Friday, September 30, 2011

Podium Shoes

So you won a race, hopefully in style; the next task to accept your prize in style. Here are some tips for podium footwear:
Trainers are cool, especially if they are sponsor correct. These are the feet of a Radioshack rider, thus the black, red, white and yellow shoes. Inappropriate sock length, though.
+1 If your podium shoes are the same as your cycling shoes, but with a rubber sole.
Avoid wearing your cycling shoes on the podium; only do so if you don't have time to change before getting on the podium. Though wearing cycling shoes is not as bad as wearing socks and sandals...

Friday, September 23, 2011

Faux Pas Friday: "Track Ready"

Gotta be aero, but still retain a comfortable riding position. Best coffee shop bike ever...

Friday, September 16, 2011

Two-Face Bikes

This is Two-Face. Two-Face is a villain from Batman and he is hideous.
This is Radioshack's team bike in the 2010 season. The mismatching wheels are trying to match gray-to-black fade paintjob on the frame, which makes the bike look like Two-Face, ergo hideous. If they had put a black front wheel, it would look better.
This is an SE PK Ripper collaborated with The Hundreds. It's a 26" BMX cruiser with mismatching wheels and tires. Don't make me say it, all right I'll say it: it, too, looks hideous. Another fail is that the picture is of the bike's non-drive side.
Never intentionally mismatch wheel colors to match the frame colors or color scheme, it's ugly. Except for time trial bikes and track bikes, try not to mismatch wheels (unless the situation calls for it, e.g. flat during a race). When buying used bikes, a bike with mismatched wheels is also an indication that it may have been in a severe crash, needing a front wheel replacement.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Faux Pas Friday: Jersey-less Revisited

Too shy to wear bibs, but not shy enough to ride jersey/shirtless? Some things people do, I just don't get.

Friday, September 2, 2011

No Glove, Yes Love


As kinky as the title sounds, what we'll be talking about today is gloves for your hands. Riders wear gloves for a few reasons, including palm protection in the event of a crash, something to wipe off your nose with, for warmth in cold weather, etc. Some people may argue that gloves with padding are good for cushioning road vibration, but the best gloves are unpadded ones; there's a smaller chance of getting blisters on your hands and you get better road feedback from the handlebars. Here are some tips for gloves:

Gloves shall be half-finger in white or team colors.
Light full-finger gloves for colder weather, preferably white.
Racing gloveless is awesome.
Glovelessness also cool in time trials. Wear aero gloves if you have them.
Gloves are unnecessary for training rides as shown by HTC-Highroad.
Emily Batty is notorious for mountain biking gloveless. Badass.
Speaking of mountain biking, mountain bike gloves are not meant for road, so keep those off the road (pun intended). Sure, they work, but it's a faux pas to wear them; you get dropped faster in a paceline.