How come bicycle clothing looks so silly?

"!Jones' Sock Puppet" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:42:53 -0800 (PST), in alt.war.vietnam "gnu /
.. You couldn't sell Spandex to the motorcycle
crowd.

Jones

Sure you can. They just don't wear it in public.



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On Jan 14, 7:53*am, "Chas Hurst" wrote:
"!Jones' Sock Puppet" wrote in messagenews:clprm4t18e3l6q46h9ten1mthba06cfgks@4ax .com... On Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:42:53 -0800 (PST), in alt.war.vietnam "gnu /

. *You couldn't sell Spandex to the motorcycle

crowd.

Jones

Sure you can. They just don't wear it in public.

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Please end this silly topic and put it out of its misery! Why don't
you amble over to roadbikereview.com or some such and start it there
where it has meaning? Preaching to the choir has no benefits regarding
changing minds or perceptions. It just shines the spotlight on the
ignorant.

On 2009-01-14, Martin Riddle wrote:


"Sharky" wrote in message
...
Brian Huntley wrote:

On Jan 13, 5:34 pm, !Jones' Sock Puppet wrote:

I recall when a decent bicycle cost a day's wages

Really? When was that? I remember paying $40 for a 3-speed in 1970.
Wages were not very close to $5/hour where I lived then. Teachers made
about $18k/year, for example.

In that case teachers would have been able to buy more than two bikes
a day. Most teachers only work about 200 days a year, the rest is just
weekends and long holidays.

It's 180 days.

No.

Students are required to be in the classroom a minimum of 180 days (in most
US states), but teachers also have in-service days for training, they come
in early before the beginning of the school year to set up their rooms (a
serious feat if it's a new room), and they spend their evenings and weekends
grading papers and assembling lesson plans.

Last district my wife taught in, the school year was 196 days, plus the setup
time at the beginning of the year, plus the nights and weekends.

In comparison, my full-time job (engineering) gives me 5 weeks off per year,
and I don't often work late or on weekends, and I get 7 holidays per year,
so I end up working ~255 days per year. And yet I make double what a teacher
with the same 11 years of experience would make.


--

Kristian Zoerhoff

On Jan 14, 7:13*am, SMS wrote:
!Jones' Sock Puppet wrote:
Actually, I kinda *like* men in tight, black panties... but, my
question has always been: How do you wear that stuff in public and
keep a straight face?

The riders wearing the ridiculous looking clothing stand out more, but
it's rather a small percentage of riders. Non-ridiculous looking jerseys
and classic wool knickers are still available.

I wear a lot of made at home clothes. My arm warmers are the legs of
cheap tights and so are my leg warmers. My facemask is the arm of a
cotton polyester long sleeved shirt. I wanted something thin that
didn't itch and the fleece ones are two thick. My jerseys are old a
full of holes. My cycling companions often toss coin at me or plan on
taking collections so that I can buy clothes. One of the local lbs
owners tells me that I am bad advertisement for his establishment.

I don't like most lycra shorts on my legs. They itch me. Most of the
really soft ones are $$$$$$. I like the cotton ones or the supplex
ones. Supplex and cotton shorts are made by very few companies, so
mine are almost all transparent. If someone knows a source of cheap,
silky soft cycling shorts, let me know.

" wrote:

I wear a lot of made at home clothes. My arm warmers are the legs of
cheap tights and so are my leg warmers. My facemask is the arm of a
cotton polyester long sleeved shirt. I wanted something thin that
didn't itch and the fleece ones are two thick. My jerseys are old a
full of holes. My cycling companions often toss coin at me or plan on
taking collections so that I can buy clothes. One of the local lbs
owners tells me that I am bad advertisement for his establishment.

I like your method of reusing clothes for other
purposes especially the one abt using a sleeve form
jersey as facemask!! Good one

I sometimes use old wool socks as mittens when running

" wrote:

My facemask is the arm of a
cotton polyester long sleeved shirt.

Question.... how does that fit over the head?

On Jan 14, 11:36*am, wrote:
" wrote:
My facemask is the arm of a
cotton polyester long sleeved shirt.

Question.... how does that fit over the head? *

I should have said t-shirt. I had a cotton polyester turtleneck. More
polyester than cotton. I cut the sleeves off and made a couple of ear
covers with one sleeve and a balaclava sort of contraption with the
other sleeve. I wear one or the the other ear cover all the time under
the helmet. It protects me into the 30s and I can wear it up to the
60s without overheating. My ears ache below 55 degrees but a fleece
ear cover was too hot and I would overheat. I started using a piece of
sleeve and it worked wonders and keeps me warm into the 30s. I usually
combine it with a face mask that covers mouth, nose, part of ears and
velcros behind my head. As soon as I warm up I remove the face mask
but keep the ear covers on for the whole ride.

I had bought some cheap arm warmers a long time ago, but wouldn't fit
me. I had cut legs from some tights that I would use as leg warmers. I
put them on my arms and covered them just fine and were not tight. So,
they became my arm warmers. I bought another pair of cheap supplex
tights at target for $10.00, cut the legs off and they became my leg
warmers.

I get lots of grief from my friends but I ride very comfortably. I
have tried a number of balaclavas in stores and they all seem tight,
itchy and thick. The only one that seems to be warm, yet light and not
to tight is the Craft brand one, but it is expensive. I am still
considering it.

wrote:
On Jan 14, 11:36 am, wrote:
" wrote:
My facemask is the arm of a
cotton polyester long sleeved shirt.
Question.... how does that fit over the head?

I should have said t-shirt. I had a cotton polyester turtleneck. More
polyester than cotton. I cut the sleeves off and made a couple of ear
covers with one sleeve and a balaclava sort of contraption with the
other sleeve. I wear one or the the other ear cover all the time under
the helmet. It protects me into the 30s and I can wear it up to the
60s without overheating. My ears ache below 55 degrees but a fleece
ear cover was too hot and I would overheat. I started using a piece of
sleeve and it worked wonders and keeps me warm into the 30s. I usually
combine it with a face mask that covers mouth, nose, part of ears and
velcros behind my head. As soon as I warm up I remove the face mask
but keep the ear covers on for the whole ride.

I had bought some cheap arm warmers a long time ago, but wouldn't fit
me. I had cut legs from some tights that I would use as leg warmers. I
put them on my arms and covered them just fine and were not tight. So,
they became my arm warmers. I bought another pair of cheap supplex
tights at target for $10.00, cut the legs off and they became my leg
warmers.

I get lots of grief from my friends but I ride very comfortably. I
have tried a number of balaclavas in stores and they all seem tight,
itchy and thick. The only one that seems to be warm, yet light and not
to tight is the Craft brand one, but it is expensive. I am still
considering it.

I cut a strip of light stretch fleece and wear it like a headband, but
lower, covering my cheekbones and nose. My balaclava covers my forehead
and chin, so the only thing exposed is my mouth and eyes. Works well
when temps are in the teens and below. The balaclava I like is a Campmor
cheapie, about the weight of T-shirt material -- all I ever need.

In '70, one could buy a decent bicycle for $20 - $30 at a hardware
store. I paid $48.33 in '68 for my '66 Schwinn equipped with a Bendix
kickback and that was considered extravagant. In '70, I was in
Vietnam, so I didn't have a bicycle; however, in '72, I was driving a
cab and considered 40 bucks to be a decent night's book... I probably
averaged $30 to $35.

I was in Georgetown, DC in October doing a little urban hiking...
granted, that's a pricey neighborhood. We walked by a bike shop and
their window display bike had a $22K price tag!!! Sheeze! That's
more than I paid for my first *house*! It's even a fairly large part
of it when adjusted for inflation.

When you put multiple thousands of dollars into a bicycle, what you
have is a fetish, not transportation.

Jones

On Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:42:23 +0000, in alt.war.vietnam Peter Clinch
wrote:

The bar end shifters on my touring bike, and my wife's, can have the
indexing turned off just with a twist of a D-ring on the side. That
turns them into a pure friction shifter. I'm fairly sure these are
still available.

We have a set of what are sometimes called "rapid fire" shifters on
one of our tandems... their name escapes me and I'm at the office, so
I can't go look; however, they're Shimano mid - to - good "mountain
bike" shifters where you have two levers... one for up and another for
down. I'd dearly love to turn that indexing stuff off on the front
shifter. It doesn't help any and prevents me from fine tuning the
cage when it rubs on slight cross chaining.

I'm looking for a decent set of friction shifters on eBay. The rear
is getting slightly worn and the damn things look as complicated as an
analog watch.

Jones