Cycling, It's Fashion on Bikes

Often people joke that 90% of cycling is fashion, but the truth of the matter is it's only a "joke" because 90% is probably a low ball number. Don't believe me? Have you ever noticed how many go out of their way to look like professional cyclists? Ever noticed how many pro team jersey's and sometimes full kits you see on fat, out of shape dudes with deep wallets and shallow aerobic capacity? If not, take a look around. People who ride bikes want to look good. Or, they ding bells and shout "on your left."

The SRAM Tour of the Gila starts today and once again our good friends Lance and Levi have decided it's a great training race where they can go beat up on the domestic pros. This is a tangent, but this year Garmin has sent a few boys themselves, three actually, because that's all the archaic UCI rule allows for, so maybe Levi will actually have some competition, I'm hoping so at least. Either way, it's GREAT, in much larger font than that, when these guys race stateside. It does so much for the sport. No sarcasm intended. No really, none! But, you're probably wondering, what does this have to do with fashion? While we(I) may type in circles here at TeamLandall, we(I) often, at least have some unifying theme.

Because of that stupid rule I mentioned above the boys from RadioShack and Garmin aren't allowed to race as RadioShack and Garmin. Last year Levi, Lance and Chris (yes, I am on a first name basis with them, duh!) raced as "Team Mellow Johnny's" after Lance's famed and overpriced bike shop (I mean really. I paid $12 for a water bottle and the logo wore off in like a month). This year, they're doing the same and the Garmin boys are racing as "DZ Nuts" after Zabriske's chamois cream company.

Again, the fashion, I'm getting to it! A picture was released on twitter this morning that showed the kits that the Mellow Johnny's crew will be sporting during their brief stay in the Land of Enchantment and they are bad ass. And to prove that, I've provided you with this picture.



I'm not going to lie. I'm pretty much always a fan of retro and so is everybody else, because it's awesome. Ever been to a baseball game on throw back day? The game can be the most boring life less thing ever and just seeing dudes in uniforms made to look like they're from the 40s makes up for it! Remember when the Pistons changed to those ugly teal uniforms with the horse logo? No, well, don't worry, because after a season or two, they went back to the good old tried and true.



Ridiculous!



Much Better!

Back to cycling. When fashion plays such a huge part in recognizability (I'm coining that) you'd think teams would do a better job of making kits that look good. When RadioShack released their new kits for this year I was more than a little disappointed. Lance had bikes custom painted by world famous artists for the Tour de France last year. Shepard Fairey, of Obama's Hope Campaign fame, is apparently Lance's buddy and this is what they settle on?



I mean, it's a bit plain. If RadioShack or "The Shack" as they seem to be referring to themselves, wanted to get in this cycling game to revolutionize their image, while shortening their name so they're "cool in the streets," why didn't they insist on some sort of old school retro jersey to begin with? Nobody in their right mind likes the standard RadioShack kit better than the retro one only being used at the Tour of the Gila. Everybody knows that making your logo look retro makes you look progressive and ahead of your time. It doesn't make any sense but I'm not opening that point up for debate. RadioShack missed out on a great chance to capitalize on their cool*. (*I'm not actually sure they are cool. I actually thought they had gone out of business before this sponsorship was announced.)

But really, without the marriage of cycling and fashion you'd have a bunch of dudes with hairy legs, gym socks and hi-vis yellow performance jersey's cluttering up the road. While I really think RadioShack dropped the ball, they at least did better than these guys. Who without a doubt have the ugliest kit I've ever seen. There isn't a single nice thing to say about it. It makes the "Venom" kit from Rock Racing two years ago look good, which is saying a lot! I can only assume the guy in the middle of these two is the designer. Just like parents of a really ugly child, only they could love something this hideous.



Since I have some experience in kit design I think I come to this from a place of exponential expertise. The B Sample Racing kit was and probably will be the best looking kit I've ever worn and yes, it was designed by yours truly. I'll admit I completely ripped off the original Rock Racing design but by the time these were made nobody was even able to remember those kits. If I had to do it again I'd decrease the center logo a bit so you could see more of the white bursts that go directly horizontal. Still, even with that discrepancy, it's a thing of beauty! See for yourself:



If I ever get the opportunity to design another kit I want to stick with the retro theme and have something that pays tribute to the greatest baseball uniform every adorned. From 1975-1993 the Houston Astro's fans were lucky enough to get to gaze on these beauties. Hopefully, one day, fans of TeamLandall will get the same opportunity. Fingers crossed!