Chances are, the kit you wore when you first snapped into your clipless pedals are a far cry from the dye-subbed jersey and bib you flipped into the laundry chute last Sunday.
Jerseys would easily be the earliest of non-bike upgrades for most Cyclists. Nothing outside of a new bike brings more road presence and impact than a spanking new kit.
My first jerseys were hand me downs from fellow Roadies eager to get new blood into Sport and increase the numbers, so to speak. But over the course of the following weeks, I felt that I needed something more appropriate to wear. And sure enough, I was visiting all four corners of LBSdom looking for my next kit.
Choosing which Jersey to buy next boils down to four basic mindsets:
Type One: Bike Matching - Matching jerseys with your bike and/or showing off the Brands
Type Two: Fanboyism - Getting your Man-Crush's kit or your favorite Pro-Tour Team's
Type Three: Below the Radar - No ads, just low profile jerseys
Type Four: Retro - Tapping into the rich designs of the past
By no means are any of the above mutually exclusive as you can buy all the jerseys you want. But in my experience, most Roadies will either go 1 and/or 2, then 3 and finally end up with 4.
NOTE - Your own Team jerseys are not included as more often than not, you have no choice but to wear it.
Samples:
Type Ones - Excellent choices if you actually rode the brands.
Type Twos - No explanation needed
Type Threes - Understated elegance
Type Fours- Class
Hybrids can exist between classes. For example, an Eddy Mercx Molteni-Arcore jersey, can fall between Types Three and Four.
As with all things, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Cycling Jerseys are no different.
Me personally, I've made the shift to Type 3/4. I think everyone does over time.
But whatever you prefer, you can be sure that someone, somewhere has a jersey to suit you. Pun intended.
......and Cycling Caps go well with everything.
Return to RoadieManila HQ
*images are copyright of the respective brands
No comments:
Post a Comment