+3

the attitude about what one "should" wear when commuting by bike does seem to come from only one side of the aisle.

commuters who wear cycle specific clothing often say things like: "i find that i sweat a lot when i ride, so exercise clothing works best for me, but if office clothing works better for other commuters, more power to them."

commuters who wear office clothing often say things like: "if you sweat a lot when you commute to work, then you're riding too fast. slow down!"

WTF?

the bottom line is that their are NO correct/incorrect answers. each individual rider has to figure out what works best for their individual situations and their individual preferences.

Around my neighborhood, just cruising around... regular clothes are fine... of course my regular clothes ARE shorts and light shirts.

Going any distance, and wanting to make decent speed, I wear good PI bike shorts... these help prevent chaffing, and catching loose clothing on anything such as the saddle. I generally wear cotton Ts for a jersey... I prefer long sleeve.

I do own cycling jerseys, but tend to only wear those on sunday rides...

I prefer shoes that clip in, no matter when/where I ride... I like the control these give me on the bike.

So it all breaks down by distance... a run to the local grocery requires nothing special... a 10 mile ride or longer gets special clothing. I have never ridden in jeans... talk about uncomfortable... ugggg the restrictions in leg movement and the lumpy chaffing... oh my!

OBTW... there are lots and lots of hills where I live... if I am leaving the mesa (more than 3 miles in any direction) I will sweat even if I am walking, due to the hills... There is no magic "just go slower." It is steep, you will work out.

By the same token, I had a friend who wears Lycra tell me I needed "bike togs" because cycling would blow the seams out of my jeans. I wasn't offended, just amused. I mean, that's pretty funny.

18km one-way commute, use bike specific.

For me, pros to cycling in regular clothes:
no need to change
therefore no need to take additional clothes to work making bag far lighter
easier to pack
less time consuming

And against:
I wear out my jeans in the crotch area and soon enough a hole develops
My race bikes all put me into a position which encourages the above
I cant fix the above coz, well, i like race bikes!

Well, maybe my Lycra wearing friend has a point then.

I used to bike everywhere in jeans without destroying my crotch, but I probably wasn't doing 20 miles a day.

Same here. I also don't like the "if you're in shape, you shouldn't sweat much" line that I so often see in these threads. I know lots of cyclists in top racing shape and depending entirely on the person, one might sweat a little and the other might have to wash his bike every ride to prevent the salt from seizing their FD. I fall somewhere in the middle. I'm in good shape, but even a moderate pace will get me pretty sweaty in a hurry.

The ability to sweat buckets is actually an athletic trait.

I sweat buckets whether I'm in shape or not. This is a good thing when I'm attempting strenuous labor in hot weather.

my understanding is that, all other factors being equal, the better shape you are in, the more likely you are to sweat.
My commute starts hitting hills right when I get warmed up, so I do slow down. Since I live in an area that can be hot and muggy, I think avoiding sweat is pretty much impossible for some months of the year.

I also prefer to wear cycle specific clothing while on the bike, and I don't apologize for that.

Your fitness doesn't change how much you sweat, but it does change your definition of 'slow'. A new rider may well be working hard, and sweating appropriately, at 25 km/h. A trained rider will be casually carrying on a conversation and dry. I see it all the time when I'm out with my friends who don't cycle regularly.

Of course if it's just hot out, maybe you're sweating sitting in a lazy boy.

This seems to be an interesting question being contended here. A serious ex-volleyball player friend of mine once helped me with my motorbike racing fitness regiment. Even outside his own regular routine, he could beat the pants off me in just about any form of cardio. He did specifically say to me that sweating was a good sign from the overall fitness level perspective. Obviously different people may sweat more than one another, but his point was that for an individual, sweating generally comes with a good cardio balance. Even for the same level of intensity, you could expect yourself to sweat more as you got in better shape. Anyone here with any medical or scientific chops wanna chime in on this smelly subject?

"I tend to sweat heavily in warm climates. My clothes are soaking wet from dawn to dusk. This worried me at first, but when I went to a doctor and described my normal daily intake of booze, drugs and poison he told me to come back when the sweating stopped."
Hunter S. Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971)

20km each way. Some urban, some hills.
Generally I'll wear "regular" non-work clothes and generally shower & change at work.
Something like Dockers shorts down to about 35 or 40F, then add a layer of sweatpants. ... Although last February, I arrived at the office in shorts on a 25 degree day and told our new hire that if it got much colder I was going to have to start wearing long pants. (I'd removed the outer layer a mile or two before getting to work - but it was worth seeing the expression on his face!).

Shoes I can walk 3-4 miles in if I have to.

A good (Burley) rain coat if it's needed - that's my only "bike specific" thing at the moment. Well, that and a helment.

At over 100F, I really like loose fitting, light colored clothes - on or off the bike. A thin long sleeve button down in white or yellow, opened at the front and over a T-shirt I find far cooler than a jersey when the outside temperature is at those levels.

I go back and forth on the whole bike shorts thing. It's kind of a recent phenomenon. We don't need half the stuff we view as essential, I think.

I generally ride 7 miles to school and work up enough of a sweat to shower and change. Well, just for kicks, I decided to ride home one day towards the end of last semester in my regular cotton shorts. The temp was low enough and I was taking it easy so as to avoid working up a massive sweat. I tried to just take my time, find a slower route, and just enjoy myself. In the end, I got very mildly sweaty, but enough that I didn't need to jump in the shower. However, my crotch got some heavy chaffing and consequently really dry skin afterwards with lots of shedding of skin for a few days. So yeah, cycling shorts for me, please. Or at minimum, a synthetic short liner with a pad.

So while others can get away with it, for me and my nether regions, cycling specific clothes are preferred.

Cue snide comment about USAnian public transportation...

I think yurp can learn from USAnian-style transportation cycling. I rarely have any need to use public transportation because, in PDX, its quicker, healthier, and greener to bike. IMO, this is *real* transportation cycling. Riding a flat euro mile at 10 mph in conformist clothing on a conformist bike, not so much. If one uses their bike to travel from point A to point B efficiently, bike-specific clothing becomes desirable. My time (and health) are too important for me to waste time with "fashionable clothing" and a "lovely bike". The danish fixation with "fashion" and heavy victorian-era design bikes has far more to do with cultural history than any profound insight into cycling for transportation.

About half of my cycling clothing is bike-specific and the rest is stylish REI-esque technical clothing. Sporty exercise clothing (e.g. for running, walking, yoga, climbing, other sports) evaporates sweat so much better than "normal" clothing and is very comfortable. There is a reason that sporty clothing has become a de facto USAnian "style".

I wear normal shoes... otherwise much like you. And no matter what the ride, I try to find something that's comfortable and practical... whatever it is.

Thanks for this. The guy who runs it is, quite simply, a leering sexist creep, and NOT someone that bicycle advocates should want to ally themselves with.

As for clothes, I've done both, and I'm unsatisfied either way. Bike clothes are comfortable, but changing is a pain in the ass and requires carrying more stuff; but while not changing is more convenient, it's harder for me to regulate my temperature, and arriving soaked in sweat is unavoidable in the Nashville summer. On balance, I've generally settled on regular clothes, choosing convenience over comfort.

I wear a combination of street clothes and some bike specific clothing. I wear Keen Austin cycling shoes. Sometimes I use cycling gloves. I wear bike specific rain gear as well. And I wear out the seat of a lot of jeans.

I actually take offense with this. I'm in excellent health and love good fashion and a nice bike.

Your comments reeks of someone with minimal health and no concept for style. I actually feel quite sorry for you.

We are just about free to say whay we'd like here, but that comment gets quite far from the OP's question - and IMHO even if it were true (which is simply your opinion) it is not necessary or kind.

I always thought it was just me who found copenhagenize.com super skeevy!

I think some of you folks may be confusing copenhagenize.com with whoever that guy is who takes pictures of women riding city bikes. That or I'm missing something on copenhagenize.com

MCA runs both, doesn't he? CCC used to be "Copenhagen Girls on Bikes." Where he exhorts women to strive to be part of an aesthetically pleasing urban landscape.

eeeeeeeeew

bwahahahahahaha! vegan. total cholesterol 153. resting pulse ~50.

tut tut...such thin skin. that comment had nothing to do with you -- one of my major motivations for cycling is exercise. its cheap, saves, time, and saves resources.

vegan