"serious" cyclists rocking skateboard helmets

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.

Er I mean, to be more serious, that I would understand there being different modes of riding, one of which is exclusively for exercise, over long distances, for which it's more important to be comfortable than stylish, and another is your basic short-distance, low-pressure around-town riding, for which you want to look good at your destination.
I'm taking it as a given that most spandex riding gear is not stylish. The stuff on the link you posted above actually looked pretty good, but it's still "stylish biking clothing" and not "stylish clothing." Like I wouldn't just wear it out to the bar or whatever.
And it's expensive!

And yes, both modes of riding demand a helmet (at least in the city), and skate helmets seem like a weird bet-hedge.

imo its ok to look sexy while exercising

poxymoron

cycling gear is goofy looking, no shit. big-ass helmets and tight lycra; hardly hitting the style blogs w/tht get up.

i doubt you'll be hitting any style blog in the near future but yeah I'm rocking my new PAUL SMITH/RAPHA kit for tomorrow's century ride dawg.

tite
http://www.kitmeout.com/img_assets/paul-smith-jeans.jpg

in black btw

tht's me in the picture, so - pwned

I'm white btw

(nice)

rapha condor man and brit road race champ k. house was rocking the all-white kit last week. not down with the white shorts as a rule but it was working for him!

eah I'm rocking my new PAUL SMITH/RAPHA kit for tomorrow's century ride dawg.

tite

― ♪♫(●̲̲̅̅̅̅=̲̲̅̅̅̅●̲̅̅)♪♫ (Steve Shasta), Friday, October 23, 2009 1:41 PM

pink union jacks? cryingeagle.jpg

well its paul smith, i'm just happy there aren't tonal stripes everywhere tbh

fixed-gear-biking-just-useless-fad:
"yeah no brakes, 1 gear, been there and done that when I was 3 whatever"
ha!

im sympathetic to the fixie hate but one cool thing is how easy they are to maintain

fixed gear bikes are great imo.

for one thing they've almost killed off ppl on mtn bikes in the city.

i aint tryin to hate on fixies
i just think thats funny