Ok, I’ll admit it, I’ve got a bit of a thing for nice cycling gear.  If you’ve never been to Rapha’s website, this is the sort of stuff I love:

Rapha - gorgeous gear to confirm your Euro Poseur status...

Whilst I’d like to say this gear is gorgeous from first hand experience, I have to admit to having only touched it whilst it clothed the lilly white body of another cyclist and the rest of my admiration has been from afar.  Why?  Well, because it’s just so bloody expensive.

That white jersey that you see Mr Super-serious-corporate-cycling-is-the-new-golf bloke wearing in the shot above will set you back well over A$200 (they kindly list a range of currencies - from 110 pounds to US$185 to 160 euros).  At least in the case of Rapha the gear is really well made, it’s made out of sportwool and other more refined materials so you could mount an argument that at least you’re getting value for money.

If I told my wife that I’d just dumped $220 on a jersey I was going to get sweaty in I reckon she’d kick me from here to next week.  Of course, it all depends on how much you want to look good when out posing on the bike.  Me, I’ll take keeping my manhood over looking super cool. 

I don’t mind forking out for a little nice clothing, but let’s be serious - some of this stuff is just stupidly over-priced.  I really like the Rock Racing gear, but for standard polyester gear, the pricing is just simply way over the top.  Fat Cyclist (good blog, well worth reading) has a pretty good tongue in cheek piss take of the Rock Racing products and how over-priced they are - have a read here.  These guys, however are just following the first rule of fashion - if you really want to make your stuff desirable, put it almost, but not quite out of reach.  How else can you explain people paying $500 for a pair of jeans (manufactured by none other than Rock & Republic, the business behind Rock Racing).

The reality is, most of my gear comes from Probikekit and is chosen for it’s combination of a decent aesthetic, quality and the right price.  That really means that it’s gotta look ok, be made by a manufacturer that I know from past experience can sew a garment together that won’t fall apart, and is reasonably priced.  Occasionally I’ll like something enough to just say “stuff it, I’ll buy it”, but generally speaking I will stick to the bargains.  For example, I almost shelled out for a Saunier-Duval-Scott team kit because I had some man love for Ricco.  Thankfully I didn’t!

Having said all this, stuff that looks good and performs well functionally is always nice to have.  I’ve got some very nice high end Santini knicks which mean that whenever I put on an older, cheaper pair of knicks I get a shock about how bad some of the cheap stuff really is. 

One of the biggest issues of course is that whilst we may think we look really cool, all the public at large sees is a bunch of lycra clad, shaved down oddities.  Try walking into work after jumping off the bike in a full euro kit and check out the looks you get - and the fodder you provide for being teased for the coming 6 months!

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