Riding Kit. The Early Years. What did you wear?

[Dr S]

Following on from the Lycra versus Baggies thread, I'd like to discuss what we wore back in the day.

I'm asking the early adopters of this site specifically. Yes, I know Lycra was the kit for the racers in the 90's, but I'm more interested in what folk used in the mid 1980's before mountain biking really caught on over here.

Were there any regional or national differences? We know the Marin Pioneers wore jeans and shirts, but we were unaware of their existance back then so had no outside influence. What made up your favourite riding gear back then?

Looking at the early MTB guides I have, such as Ashcrofts guide to the Lakes, it seams they favoured cut down jeans, Ron Hills or rugby shorts, with T shirts and no helmets.

In my native Yorkshire, starting around 85, we would use the following...

Shorts- Cut down trousers from the Army Surplus Store. Cut just on the knee, plenty of pockets and a good dosing of waterproofing spray.

Footwear- Flat, soft soled trainers for shorter rides or the venerable Hi-Tek Trail walking boot for longer weekend epics.

Tops- Cotton T shirts, brighter the better. Usually surf inspired Fat Willy type stuff. Padded 'Lumberjack shirts' worn open or rolled up and tied to handlebars gave extra warmth on an evening around a campfire.

Headwear- woolly hat in colder months or a 'Reni' hat in summer to keep the sun out of your eyes (and it was always sunny back then!). No helmets in those days. That said, there was an exception... We occasionally held races in the woods. We called them Rallys and they were similar to todays Enduros. We had a route that took in several local woods and each wood would have a timed to the second Downhill Section, the fastest combined time would produce the winner. There was also complex navigation to tackle, but I'm drifting off topic slightly here.... The thing is, we all came from BMX and for these sections we would wear BMX helmets, goggles and gloves. They often came into use too as these races got really competetive at times!

So, apart from maybe some leather palmed cycling gloves, we wore no cycling specific clothing. Was it the same where you lived? Did anyone choose Lycra in the mid 1980's?

Over to you guys, and remember this is about the early days, not the 90's

cheers
si

 

[tintin40]

Jeans & leather shoes

 

[orange71]

Looking at the early MTB guides I have, such as Ashcrofts guide to the Lakes, it seams they favoured cut down jeans, Ron Hills or rugby shorts, with T shirts and no helmets.

yep that'd be us. We used Ashcrofts Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales books religiously (I still have mine ). Didn't follow his fashion deliberately, but as impoverished students that's all we had.

 

[poweredbypies]

jeans or trackie bottoms and depending on how cold a t shirt or sweatshirt maybe a beanie hat and helmet. Oh and gloves, think they are the most missed out bit of kit but it's the first thing that usually hits the deck is your hands.

 

[TheGreenRabbit]

Tracksters walking boots and a Thermal top, usually a 'Helly'

 

[biglev]

i did'nt get going until `87 so I was mostly wearing:

1. Gortex boots, that worked badly with toe clips
2. Lycra shorts probably fluro (hey it was the 80@ and i was a kid and did'nt know better!) they had a real leather chammis in which chaffed after 2 hours.
3. Cotton tee shirt +ski base layer (heli or buffalo) if cold
4. Bumbag with tools and a pack a mac (Again it was the 80's okay :¬))
5. Oakley copy shades made in china £3 for LBS
6. Fingerless cycling gloves (ski gloves in the winter)
7. White(when you start) school socks
8. Gormless smile on my face

i didnt get a helmet until 88/89 when i got a specialised one with mesh / lycra on (class)
err so I guess I was not a cool kid

 

[Dr S]

Ha! Forgot about eyewear. Being the 80's we went for the Miami Vice look and went for (fake) Rayban Wayfarers in mock tortoise. We must have looked right dicks!

Keep em coming.

Si

 

[NAILTRAIL96]

I didn't start until the early 90's but we never thought about wearing anything specifically for cycling so ended up in combat trousers and combat boots!.
I remember getting very odd looks at the top of Simonside by all the walkers out in the snow, with us in t shirts and combats.
We didn't have snow when we left but there was a good 6" at the top, not that we would have dressed any differently had we known.

 

[biglev]

Ha! Forgot about eyewear. Being the 80's we went for the Miami Vice look and went for (fake) Rayban Wayfarers in mock tortoise. We must have looked right dicks!

Keep em coming.

Si

ahh you mock but 5 years later forgskins were ripping of wayfairers!

we also tried pink uvex ski goggles in the winter but they steamed up and gos sweaty just as well as we looked rediculus!

 

[MiniNinjaRob]

These pics were about 1992 but I'd been wearing the same stuff for 3/4 years.

Joe Bloggs bright coloured sweatshirt
Poly helmet with stretch GT cover on it (wow that helmet was bad)
Mirrored copies of Frogskins
Flouro pink Scott motorcross gloves (best gloves I've ever had and I still want some more)
I think I was wearing some cotton trouers.

I was getting ready for a race at Clipstone Forest in this pic.... :shock:

Another more casual day, not race-wear. Blue jeans and sweatshirt, same shades with a neoprene band to keep them on. Dr Martens boots.

You just put on what you had in the cupboard, stuff that was tough and you didn't mind getting damaged. If you had any special cycling gear you wore it but what was more important was the riding, not the posing in expensive technical fabrics and fancy labels. I need to get back to that, things were much better then.