Commuting Attire

[Lazarus]

How many commute in the standard issue biking shorts and what has driver response been? About a year ago I quit commuting in biker shorts and just wear some kind of regular street clothing shorts and the change in driver response has been amazing. Since the switch no thrown objects, cuss words, or honking horns with yelling. The driver intimidation has pretty much disappeared. Now it's the exception instead of the rule.

[NoCO2]

I still wear mine, but I wear some regular cargo shorts over top, which I know is not the best thing because it vents less and technically the stitching can tear the short liners, but so far so good and I've been doing it for a while. However, this way I get the padding without the look. Now, I know they make mountain biking shorts that have the pads, but they are $100 a pair and frankly I don't have the money right now...but man I can't wait to use them.

As for a top, I use these really nice "stay dry" shirts I got from Walmart for about $10 each and are sleeveless which vent rather nicely. Now I just need to get a nicer helmet that doesn't look as goofy (I've modified a bulky mountain bike helmet to work) and a messenger bag / saddle bag to help carry my crap around.

[SVOboy]

I wear bibs, mehbe that's why they don't heckle me so much? I have been pulled over by cops twice.

[Lazarus]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

I wear bibs, mehbe that's why they don't heckle me so much? I have been pulled over by cops twice.

What fer?

[SVOboy]

Just hastling us.

[NoCO2]

Lol, thankfully I've never been pulled over by the police, but I thought I was going to yesterday. I was going down my regular route and a cop did what I thought was going to be a U-turn behind me as I passed him and he was going the other way, turns out he just missed a turn or something because he turned almost immediately after the U-turn. Thankfully though, the police here are pretty reasonable when it comes to bikers. There are plenty of roads with bike lanes in the area and it's "relatively" bicycle friendly so they don't give us too much crap.

(Don't mean to hijack)

[Volones]

Originally Posted by Lazarus

What fer?

Bein' too sexy!



I always commuted in cycling clothes, since it was either too cold or too hot for anything else. But, here in Boulder CO, the cops are very used to cyclists, and I have always found them to be truly pleasant to deal with.

Vol

[SuperTrooper]

A couple of years ago John Stossel of ABC's "20/20" did a piece about cyclists and appearance and motorist reaction. When dressed in full "Tour de France" regalia cars gave him no room to manoever. Then he put on jeans, a feminine colored jacket and a woman's wig. Everybody gave him a wide berth!

[offroad1994]

On another thread they recommend a flashing light on the front of your helmit. Then when you look a driver in the eye they kind of know it.