Club Kit

[Snoop Doug]

I like the design of the new kit, like the one before too. Good quality gear lasts, maybe people just don't need to spend the money on new jerseys etc? Some of my MTB jerseys are over ten years old and still going strong. Yours sincerely - Mr Scrooge

[Toks]

Hmm I wonder if its to do with the fact most 30-50 something blokes are self conscious enough when it comes to having to wear lycra. Then throw in the fact that the lycra we wear is yellow. Its worth considering the two clubs with the biggest membership in recent years are London Dynamo and Dulwich Paragon. Both have really cool kits

[Phil H]

[quote="Toks"]Hmm I wonder if its to do with the fact most 30-50 something blokes are self conscious enough when it comes to having to wear lycra. Then throw in the fact that the lycra we wear is yellow. Its worth considering the two clubs with the biggest membership in recent years are London Dynamo and Dulwich Paragon. Both have really cool kits

[quote="Antloony"][quote="Amy"]Now if we had a black, red and white kit...

[Jon H]

[quote="Snoop Doug"]Some of my MTB jerseys are over ten years old and still going strong.

[Andrew G]

[quote="Toks"]Its worth considering the two clubs with the biggest membership in recent years are London Dynamo and Dulwich Paragon.

[Peachey]

2 x s/s 'old style' jersey's size large for sale in 'marketplace'. £10 each Bargin

[Toks]

[quote="Andrew G"]
It is only a consideration if you think that having a massive membership is important, and more so that the only reason they joined you is because they like the look of your kit..

[Rogan]

Good Question:

Yellow is the club colour and yet we found yellow quite challenging when formulating new jersey designs. Following the previous iconic club kit design was another challenge.

One of the strong arguments in favour of maintaining the predominantly yellow theme was visibility and road safety. I personally found this argument extremely compelling.

Saying that Ant makes a good point and dislikes the yellow theme enough to avoid it altogether. I'm guessing he's not the only one. Black, red and white are arguably racier stock colours but don't actually feature all that much in other local club kit. What of Pro Teams (who have been known on occasion to get their kit spectacularly wrong) BMC springs to mind as desirable, as does Sky - it's so subjective this stuff.

That said, I look at some of my cycle stuff and it's almost all black. I wouldn't usually wear just dark stuff anymore - it just doesn't make sense when road cycling.

Having trained a few times with Dynamo some summers ago I noticed there was a more pressing requirement to wear club kit for club rides and even Sportives. Racing was a given. A pressing need for Dynamo club identity and 'club' requirements to adorn 'the uniform' presumably stems from previous committee guidance.

It would seem that ACC benefits from a relatively liberal committee from my limited experience. When sitting in on those committee meetings that resolved to press ahead with kit change another interesting agenda item was raised - the question 'should club members on ACC rides be forced to wear a helmet?' It was decided that the vast majority do wear helmets and that it wasn't the clubs role to insist.

It would be interesting to find out from any Dynamo (or Kingston) club riders how long they would expect to go before feeling compelled to invest in club kit. How much easier would that be if the reason for joining in the first place was the club kit?

Onto Toks point - I read in Cycling Weekly last year (maybe the year before) that many potential club members (male and female) gravitated towards club kit they considered most street cred. Among those considered most Street cred were Dynamo and Kingston Wheelers. How that fits with growth in Redhill membership (if that is the case) I don't know (how do we know this Andrew?). I have heard similar conversations Toks is referring to - but not as pointed as leaving ACC due to kit.

Another reason I see posted is cost - I'm not totally convinced. I see tens of thousands of pounds worth of bike components on club rides

Had my first ride in about 8 months today. I didn't feel that great but I'm hopefully back in the saddle! Onwards

[Dombo]

[quote="Rogan"]....Onto Toks point - I read in Cycling Weekly last year (maybe the year before) that many potential club members (male and female) gravitated towards club kit they considered most street cred. Among those considered most Street cred were Dynamo and Kingston Wheelers. How that fits with growth in Redhill membership (if that is the case) I don't know (how do we know this Andrew?). I have heard similar conversations Toks is referring to - but not as pointed as leaving ACC due to kit.

[Andrew G]

Didn't say that wasn't a reason Toks, but it is a very shallow one and not a reason that necessarilly creates a good club. A good club should have people that want to be there and be part of club life and help it promote events.

Club kits are always based around the club's colours which are an important part of the club's identity, far more important is the 80ish years of history of the club than whether the kit matches some current bike paint schemes.

Rogan, good to hear that you are back in the saddle. I agree with you about cost, a complete non-reason with the kit people turn up on CRs on.

Re Redhill, I don't have any stats but know a few and have spoken to them at races etc. A couple of years ago one of their members told me that they had been growing in numbers a lot that year and were over 200 now. Last year someone different told me at a race that they had over 300 members currently. That level of growth is massive so I would be surprised if any other club has grown at that rate. It is also noticable over the last couple of years that there are more of them at races.

[Phil H]

[quote="Andrew G"]
Re Redhill, I don't have any stats but know a few and have spoken to them at races etc. A couple of years ago one of their members told me that they had been growing in numbers a lot that year and were over 200 now. Last year someone different told me at a race that they had over 300 members currently. That level of growth is massive so I would be surprised if any other club has grown at that rate. It is also noticable over the last couple of years that there are more of them at races.

[Dombo]

[quote="Andrew G"]Rogan.... I agree with you about cost, a complete non-reason with the kit people turn up on CRs on...

[Nick L]

I like the Club kit - especially the new one, and the retro one Sylv was selling (anyone have one of those for sale?) - but I'd agree with Dombo's comments, I'm more inclined to buy one nice bit of kit as opposed to a couple of lesser quality. Not saying that the club kit is badly made or anything, but being as comfortable as possible is my main priority.

Maybe we could do a Sky and have Rapha make our kit

That all said, I've just bought a second hand Winter Club jersey, so I'll be wearing that on Sat!

[Alan M]

I like to express my individuality - I wear it when I feel like it but like others I don't suppose I would buy yellow kit as a first preference. Why do you ask - do you feel there should be a dress code?