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OPINION

Daylight robbery or total snobbery?

Following on from the theme of my last blog (but not wanting to pigeonhole myself as the road.cc fashionista) I wanted to talk about how pleased I am thus far with the content our this esteemed website's forum.

Most other message boards I have had the time to frequent seem to have an obsession with 'cycling as the new golf'. Which is fine. Rich business types on Cervelo's are still fair game and worth catching to someone of my limited ability.

There is nothing better than being on aluminium and zipping past a carbon...Especially if it has a pair of Zipps! That is double points in my eyes.

But forum discussions aren't usually about the rider, most often not about the bikes... They are usually about clothing, and the question is usually worded to give you the impression that the following is fact.

"You need to spend lots of money on Assos and Rapha"

Now I have never been a snob readers, in fact I am happily riding round in a combination of Decathlon and Aldi kit this winter and I have been toasty warm.

What gets my goat is this feeling that you are somewhat better if you spend more on cycling. And that isn't true.

On any level.

Cycling makes the merest of difference to performance at the level most of us operate at.

I have clothing from both Assos and Rapha and very lovely it is too. But I also have clothing from Impsport (team issue) and a host of other brands. If the clothing works and it is what I want to pay, I buy it!

And cyclists should not feel inhibited or see division based on their clothing budget!

So let's try and keep the road.cc forum unblighted by this sort of nonsense and keep to discussing relevant issues to do with the sport and passtime we all love.

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6 comments

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ourmaninthenorth | 15 years ago
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Can I come out of the closet and admit that I think the cut and style of Rapha is great?

Oh, and I'm not bothered about cycling being the new golf - it is, at the moment, but something else will take its place. In the meantime, let's celebrate more people riding bikes, and hopefully some of them looking good while they're at it!

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Tony Farrelly replied to ourmaninthenorth | 15 years ago
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Yeah, I like the cut of some Rapha stuff, although one of the reasons is that a lot of it does lend itself to being worn off the bike.

Either way, I thought Jimmy's point was that you shouldn't take any notice of other people trying to tell you what 'real' riders wear - wear what works for you.

(I find a nice light blue and black plaid works best for me)

I'm not bothered about cycling being the new golf either - imagine if there were as many velodromes and dedicated cycle routes as there are golf courses.

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ourmaninthenorth replied to Tony Farrelly | 15 years ago
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I'm not bothered about cycling being the new golf either - imagine if there were as many velodromes and dedicated cycle routes as there are golf courses.

How marvellous the world would be if that were true.... But it's easy for me to say that - I live in Manchester, with the St Andrews of velodromes but a 20 minute ride from home.

Yeah, I agree with jimmy's sentiment: I ride with people who wear all sorts of kit. Some go like the clappers, others go faster.... All of them leave me, in my Assos shorts, dying in their wake.

Now, where did I put those new golf clubs?

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James Warrener replied to ourmaninthenorth | 15 years ago
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I was trying to say you can wear what you want...

Now what about a rainbow jersey?!!!

That's a topic to start on the forum!

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DaSy | 15 years ago
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subjective views of the same information can be!

I am a real Rapha and Assos fan, I only wear Assos bib shorts and everything else is Rapha from cap to socks.

I frequent quite a few road forums, and my opinion is that as a Rapha wearer you are pigeon holed as being a fat middle aged wannabe cyclist with way too much money and no ability. The discerning true grit cyclists only wear cheap clothing, because they recognise value and performance, and cycling isn't about wearing expensive clothes.

I can point to quite a few threads on Bike Radar and Bike Forums that always degenerate to pointing at Rapha wearers as more style than substance....

So, it's funny how we all see things from a different perspective

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thebikeboy | 15 years ago
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Well said Jimmy!

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