A bit of Retro

Lets have a bit of nostalgia. I’ve been cycling for over 35 years and in that time I’ve competed in a few (questionable) club cycling kits but back in the day I did go through phases of wearing garish trade kits. Lets have a look at some I’ve worn over the years.

Kelloggs Tour of Britain
The first cycling jerseys I owned (circa. ’87/’88) were the leaders yellow jersey and the King of the Mountains jersey from the Tour of Britain. The KoM jersey was cool because the traditional red polka dots were replaced by the K from the Kelloggs logo.

I can’t remember the last time I actually ate a Kelloggs cereal though. #fullofsugar

PDM
This was the first official trade team kit I owned around ’89/’90. When I started cycling in the late 80’s PDM were one of the biggest teams in the pro peloton akin to Ineos Grenadiers (aka Team Sky) is now. The jersey was quite thick and heavy by today’s standards. It almost had a flannel-like texture inside. Shorts back then were harsh. No technical pads just proper chamois’ that were pretty rough unless you ‘moisturised’ them.

PDM made audio cassettes. Do you remember them!

Ceramiche-Panaria
Around 2005 I really went for one of the loudest kits I ever wore. Ceramiche-Panaria were an Italian team who, in hindsight, were probably doped up to their eyeballs but what they did achieve was probably the most sponsor’s logos on a dayglo orange team jersey (ever). As eyewatering as it is, I actually loved it at the time. Quality wasn’t bad either, just the shorts’ lycra was a bit thin.

Saunier-Duval
The next team kit I bought was Saunier Duval around 2006. Another hellishy bright yellow get up with matching yellow, almost see-through, shorts. The team were Spanish boasting a list of convicted dopers on the team. This was all pre-biological passport and Lance Armpong, of course, before the sport cleaned itself up (a bit). Probably their most famous dopers were Riccard ‘The Cobra’ Ricco and one David Millar. Hmmmmmm.

My excuse for wearing this was it was a cool hi-viz therefore much safer right?

Caisse d’Epargne
This was another Spanish team which I think was the forerunner to the Movistar team we see today but this kit was pretty cool. Black goes with anything doesn’t it? Understated for it’s time I think and I wore it a lot. I liked the use of shapes and fade to give it a bit of depth and texture.

Specialzed and Subaru
These took a bit of tracking down. I’m not sure of the exact date I had them but some time in the mid to late 00’s I think. These were a couple of kits a friend sold me who had got them off the then pro-MTBer Liam Killeen (I think). He was given excess team kit and sold or gave it to my mate who sold it on and I had some. Some new, some used.

Wanker

I’m not a trade-team kit wanker anymore. How times and tastes change? I go for more understated stuff now just plain and simple but occasionally I push the boundaries with a bit of tasteful design like the Day of the Living kit below by Cycology.

So that’s it, a quick run down of my kit choices over the years. What kits are you guilty of wearing back in the day? Do tell

Adios