Club kit

[thelawnet]

So I was just looking at a cycle club. Their website says you 'should' wear club kit. (And mandatory helmet, which may or may not be worse than being told to wear a silly shirt)

Apparently they are 'Cycling UK' affiliated, I am not sure exactly what that means. I did come across this thread: viewtopic.php?t=92654

However that might be a different thing from a few years ago. I presume there are no rules in this case?

Actually I just wanted to object to club uniform really. (Especially when you've seen 100 Indonesians in their club kit on events of various kinds struggling to cycle 10 miles but inevitably own the uniform.)

[foxyrider]

If it bothers you so much you don't have to join or become part of the club 'scene'.

Wearing club strip is nothing about being competitive, makes even the most inept riders feel part of things.
The helmet thing - this has been discussed before, if events are organised under BC auspices it's compulsory, the club may separately have their own rules covering other events like club rides.

Do or don't, no one is forcing you to be part but like everything else in this life, if you do there may well be rules you need to comply with.

[PH]

Apparently they are 'Cycling UK' affiliated, I am not sure exactly what that means.

Explanation here of what affiliation offers
https://www.cyclinguk.org/uk-cycling-ev ... tup-cycl-1
Basically it's an independent club with their own policies who paid for some benefits, mainly insurance for the club and the ability to offer it to their membership with affiliated individual membership.

[alexnharvey]

Should ≠ must.

[TrevA]

I'm a member of 2 clubs, one insists on helmets for club rides, the other doesn't. Both like you to wear club kit but don't insist on it. I think it looks quite good when everyone wears the kit, rather than a rag-tag assortment of jerseys. I have club jerseys for both clubs but don't wear them all the time, as it can become expensive having sets of summer, winter and Autumn kit.

If you don't like the policy of a particular club, there are plenty of others who may share your ethos.

[eileithyia]

Having been in a job all my life that requires uniform and conformity I do dislike being 'told' what to wear outside of work. Having said that some club kit is subisdised or may carry sponsorship so obviously it is in the sponsors (ultimately the club's) interests to have the kit worn as that is what is paid for. So it is hardly suprising some clubs ask that you wear the kit.

Admittedly seeing a fully kitted up club ride does look good, rather than the rag taggle mix we all used to wear back in the early 70's/80's. My son loves wearing his club kit, but on today's club run I think only 3-4 were wearing kit, or at least had warmer top coverings over.
When the club changed it's kit design a couple of years ago it cost £300 to kit him out in the stuff he so desperately wanted... good job Santa Claus was on hand.

[thelawnet]

Should ≠ must.

the helmet is non-negotiable. The kit is just 'encouraged'.

Each to their own of course.

[althebike]

There is also a self promotion and self identity side to cycling clubs. It is considered good to be seen and create an image that would be good to identify with that would attract new members, having most of your riders wearing club kit would create an image showing a more professional and competent outfit.There are two road clubs in the town I live, and if it was not for the club jersey, I would not know one from the other or even that one, or either clubs even existed.I used club kit for club rides , if available ( not in wash) and wore what I liked the rest of the time, no one objected and if they did I would have left pretty quickly.

[Syd]

There is also the identification element of riding in club kit in that, in my experience, riders are seen to represent the club and therefore are ‘better behaved’ when out on the road.

[hamster]

Clubs often end up on the receiving end of complaints about riding standards by ANY cyclist. It's a clear distinction if they can respond that if it wasn't their strip it wasn't them. Personally I think it's a sensible policy.

[mjr]

[...] I think it looks quite good when everyone wears the kit, rather than a rag-tag assortment of jerseys. [...] If you don't like the policy of a particular club, there are plenty of others who may share your ethos.

Indeed. KLWNBUG doesn't currently have any stuff with our yellow/black logo or colours on sale and the last run was so long ago (and I think it might have been only T-shirts) that I've not seen any worn for at least six years. I have some mudguard/stem stickers that people who come on rides can have, but that's about it. Nothing else seems to have been enough of a priority for anyone to organise getting it made/sold. I'm sure there must be other clubs like this.

I'm sure it won't surprise some of you that I think it looks a bit sick, a bit sad and a bit sinister to see a group cycling along all in identical clothing, like some sort of Howard and Hilda spandex stormtrooper squad.

There is also the identification element of riding in club kit in that, in my experience, riders are seen to represent the club and therefore are ‘better behaved’ when out on the road.

Not my experience at all. On one occasion, letting a local club secretary know that someone was wearing its kit to ride daily along a particular narrow footway at speed (in preference to the wider cycleway about 8m away but then they might have to give way to motorists 50m down the road instead of scaring walkers out of the way) just got a load of abuse by reply. Generally, few clubs seem to be interested in how their members ride.

[Syd]

Not my experience at all. On one occasion, letting a local club secretary know that someone was wearing its kit to ride daily along a particular narrow footway at speed (in preference to the wider cycleway about 8m away but then they might have to give way to motorists 50m down the road instead of scaring walkers out of the way) just got a load of abuse by reply. Generally, few clubs seem to be interested in how their members ride.

I guess I'm lucky, or you unlucky, in the cycle clubs I've encountered, and been a member of.

[TrevA]

Clubs often end up on the receiving end of complaints about riding standards by ANY cyclist. It's a clear distinction if they can respond that if it wasn't their strip it wasn't them. Personally I think it's a sensible policy.

It can also work the other way. Our club recently received an email, asking us to make less noise when riding through villages, though it didn't name the particular village the complainant lived in. Not that we are loud, but you have to shout out potholes, etc. Our kit is easily identifiable, being green and yellow, and it has the club name and website address on it.

Clubs are responsible for how their members ride on official club rides, but we have no control over how individuals, wearing club kit (who might not even be current members) behave when not on group rides.

[mjr]

It can also work the other way. Our club recently received an email, asking us to make less noise when riding through villages, though it didn't name the particular village the complainant lived in. Not that we are loud, but you have to shout out potholes, etc.

So you suggested that if they want quieter cycling groups, they should lobby their county councillor for the potholes to be repaired properly?

Clubs are responsible for how their members ride on official club rides, [...]

Really? I don't see why that's true unless it's a led ride and even then, arguably only the leader is responsible for riders following their directions and I don't think there's a sign for "make a lot of needless noise"

[Mick F]

Having been in a job all my life that requires uniform and conformity I do dislike being 'told' what to wear outside of work.

Spot on.
Uniform every single day of my working life, and sometimes away for months on end always totally in uniform. It was a treat not to "conform" when off duty.

If I joined a cycling club, I'd be happy to wear the club colours on the rides - but only on the rides .................. the helmet issue on the rides would put me off it totally.