and you're not concerned about traffic on your little sidestreets, but technically anything could happen so do you want to tempt fate to ride 5 blocks to your friend's house or is it just too ridic to worry about it?

i wear a bike helmet, but i think skater helmets look cool (didn't know they were less effective, if that's the case?).

nothing wrong with spandex i guess, but it definitely has the air of "seriousness" which prevents me from wearing it.

theres a study that shows that the barometer of a community's cycling friendliness is direct correlation w/ the % of women on bikes. if that's relevant to the point about ppl being averse to hardcore cyclists.

i dint state that at all well.

what i meant is that if we had better cycling infrastructure, more ppl would ride, not just a bunch of fringey weirdos who are mostly dudes

and helmets wld be nice?

i mean laurel i get that, and will zip to my sister's house v occasionally w/o helmet, but most of the time i'm like wait it is just not that onerous to wear a helmet for five minutes as i ride somewhere

i will make exceptions, tho: i live 50m from a cross-town bike path that runs pretty much to the door of a good venue (triple rock). if i didn't want to keep track of a helmet at a show, i'd feel OK going without

yeah on the one hand, there's a huge change with parenting and kids and helmet safety. my nieces don't get on the barbie bike to go up and down the block w/o the pink bell from target, whereas i went all over hell and gone on my haro fsx as a young lad w/o anything on my head but the sunshine.

on the other hand, this is what they always said about soccer. all the kids are playing it! it's gonna take over!! since the young end of today's hipsters were born in the EARLY 90s (this is somewhat horrifying to me btw) you'd think the change wd already be visible

anyway i guess i'm talking about helmet vs no helmet, no the wearing of skate helmets which is a fashiony cop-out obv

skate helmets are "i heard about that one guy who got clipped by a delivery van last fall, but i am definitely not one of those fakeass livestrong middle manager fuckfaces"

ice craem styles

lol i do luv the king of the mountains jersey

theres a study that shows that the barometer of a community's cycling friendliness is direct correlation w/ the % of women on bikes. if that's relevant to the point about ppl being averse to hardcore cyclists.

― honesty is not ordinary to the height of the bunny hop (Hunt3r), Thursday, October 22, 2009 1:09 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

while there may be some aversion to serious cyclists - its more that like 95% of bikes and gear are designed for intense usage - theyll by like one of those cruiser bikes where u sit all upright thatre everywhere in europe in a bike store - and if some noob goes into the store to buy one theyll feel all intimidated - even if its not warranted

tho i think the fact that its way more dangerous to ride yr bike in america than europe is a much bigger factor - if there were bike lanes seperated by barriers everywhere in new york i have no doubt youd see a surge in casual riders just commuting or gogin to the movies or whatever

ha my old teammate is in the photo spread. in full skinsuit. PRO.

we need shit like this http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/09/bike-lanes-in-saxony.php

my friends' bike shop is female owned/operated and has at least 2 females working at all times which is dope imo. ALSO: 0% snob culture. they also carry the "sickest" designs in the area, (ie, even ddb is a fan from 3k miles away).

ddb is a case in point

dude would never wear shorts. then it was--ok, i'll wear lycra shorts, but i'll never wear a bibs. now he wears bibs, jersey, and shaves his legs.

:-O

cutty you were probably a case in point too tho right????

i have found bike store ppl to be a mix of snob and evangelist -- there's a lot of lingo but they're happy to have you get into it on any level. buying any kind of bike gear as a noob is way more pleasant and informative than buying anything car related.

since you reference yglesias blog-- thats where i saw ref to that study (i can not speak to its merits)

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/10/bicycling-and-gender.php

i was never derisive of lycra, i just didn't ride enough to necessitate wearing it

once i was putting in more than an hour in the saddle at a time, i started wearing the gear

and never once did i consider wearing a skateboard helmet to protect my coolness

were u always helmeted?

nope, i was riding a brakeless track bike without a helmet through red lights wearing jeans

then i joined fixed-gear anonymous, a recovery group for idiots

nope, i was riding a brakeless track bike without a helmet through red lights wearing jeans

in clipless pedals iirc

without a helmet through red lights wearing jeans

lol that's me except i have brakes n gears ;)

yeah. i came from recreational MTB so i was already used to clipless pedals and found clips and straps didn't give me the power or control i wanted.

http://star.txstate.edu/content/fixed-gear-biking-just-useless-fad

that is gold

as much as i enjoy baggin on some fixies

hey GET OFF MY LAWN!

Is fixed gear so bad? The trends are horrible, but you don't have to wear all the crap. And there's no reason not to have two brakes. I know we've had the discussion elsewhere, but I find mine nice to ride and relatively low maintenance. And it leaves my road bike nice and fresh for out of town rides on my days off.

I know that some of that argument is slightly disingenuous - clipless, brakeless cyclists weaving selfishly through understandably peeved pedestrians is the more usual look, but - there is another way.

As for clothing -

I used to treasure my long sleeved woollen CTC top, until it became unwearable. T-shirt and lycra shorts for long rides in the summer. Leggings/tights in the winter, and a peaked hat with ear flaps that makes me look like far more of an idiot than any helmet ever would, but which keeps my ears warm and most importantly, keeps the rain off my glasses. And a very nice long sleeve Rapha top that I got as a Christmas present a couple of years ago that is really warm but not sweaty.

Oh and a gore-tex jacket. And gloves. My hands get freezing. Overshoes for long rides. Because my toes get even colder than my fingers.

cycling gear is goofy looking, no shit. big-ass helmets and tight lycra; hardly hitting the style blogs w/tht get up. but the rub is: ur exercising; if u care abt wht u look like while ur exercising then ur pretty silly

I think I look pretty good in lycra

/confession

today i rolled into downtown thinking on this, "i dont really think i see too much of this phenomenon. maybe its a nyc/big city thing. i'll keep my eyes out for it." the NEXT GUY I SAW, 15 secs later. flat bar fixie 20something.

ha!

"cycling gear is goofy looking, no shit. big-ass helmets and tight lycra; hardly hitting the style blogs w/tht get up. but the rub is: ur exercising; if u care abt wht u look like while ur exercising then ur pretty silly"

This is the truth. But it's also why, when riding for the purpose of transportation around town, you're allowed to wear normal, good-looking clothes.

you've reversed the argument

It's a rhetorical trick.