Cycling Clothing

Elvis809 · Mar 16, 2008

Hey,
I'm new to cycling. What clothing do you recommend? Skin suits? Bibs? Or Bike Shorts with Jersey? I grew up on swimming & wrestling teams so wearing something form fitting is not problem. I just want to wear something comfortable, useful and look good in it.
Any ideas?
Jim

Philosoph · Mar 16, 2008

I just use cycling shorts and a jersey. People who are more serious about it than I am might go for some more advanced gear, but I've had no problems so far.

smw356 · Mar 16, 2008

if you're short enough to get bib shorts that fit without cutting off testicular circulation thats probably your most comfortable bet.

pitboss12 · Mar 16, 2008

Shorts and jersey combo or a bib is all you'll ever need. Skin suits are only used in time trials where every second literally counts.

JayJay · Mar 16, 2008

Originally Posted by Philosoph

I just use cycling shorts and a jersey. People who are more serious about it than I am might go for some more advanced gear, but I've had no problems so far.
This is what I typically wear.

Merckx · Mar 16, 2008

I always wear bib shorts and a jersey. I use to wear shorts, but I found bibs to be more comfortable.

doink · Mar 16, 2008

I prefer shorts and a jersey.

I hate bibs, they tend to be too short in the body for me. If you wear bibs you still need to wear a jersey.

As for brands, fit varies as do opinions. I prefer high end sugoi, or mid end pearl izumi. if money is no object try assos or rapha.

Merckx · Mar 16, 2008

My preferences are Giordana and Castelli. I'm 6'1" and I've never had much of a problem with the length of bibs. Shorts or bibs, you really can't go wrong with either choice as long as you have a decent insert in them.

aragon765 · Mar 16, 2008

good advice given so far.

I have one pair of Assos bibs, and several pairs of high-end Sugoi (with a smattering of other things, mostly euro-trash team stuff..). While I will admit that the Assos are a superior bib to the Sugoi stuff (better fit, fabric, touch, 3d Chamois) I do not think I would buy another pair when I can get 4 Sugoi RS Flex bibs for the price of one Assos bib. I was in the industry for a couple of years, so I got industry pricing, but still found the $$ for Assos stuff a bit much.

Rapha stuff is amazing, regardless of price.

But to answer the OP question -- go to a good, reputable bike shop, tell them what your riding plans are (how much, how long, how hard) and then try a bunch of stuff on. The right stuff will have the right mix of comfort, technical appeal and $$ value. And hopefully look good too

Keep the rubber side down....

SoCal2NYC · Mar 16, 2008

I typically wore Voler or Pearl Izumi.

Merckx · Mar 16, 2008

Do you still compete in triathlons SoCal?

SoCal2NYC · Mar 16, 2008

Originally Posted by Merckx

Do you still compete in triathlons SoCal?

Sad to say I do not. Once I graduated UCSB I tried to keep up with it in LA; but, really found it hard to keep up with cycling and swimming (I was very spoiled in Santa Barbara!). Even have less of the drive now that I have a real job and live in NYC.
My last race was Wildflower.

akaidiot · Mar 16, 2008

I think cycling shorts and jersey should be fine unless you're doing some serious racing. I wear cycling shorts and APC jeans on centuries if the weather is colder and think it works fine.

etl · Mar 16, 2008

buy bibs not shorts. they are more comfortable. Velonews seems to think that Campagnolo makes the best chamois/short combo - so that would be the buy for the plus $200 bib, voler is the best economy bet. If you sign up for their club they will send you email on their deals which happen monthy. It used to be that you could get bibs for about $55 but i think they've upped their PR and "bib design" so the new cheap stuff is probably north of $80 from them.

Spend your fun money on a nice jersey. The trick is to buy something brighter than christmas so you aren't killed by traffic and dark enough that chain grease doesn't destroy your game when you inevitably have to fix flats or do maintenance on the road.

As others have said, no skin suit. You'll know when you need one and you'll have already spent thousands of dollars on ceramic berrings before you'll gain any wind sheer advantage for your speed.

Other things to not overlook are good sunglasses which make a huge difference and comfortable gloves. I used to butcher my way through the PearlIsumi gel gloves but this year's Pro-Fit version seem to be made much better.

Shoes and helmets are super fashionable and mostly pretty similar. You can shave money off by buying NOS on ebay. I haven't been able to tell the difference in mega-expensive Giro helmets from year to year in a very long time.

Most importantly, get out and ride. The gadgets are all mostly excuses for people who don't ride harder.

aragon765 · Mar 16, 2008

Originally Posted by akaidiot

I think cycling shorts and jersey should be fine unless you're doing some serious racing. I wear cycling shorts and APC jeans on centuries if the weather is colder and think it works fine.

You are kidding about the jeans, right?

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