Pinkbike Poll - Does Fashion Trump Function?
For a group of people who are generally considered to be outcasts of sorts, especially compared to the status quo of stick and ball sports that the general public is more familiar with, I'd have to say that we are awfully concerned with our appearance. There is, of course, nothing wrong with wanting to look good while pedalling bicycles around and laughing like kids who are having the time of their lives with good friends, but it goes well beyond that, doesn't it?
The outlawing of tight clothing being worn by World Cup downhillers is the most obvious example. I mean c'mon, the entire idea is to get from point A to point B as fast as possible, yet concern about how the sport appears led to rules being penned that ban Lycra and tight clothing in general. So instead of the world's fastest racers wearing what makes the most sense for, wait for it, racing, they dress like they are riding motocross bikes. Take a look at downhill ski racing, arguably one of the fastest, most extreme sports in the world, and you'll see racers wearing skin suits that make complete sense, unlike the baggy clothes that have been mandated into downhilling. No, I don't want to wear Lycra on my trail ride, but I would happily don the tights if my job was to go as fast as possible between the tape. It's time to stop caring what people think, and to stop trying to be anything else other than World Cup downhilling, a burly sport where racers should be able to wear Lycra because it is the correct tool for the job.
![Brendog was enjoying the high speeds on offer this afternoon as the course dried out. His best result is 8th on Quebec turf but you have to look back through 4 years of archives to find it.]()
Give us back pockets on our baggy jerseys, mountain bike-specific hip bags, and well-ventilated helmets that also provide loads of extra coverage. And allow the racers to wear Lycra and go visor-less if that lets them go faster. It's time that function started playing a larger role in our gear, and that won't happen until riders start asking for exactly that.
The outlawing of tight clothing being worn by World Cup downhillers is the most obvious example. I mean c'mon, the entire idea is to get from point A to point B as fast as possible, yet concern about how the sport appears led to rules being penned that ban Lycra and tight clothing in general. So instead of the world's fastest racers wearing what makes the most sense for, wait for it, racing, they dress like they are riding motocross bikes. Take a look at downhill ski racing, arguably one of the fastest, most extreme sports in the world, and you'll see racers wearing skin suits that make complete sense, unlike the baggy clothes that have been mandated into downhilling. No, I don't want to wear Lycra on my trail ride, but I would happily don the tights if my job was to go as fast as possible between the tape. It's time to stop caring what people think, and to stop trying to be anything else other than World Cup downhilling, a burly sport where racers should be able to wear Lycra because it is the correct tool for the job.
Do the racers want to wear Lycra? Probably not, but it would be faster. Does Lycra sell clothing to the average mountain biker? Not a chance.
Downhilling isn't the only discipline where fashion trumps function, though, with other genres falling into the same trap. Slope riders who compete in tank tops, no pads, and a skate-style lid - does that really make the most sense? The dirt jumpers whose gloves seem to spend more time in their back pocket than on their hands - why? The average weekend warrior who wears an "enduro" helmet that provides marginally more coverage at the price of much less ventilation, more weight, and, with some of them, no way to wear glasses comfortably but an inane ability to sport goggles. The list goes on, and we're all guilty of it, including myself. This much was made clear to me when I recently started experimenting with using a few different
Camelbak hip bags, otherwise known as fanny packs. With the water held low, and enough room for all necessary supplies, these bags make too much sense to not use, sneers and jeers aside. Do these hip bags make more sense for mountain biking? In most cases, hell yes. Will they catch on? Due to fashion trumping function, they most surely will not. Give us back pockets on our baggy jerseys, mountain bike-specific hip bags, and well-ventilated helmets that also provide loads of extra coverage. And allow the racers to wear Lycra and go visor-less if that lets them go faster. It's time that function started playing a larger role in our gear, and that won't happen until riders start asking for exactly that.
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as the great Rob Warner said, "If you fall in a run and break your visor off, that's it, you're done. you don't ride without a visor"
if your bike is clean and your kit is brand new, you are entitled to say to anybody, "I'm fast, way faster than you."
I recently thought about using such a hip back. While I found it sort of uncool, I wasn't aware there was such a hate on it. - I don't like to wear a backpack too much when downhilling. And actually a hip back would take a tool, spare tube and some powerbar or so without the extra weight and added sweat from a backback, also without tying the baggy jersey. Sounds useful to me.
And no, I don't want to do without any pack and push my bike all the way down after a mechanical failure or flat.
I just carried a bottle, keys, phone, tube and a CO2 cartridge. I wouldn't do this for a backcountry ride, of course, but I'll use it from now on for Duthie and a lap of Tiger Mountain.
In my personal experience dirt jumping, I ride with my gloves in my pocket for function not for fashion! For me I much prefer the feel of no gloves and find that I ride much better without gloves.But on some of those scorching hot days my hands become to slippery from sweat.Hence why my gloves live in my pockets for just in case.
Then the baggy pants are actualy extremely functional, they are way more durable than lycra, they protect the skin against bruising much better and they have pockets, which is helpful in the most blatant situations. So the questionable style issue comes in, not with moto shorts but those thin, light Trail AM shorts, being a cycling version of those worn by sailors and golfers, they provide nothing above lycra but the pocket.
Most other sports like mountain biking are not spectator sports. The professional athletes are for the most part not making money based off people paying to watch them ride. Riders are instead paid mostly by individual sponsors to wear/ride their products. The riders are essentially a walking advertisement for the companies they represent. That being said, sponsors want them riding and wearing shit consumers will buy. And lets be honest, no one is going to buy/wear skin suits outside of pro racers. There is no money to be made there for the companies and in turn no money to be made by the rider by wearing the skin suit.
Now excuse me while i get back to searching the internet for a fullface that matches my frame.
Everytime there is too much balance or too much domination things go either beige or wrong. In my short career i have came upon clients who chose one of those three as being the dominating factor, and those clients were the most confident ones with least questions - they felt very smart of themselves by knowing exactly what they want. And every time such "confident" bloke comes along, the project turns out to be a disaster, both as process and end result. Because their vision could not stand the inevitable conflict with other things.
What I am trying to say is, that you can't run away from fashion, just as you can't run away from function and construction. The biggest misconception though is that Fashion is something anyone can get right with ease, and is easiest to be crossed out. I will put to you that TLD D3 helmet could look like some cheapo 661 or IXS ugly pish, by being equally safe and light. But such style costs a lot to design even for a person who made dozens of designs. Designing "beauty" takes no less time than making it endure stress and function properly. I will put to anyone that when something looks good it usualy works good, and it is extremely rare when very bad looks are not symptoms of something being really wrong.
Unless you do it 100% on purpose and are willing to compromise other two just for the sake of coming out of the schemes. But then... you are deeply concerned about style, by trying to look like you are not concerned, so... look what happened to hipsters! One day you put on two different socks, girl jacket, guy trousers, girl hat, hippie shoes - you come out of the house and a lot of people look at you like you are an idiot. Another day a lot of people notice that cool, and start dressing up in a similar way - how sad indeed...
I suspect that's the subconscious reason why I sold 7" bike and bought a 5" bike... Enduro got too popular, too much acceptance of society...
That's the first thing I'm looking at when buying bike clothes, they must match each other plus the bike. I even wear white laces in my shoes to match my Crossmax SX wheelset
And what we want is to ride bikes and have fun on it.
If the world cup racers don't want to wear lycra, I don't care and it will not influence me.
But for freeriding or DH I prefer to wear solid shorts with body armour than lycra.
We practice a risky sport so good protection is as important as speed.
Motocross gear is functional for protection (and looks good I admit) that is why motoX style si so used in MTB especially in DH and FR.
See ya
Now you're talking fast.
This, with the apparel described previously, will get you on the podium every time.
Also when someone is riding right on the edge and putting together an awesome run, it is so awe inspiring that you don’t even notice what they are wearing. Remember Sam Hill’s VDS champs run in 2008? Did you notice his top was skin tight and he was wearing skin tight leggings with knee pads over the top? At the time I didn’t, I just remember sitting there slack jawed thinking ‘holy sh1t, my mind can’t compute what it is seeing’.
To answer the question posed by the article; Yes I think there are occasions where fashion trumps function.
Functionally, no question that wearing full length lycra is better than a tank top for that stylish whip that you might not land (your choice however, is what's cooler and is it worth it?)
One ride changed my mind and now I wouldn't ride a trail/AM bike without one.
I say wear whatever makes sense to you when you're out having fun but when you're competing EVERY sport essentially consists of a number of very arbitrary rules. If the objective in soccer was simply to get the ball in the opponents goal then why don't they just use their hands?