Bike Apparel?
 

Hope this is not a repeat thread but just wondering what people wear when riding their vintage road bikes? I go full kit when I ride my newer road bike but kinda like to chill out on my older bike with gym shorts, shirt and runners. I always think I should be wearing more appropriate footwear so wondering what would be traditionally worn with metal rat trap pedals and leather straps?

I have a retro vintage Peugeot riding jersey on order from some online over seas web site but don't expect to see that any time soon. When it does arrive, I want to upgrade my wardrove a little to match the era.

I try not to dress like a girlyman.......

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A little history, as I remember it. Footwear depends on era and enthusiasm level. Before clipless pedals came out, if you had an expensive racing bicycle, you almost certainly would have worn cycling shoes with slotted cleats. More casual century riders and tourists might ride either racing cleats, or touring shoes like Bata or Avocet. Newbies on Super Mirages would just wear tennis shoes or something.

Club riders and racers would have worn wool jerseys and shorts right up to around 1980, when 'skin' (lycra) shorts started to catch on. They had already been out there for a couple years, but rare. People continued to use wool jerseys with the lycra shorts. I've already covered shoes. Synthetic jerseys were around by then, but didn't really catch on to the mid 80s. Maybe you trained in wool but had a fast polyester jersey for racing, or something. It was a slow transition, unlike the shorts. It seems like in '79 everyone was in wool shorts, and by the end of 1980, no one was.

Back to the present day and what I ride...
Last few months, I've mostly been wearing non bike clothes, hiking shorts, T shirt, etc. If I'm riding a lot and am reasonably fit, I just wear normal bike clothes. I don't do silly pro team jerseys. Plain colors and simple designs only. I still very often wear wool, and in fact I need to get me another wool jersey. Wool shorts though? No thanks. I started on them and am not going back. The stretchy kind are way more comfortable.

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C&V ride a few years back - typical Puget Sound summer-ish day - 60°-ish and a smidge of a chance of liquid sunshine, with liquid suspended cloudiness guaranteed.
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faces clipped for all but vertically challenged. These guys were Olympic Peninsula Hurricane Ridge riders. Memorable for all.

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Just -- Ride ON!

Wildwood , no boondockers?......:)

Back when I was a youngster, doing tours with family, I wore lycra because that's what I was given. I gave up cycling for about 4 years during my twenties and then got back into it full Rivendell style, with completely ordinary clothes, right down to my linen shirts, cotton shorts, and Chaco sandals in toe clips.

Then I started experimenting with slowly adding cycling gear.

The cycling shoes made the biggest difference. The shorts, second biggest. I don't think I'm much slower or any less comfortable wearing a linen button-down than a jersey. It is more comfortable at lower speeds and higher temperatures (e.g. touring, pass hunting, rough-stuff exploring). It is also fun to pass by a roadie in full spandex while wearing a billowing linen shirt. Really gets on their nerves I guess.

I just got a nice set of Avocet touring shoes for my toe clips. Before that, I just use old clapped-out SPD mountain bike shoes without any SPD cleats on them, and they worked fine. The stiff soles help a LOT in my experience, compared to sandals or even trail runners, and the shoes don't look out of place on an old bike.

Recently I became a smelly old man, and found the lycra business to be unbearable. I'd have to wash my lycra shorts every time I went out if I wanted to maintain some level of civilized decency. So I got some old Protogs wool cycling shorts, just to try just once. I ended up really loving them. They don't really stretch out much, fall down, or become baggy or itchy, even if I'm in them all day. I really don't see what all the fuss is about. I don't miss the overly-padded chamois in my lycra shorts. I think the thin single-layer leather thing is better, because it retains some breathability. I can wear them between 4 and 10 rides before they smell bad enough for me to wash them. So here I am in my Avocet or SPD shoes, my wool shorts, and either a wool jersey or a linen short sleeve button down from a JCrew sale, and it's because they work for me.

And you should wear what works for you.

From a recent ride and pretty much my usual kit (though I wasn’t on a C&V bike): wool jersey, Compass knickers w/ padded briefs underneath, leather Dromarti shoes, wool Ibex arm warmers that cool morning.

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Im an early 80's Era guy so I wore what my Hero's wore whenever I was on a bike. If Sean Kelly or Hinault had it on, I eventually got it.

I ALWAYS ride in cycling shorts ,jersey and cycling shoes. Only a Fred would ride in denim shorts and tennis shoes.

This is me in 1984, Wore it then ,and still wear it now.

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The Tusken Raider mask looks a little out of place, at least on a c&v ride.

​​​​​​​I can understand with your modern carbon bike.

I drank the Rivendell kool-aid and it was damn tasty. I bought 3 pairs of MUSA shorts on discount before they were discontinued. It was a mistake not to buy 3 more.

For the future I plan to try out these touring shorts, they look nicely made.

Bike Shorts from People Who Really Know Bike Shorts!


As for shirts, sometimes modern jersey, sometimes wool, sometimes cotton t-shirt. Depends on how hard I'm riding.

Since the coronavirus, I've been riding mostly gravel, and mostly alone. I go for the circus clown aesthetic, aka, wearing bright colors, to improve my chances of being seen. Our county roads are mostly local limestone, and when it's hot and dry, like now, gas powered vehicles will kick up a cloud of fine white dust that you cannot see thru, until it settles back to earth. So, yeah, visibility is my primary concern. Usually an old multi-colored jersey, so I can have my phone and reading glasses at the ready, in the back pockets. A bandanna, around my neck, to act as a dust filter. Really... no one cares what I look like, including me.

I was thinking Scramble Suit from A Scanner Darkly. But pretty close.

Yup, this thread is coming along nicely. Everybody has a personal preference, and it's, well, personal!

So far, we've got two flavors of koolaid (Grant and Jan), everyday-is-Dirty-Kanza visibility, a couple normal people in lyrca shorts, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and a smelly guy. I like this thread. The breakdown is intriguing to me for whatever reason :)

My first cycling kit in the 1970s was a plain green merino wool jersey and black merino wool shorts with chamois pad. My current favorite kit for summer rides is pretty much the same, just updated to more practical and lighter weight synthetic material - a Garneau Lemmon II jersey and inexpensive Przewalski shorts. My thighs are a bit long out of proportion to my legs so most shorts and bibs fit me shorty-shorts style, kinda like the Anquetil and Merckx era shorts.
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Pretty close to what I wore in 1978, just newer fabrics. Better helmets. Clipless instead of Detto Pietros. Grayer hair. Slower.

Urban dic for boondocker:
https://www.urbandictionary.com/defi...erm=Boondocker

a person who enjoys the out of doors and may frequent National Forests and BLM land in their quest for freedom and solitude.
Physically
and
metaphysically.
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aaahhhhhhhhh mmmmmmmmmmmmmm
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conch blessing

I'll take that too....it keys in nicely with being out at sea which was the last time I wore my boondockers

The last time I swabbed a rolling deck, I wore your boondockers.

Yup, whatever makes you comfortable, wear it.

I prefer wool pants rolled up below the knees with over-the-calf socks and long sleeved tops - wool sweaters of varying density depending on the weather - but always in layers on cold mornings because they don’t always stay that way. I have rediscovered wool as a near miracle fiber (I’m a stinky old man too) - most tight-fitting plastic stuff acquires a funk that just wont go away. I will wear a light fishing shirt - they match the needs of cyclists quite well.

It was fun last year riding Going to the Sun Road in a cloudy drizzle and being caught by a full-Lycra kid, then staying with him the rest of the way at his pace. He was surprised that “such an old bike” with a handlebar bag could be as quick as his wunderkarbon. He was also a bit chagrined when I wanted to climb over a small snow slide to go further - he was freezing and had to turn back (his 10-mile descent was going to be even colder!). I was fine in three layers of wool - I ate my sandwich while I watched snow continuously fall down a large slide that kept me from the top. A windbreaker kept me warm enough on the descent.

“There’s no such thing as poor weather, just poor clothing choices.”

For me, it's time on the bike. Under around 75 minutes, I'll wear just about anything (no nudity please, ick). Over around 75 minutes, stretchy cycling clothes. Stuff flapping in the wind for too much time or an unpadded butt is uncomfortable for me.

For shoes I opted for a pair of Giro Rumbles this year and am happy with them on old style pedals and toe clips/straps.

People look at me like I'm crazy but I wear old blue jeans, a t-shirt and Shimano MTB shoes or GIROS with no cleats for all riding. I did the whole kit thing years ago but these days nobody wants to see that LOL. I'm just as comfortable in my old blue jeans and a t-shirt and no one has tried pouring bleach in their eyes after I rode by, at least not until I was out of sight. I know I look like some guy with a DUI on a stolen bike but that's how I roll.

Huh really cool to see all the responses and I will admit to being naïve about the different options. I never knew wool jerseys actually existed? I ride my vintage bike for fun mostly and leave the long rides for my newer road bikes with cycling jersey, lycra cycling shorts and clipped in pedals. When I do these rides, it's a production and I really hate all the preparation and much prefer a pair of comfortable shorts, a t shirt and running shoes but if you ride in summer weather these get sweaty real quick. If I know I'm going for a longer ride I put on gym shorts and technical performance t shirt.
What did 80's cycling shoes look like?

I thought to ride vintage you needed the prerequisite pot belly.

I don’t use any cycling specific gear I can stand to do without.

I don’t have much in the way of jerseys but I usually wear cycling shorts because they help. I’m going to check out those tourist shorts.

It’s hot these days so I just wear white tees with the sleeves cut out and lots of sunscreen.

In progressively cooler weather, I will wear normal tees, long sleeve tees, Duofold base layers, maybe layer those and below about 50F I’ll add my windbreaker.

I’ve been using platform pedals so I wear Nike knit shoes or Keen sandals.

I always wear cycling gloves, firstly to protect my hands and second for comfort. In the cold I have warmer Trek gloves that get me down to about 30F before I take it inside.

These days of course I wear a helmet. Back in the 70s I would just have a cap to keep the sun out of my eyes. I wear glasses now and almost always wear clip on sunglasses.

Otto

I don't get into the fashion thing when I ride either my vintage or modern bikes, I'm not Chris Froome, nor do I want to pretend to be him. I only have one jersey that is a team jersey because I use to race out of that bike shop many moons ago, though they don't race out of that store anymore they still sell a store jersey, and when I went back to that store a couple of years ago I picked up the jersey as a memory thing. Otherwise I just wear plain single colored jerseys with no gaudy prints, or advertisements plastered all over.

But I do wear fake boobs and fake dreadlocks when I ride...