I was just thinking about some of the "truths" about cycling I have read and heard over the years that really didn't pan out for me...or at least were not life-altering for me.

Some examples of these I have read more times than I can remember are:

Cotton kills
Wear a gore tex shell in the rain because it allows water vapor to escape, breathes, and is rainproof
Tight clothing doesn't flap in the wind, aids muscle contraction, and gives you an aero advantage
Wicking materials keep you from getting soggy, hypothermia, etc.
Get some low spoke count wheels to get faster!
Carbon forks deaden road vibration! (combined with advice to run 23mm tires at 120 psi )
Steel frames are heavy or flimsy or rust-prone or antiquated
Sora and Tiagra components are for beginners and shouldn't be used for hard or regular cycling, for regular cycling you need to step up into another $500 worth of shifters/deraillers.
Cycling specific sunglasses are totally worth the price because they sit higher on your head!
You need a jersey because you can store a banana in the huge rear pockets!

Anyone else run into this when first reading and learning about this hobby? I sure did, and really wish I would have had the wisdom at the time to ignore all this crap and just see what works on my own. I must admit that I "bit" on a lot of it at first without knowing any better