downhillmaster

The fan club is out in force in this one lol.
Good stuff considering my first post in this cesspool of a thread was not simply about logos. It was a clear response to another poster that chimed in to make a terrible analogy regarding all sports apparel.
You regularly see recreational riders in full kit.
You very rarely see football or baseball fans in full uniform.
I’m sorry to break the news here but a NY Giants fan wearing a jersey anywhere is not the same as a recreational cyclist wearing full kit anywhere for any reason.
The irony of my fan club missing the entire point is awesome but will ofc be lost on them

Here’s my OP btw:

Quote:
Originally Posted by msu2001la
I've never understood why it's ok for basketball/football/baseball/hockey/soccer/F1 fans to wear team gear all over the place, but if a cyclist does this, they're somehow seen as some kind of poseur pretending to be on the team. I can't actually think of another sport where this scenario applies.

I see people wearing college/pro basketball jerseys at the gym all the time. Never once have I been like "oh wow, is that actually Lebron James using that cardio machine?".
You are quite off base.
Nobody is wearing a basketball or football jersey and trying to claim they are doing so for aero or tech benefits

seypat

Back in my youth, I had lots of Revell kits. I don't remember any of them being cycling kits, though.

nomadmax 

This is Alpe d'Huez (during the 2011 Tour) wearing a jersey that was gifted to me on the spot, by a friend who's since passed on. I have occasionally encountered people who think I should abide by their "standards and ethics" regarding team apparel. My trip to the Tour was born out of a very grim cancer diagnosis in 2008. Thanks to modern medicine, I was able to survive and take a dream come true trip, ride roads that I've only seen in pictures or on TV and be cheered on by early arrival race fans. I have a whole host of pro team jerseys and wear them all the time, including the yellow Disco. I don't worry about what other people wear because I'm not a 14-year-old girl.

msu2001la

Agree that kit = full ensemble of cycling clothing that one wears. I don't agree that kit = everything has the same logos on it. It's entirely possible that someone's kit would include a logo'd jersey paired with solid color socks, gloves and shorts that are still matching, but don't have logos. I would still consider that to be a kit. If stuff doesn't match, it would be mismatched kit.

More to your point, there is definitely a difference in terms of how far one takes wearing pro-logo apparel. A pro-team jersey on it's own is one thing. A pro-team jersey paired with matching pro-team bibshorts is next level. If you're also pairing this with pro-team logo socks and gloves - that's a serious statement. If you're involving shoes, sunglasses and helmets, wow... may as well get the matching bike.

livedarklions

Agreed that it's silly. We've had this discussion before on BF, and while most clothing for an activity would in American vernacular be referred to as "gear", it probably ended up being the more British-sounding "kit" because "bike gear" would be too easily confused with mechanical parts.

More fun linguistic question--So I never wear cycling specific clothing (not looking for an argument about that), even on century-plus rides, but I wear a specific outfit (usually t-shirt and cargo shorts). Am I wearing a "kit" when I do this?

On the one hand, I don't think I am because the term "bike kit" might convey a specific standard list of items. Or is the phrase more like "work clothes", which will obviously vary with the type of work you do? .
I don't think there's a definitely right answer to .that, but if we're going to have silly arguments, might as well make it a new one (that's not directed at you personally).

None of the stuff I wear has any prominent logos on it, so now I'm sort of on the OP topic.

Reflector Guy

I can relate the two groups in only the very slenderest of similarities - the baseball fan might wear a baseball glove to a game for that one-in-a thousand (or thirty-thousand) chance he'll use it to catch a foul ball or home run ball. Otherwise, yeah, no fan is going to sit there in the stands watching the game in cleats, pads, helmet, supporter, etc, etc. And if he's watching it on TV, no glove needed at all.

seypat

You'd be surprised how many fans you'll see at a pro golf tournament walking around in......................spiked golf shoes.

Also surprising how many ladies you'll see in high heels at the same events.

Trakhak

If peope are looking for an agree-to-disagree, utterly unimportant dispute over vocabulary, how about "derailer"? I know that the late Sheldon Brown planted a flag on the "derailer" hill much as the late John Forester did for "Vehicular Cycling," but I never quite got what was wrong with "derailleur." English is stuffed with words borrowed from other languages and left unmodified. Why single out any particular borrowing?

The invariable use of "ridding" by one frequent poster where he means "riding": the less said the better.

Reflector Guy

Sounds like a passive-aggressive way of announcing to the world you're not a road biker.

Mountain biker, probably. Am I right?

Koyote

Hmm. Your point is still opaque...If, that is, you have a point and are just ineffectively communicating it.

Those people in replica pro football or baseball jerseys aren't wearing them while actually playing those sports, while the cyclists in full kit are actually riding - which seems like a much better reason to be wearing such gear, doesn't it?

Reflector Guy

Sounds uncomfortable, both kinds!

Rdmonster69

I'm still confused. I see people in full gear sometimes. Never really cared....looks expensive tho. Sometimes I wear really tight bike clothes. Sometimes it has logo. I often wear a tank top. I like padded shorts and cycling shoes. My favorite shirt last year was probably my vintage Beavis and Butthead tank top. I have a Jaws tank top too. Am I doing this logo thing right ??

/Sarcasm

livedarklions

I've sure seen enough pick-up basketball games where someone is wearing a team logoed jersey, and no one thinks twice about it or accusing the player of posing as a Celtic or whatever. People are claiming that cycling gear, logoed or not, is more aero, the logo has nothing to do with the benefits.

msu2001la

I don't think there's that big of a difference between a NY Giants fan wearing a jersey to the gym, and a pro cycling fan wearing a pro team jersey while out riding their bike.

The fact that you are exaggerating things to cover a football jersey worn "anywhere" and the cyclist "wearing full kit" says something.

It's also OK if we disagree on this point. You don't need to keep repeatedly responding to the same post.

Bald Paul

That settles it.

I'm riding naked from now on. That way, I won't offend anyone.

Or, maybe I will. Danged if you do, danged if you don't, I guess.

Reflector Guy

Now would be a good time for that guy in the Road Cycling forum (who rides without a shirt) to check in for his insight. That's all we're missing here.

Rolla

It sounds British because it is. It means a complete set of something, as in kit and caboodle.

DKDC

seypat

These would check both boxes. Work clothes and kit.

https://www.squidbikes.com/products/chamois-work-shorts

msu2001la

Cubs fan Ronnie Woo Woo would like a word with you:

Reflector Guy

LOL On the South Side we had Andy the Clown. Just like Ronnie W., Andy never broke character.

livedarklions

Right.

It is really a lame comparison because the real difference is that the kit someone would wear for solo or informal group riding is basically identical to the clothing one would wear for organized team wearing. If you're in an American football uniform complete with all the game-needed padding, etc., it will be because you're a member of a formal team, which will have its own uniform with standardized logos. In other words, the reason you don't see recreational baseball players wearing cleats and a MLB team logo is because they're probably wearing the logo of the recreational team they 're playing with.

And, yeah, touch football is a different game than tackle football, just to anticipate the next troll move by what's his face.

indyfabz

Maybe he wears the skin of others.

msu2001la

Ha! I totally forgot about Andy the Clown. How terrifying.

Ronnie is so dedicated to his craft that when he attended the Blackhawk's Stanley Cup celebration, he wore a Blackhawks jersey on top of his Cubs uniform.

livedarklions

"Tool kit" isn't particularly British, not any more than most English phrases. The difference is that the American usage is generally to use the word "gear" to a complete set of items associated with an activity while the British use "kit"

The usual troll move on this "debate" is to claim that Americans are being pretentious by adopting the British usage for bicycling, but the real reason is more likely the ambiguity of the word "gear" in that context..

Just as an example, I do hear Americans refer to "camping kit" from time to time, but I think "camping gear" is a lot more common.

indyfabz

I always thought of "kit" as a cycling team kit, but my interpretation could be too narrow.

The other kind of Kit: