According to Cyclingnews.com :

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The US Postal-Berry Floor team was fined SFR 4,500 for wearing irregular jerseys during Sunday's final stage. Each team member was also fined SFR 200 each, after they came to the start dressed in grey jerseys, bearing the U.S. Mail logo. The retro jerseys were a throwback to the early years of the postal service, and were worn to reflect the whole retro theme of the centenary Tour.

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Retro theme, but definitely not retro prices...

Dave

I'm guessing that you will be able to buy these at your authorized Trek retail soon.

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Ray

That was my first cynical thought as well when I saw them. I'd imagine the USPS team could recoup the fines if they had the riders sign the jerseys and/or shorts and placed them on EBay.

I just converted the amount ($4500 Swiss Francs) and it comes out to about $3343 USD, plus $200 SFR per rider, that's about $1337 USD. So in total it cost USPS about $4700 USD to wear those jerseys.

I can't believe I just spent 5 minutes of my life doing that conversion...ok, gotta go the swimming pool now. :-)

Dave

They'll probably just raise the cost of stamps to recoup.

According to Frankie, it's Nike who's footin' the bill.

Fair Warning: I bought the standard 2003 USPS Team Jersey, and it is by far the most uncomfortable bike jersey I have ever owned. For some reason I cannot explain or comprehend, the stitching on the sides, where the back pockets meet the seams, always dig into your sides, making the shirt itch constantly.

How ironic that once again Nike makes something overpriced, that looks good, but which is woefully inadequate for its intended purpose.

If you do get one of those jerseys, have someone sign it and frame it. If you ever put it on, in five minutes you'll take it off and throw it in the nearest fire.

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i declare usps/berry floors the smoovest team of the tour. not only did they win but in celebration they broke out diffrent threads for the victory strole. the clincher (sorry bunnyman) was they knew it would get them in trouble and did it anyway. n
o complaining just paying a fine and rolling on. greatness.

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

I don't have the jersey but I think all team jerseys were made to be worn with bibs instead of shorts. Therefore, since the seems are in the inside of the jersey, it's rubbing against the bibs straps/sides instead of skin.

I do have the 2002 jersey and bibs and are the most comfortable clothing I own, besides my Assos bibs. Though, it was about twice as much. =)

Huh? Why would wearing a grey jersey result in a fine? Doesn't ONCE have two jerseys?

Once has two jerseys because their standard jersey is yellow, so they can't wear it during the Tour de France. Consequently, they wear the pink jerseys during the Tour.

I think it has more to do with the regulations stating that you have to wear the approved team apparel, so everyone knows who you are. We can't just have random ninja cyclists riding around the peloton wearing whatever they want, creating havoc, pimpin' and so forth, can we? The next thing you know, the Posties would be riding sans pantaloons, giving the peloton the moon. That would be Chaos!

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>>The next thing you know, the Posties would be riding sans pantaloons, giving the peloton the moon.<<

Well, that one rider did, after a crash. The entire side of his shorts were gone and he was riding with one hand, the other hand holding the back of his shorts up, trying to cover his booty.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

"riding with one hand, the other hand holding the back of his shorts up, trying to cover his booty."

I felt bad for the guy, but I will say that it was a nice pic;)

I'm not sure that I would wear one of the Postal Jerseys even if they were the most comfortable in the world. They look really cool going 30mph on a professional rider, but I'm pretty sure that the cool factor is inversely proportional to my slowness. I saw a rather large guy picking up his bike from the shop the other day in Lonestar Pneumo, USPS bib and replica Yellow jersey. Maybe he goes really fast, but I'm definitely too slow to get away with that.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

Actually a few teams went with non legal jerseys during the tour - on one of the alps stages the saeco team wore black jerseys with legalise my cannondale written across them (the new carbon - aluminium cannondale that Simoni was riding weighs less than the legal minimum of 6.8kgs) which also gave them a fine.

When Cipollini was a saeco rider they had heaps of weird jerseys for a stage - dressed as romans, the lion at the giro etc.

Anyone else remember Cipo's gaudiest giddyup? That full-body muscle suit he wore at the last Tour he rode in (if memory serves correct, but its faulty lately) THAT was definitely fine worthy!

I've always wondered why people get so uppity about folks wearing team kits or even the prize jerseys. I always figure that when I see someone wearing a team kit they are saying "Man I sure can't ride like xxxxxxx, but I really like him (or them) and wish I could. The best I can do is show my appreciation and admiration for their effort." I don't remember ever asking someone about a team kit who said "yeah, I smoked Lance (or JaJa) once." And let's face it, nobody is going to wear a yellow jersey or polka dot jersey and claim that they won it at the race. Nah, the way I figure it they'd just be saying, "Man, I identify with the meaning behind this jersey. I admire the men who've worn it." Maybe some of you have had other experiences with folks who've worn team kits or prize jerseys. FWIW, I've never owned a team kit in my life. But I've worn my Yellow TDF hat to threadbare in four years. I'll be updating it this year.

I'm glad this came up again. I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago(I hope I'm not boring you) to little response, but it genuinely confuses me.

<RANT ON>

You have MILLIONS of guys running around in Brady, Favre, Jordan, Bryant, etc, jerseys, and no one says squat to them. The NFL and NBA are happy to take your $80 and sell you the jersey. And the people who see you just figure you're a fan and it's no big whoop.

But in cycling(and we wonder why people think roadies are snobby assholes) if people see you wearing the USPS kit, you are a poser, a loser, and should be shunned. And god help you if you show up on your bike wearing a Maillot Jaune.

The brilliant irony here is that we are expected to buy the shoes Lance wears, and the bike Lance rides, and the car Lance drives, and the gruppo(sp?) Lance uses, etc, but we are not supposed to wear the clothes Lance wears.

Am I the only one who sees the hypocrisy all around on this one?

For my two cents, I thought it was wonderfully moving when the riders were coming to the top of the first mountain stage and there were hundreds of people, all clad in polka dots, cheering on the lead riders. What more motivation can you ask for when chasing the polka dot jersey?

For the record, when I race, I prefer to wear stripped clothes. Why should I hawk Ironman just because I bought their wetsuit? I do not endorse their product, but I have no choice, as their logo is embedded in the suit. The same goes for most bikes, tri clothes, etc.

I should be able to choose who I endorse, and who I don't, and if I want to support my team, I should be able to do that by buying and wearing the team jersey, or the yellow jersey, or whatever. This provides exposure and cash to both the team and the Tour.

That's good for all of us, right?

</RANT OFF>

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Not making excuses, just giving an explanation as I see it: The fans you're talking about running around in NFL or NBA jerseys aren't participating in a sport. You aren't viewing these people in a sporting context. They're not actually playing football or basketball in these jerseys. However, that's not the case with cycling clothing. People wear it when they ride. And often is the case (in places like San Diego) where it's not uncommon to see real pros out training in their clothing. So when you see someone in a USPS jersey (and it's not Floyd Landis), you tend to wonder if it's someone trying to look like something they're not. Now, again, I'm not making excuses. I'm just pointing out the differences in your example. You see tons of people at races the like the Tour where people are showing their support by wearing USPS jerseys on the side of the road. Nobody thinks that's lame, and that's more comparable to your NFL example.

I concede your point. I live way up in the upper right part of the US, where I never see pros ride. In fact, I rarely see a whole lot of riders at all. But I think that your counterpoint underscores the perception problem to a certain extent: At least we are out there riding. I would never show up at a race wearing a team jersey, but I don't think that I should feel like I'm committing blasphemy if I wear a USPS jersey on my Saturday ride. I do though, so I just wear it when I watch bike racing.

If we agree that it is considered poor riding etiquette to wear a sponsored team's jersey when riding, and we agree that people generally don't wear cycling jerseys at any other times, then the jerseys should not be sold to the public. I could be risking personal injury from someone who deems themselves an agent of the USPS team seeking vengeance upon me for the heinous offense of wearing my favorite team's jersey.

The way I see it, if I'm Floyd Landis or Lance Armstrong and I see a bunch of guys riding around town in USPS jerseys, I should be happy that there are people supporting my team(they do sell the jerseys, so the team is making money on them, and expects people to wear them, right?) not upset that they are trying to impersonate me. I figure they want to be like me. "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

That said, I think that the "unwritten rules of proper roadie behavior" are way too complicated, and somewhat paradoxical, particularly when contrasted against the fundamental marketing strategy of bike gear companies(sell what the famous people use). How about: I like the team, I wear the shirt, I ride my bike? No posing, no pretense, I'm just a guy on a bike who likes a team.

In the future, I'll try to keep my dialectics a little tighter. I didn't realize that my rants would be graded by logicians. ;)

As for me, if you're outside of boston and you see some knucklehead on a red bike, with a red helmet, dressed all in red, wearing silver shoes, and sporting no logos, please don't run me down.

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I agree with Eric. In addition to multisport, I also play a little slow pitch softball (though not nearly as much as I used to). In the weekend tournaments we play, teams are not required to wear matching uniforms. So a player on a given team can wear whatever he wants to wear. If a player at a softball tournament showed up in a full Atlanta Braves uniform (or even a Braves shirt), he had better be able to play some stellar defense and go 4-4 with 4 long homeruns or he would be laughed out of the park. He might even be laughed out of the park anyway.

Wearing a team jersey as everyday clothing is one thing; wearing team jerseys, uniforms, etc., while participating in sport is something else.

Once I did a group ride with a guy who was geeked in out in a full USPS kit, complete with the helmet and matching. This guy could ride. Hard. He was very fast. I remember the comments after the ride: "That guy might can ride, but I still don't believe I'd wear that outfit."

RP

Yes, yes they are. :) Which reminds me of another observation as to why pro team clothing may be slightly frowned upon. From even those who govern the sport, it is highly pushed for racers to be part of a team/club. Even race entry fees are cheaper for those belonging to some sort of club (at least that used to be the case when I raced). Because of this strong club-affiliation expectation, ALL the racers I know race and train in pretty much nothing but the clothing provided by the team or the club. You'll notice that most training rides look like races in that everyone dresses pretty much the same training as they would racing. And since being part of, and supporting, a club is something that pretty much all racers do, that adds to the "misperception" when you see someone training in, say, USPS clothing. Again, not to make excuses, but I think the reasons for this anti-team-clothing-sentiment is for reasons much greater than roadies simply being snobs. Which we are, of course. :)

I'm with you. I saw a guy with a St. Louis baseball cap on and he didn't look like a pro player, I also saw a guy witha Rams football jersey on !!!!Whats the deal WHO do they think they are (fans)?
Heck the next thing you kow little kids will be wearing postal jerseys to school wanting to be the next lance Armstrong.
We bikers need to keep up the " don't wear pro stuff unless your a pro " mentality before this sport gets popular. If that happens then the next thing you know everyone will be riding bikes and they will be building bike lanes all over the place. ; ]

Ahhh, I think I understand now. I just ride my bike. Alone. As fast as I can, for as long as I can. As a bicyclist, both road and mountain, my only rules for what the people I occasionally ride with can wear is, "Whatever you want, but you're going to get dirty. And if you don't wear a helmet and gloves, I'm going to call you a fraggin' moron and leave you in the parking lot."

So I don't know nothin' 'bout those bicycle races, or none of that other stuff you're talking about.

As for tri clubs, around here they all advertise like crazy then tell you that they're closed and complain about having to buy 125 wetsuits for the members, and what a hassle it is, etc, so I don't know anything about that either.

You're giving me a lot of insight into the way this whole thing works, and I appreciate it.

One final question: Performance Bike has the USPS tires on sale for half price. Am I allowed to ride with them, or is that a faux pas either on the grounds that 1) I'm not on the USPS team, or 2) they're made in France? ;)

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Have you ever been to a pick up out door basketball game everyone has on their favorite teams stuff. And the pros show up in some places to play also. Same with sandlot football , flag football, team stuff is worn . It's no different.
But in cycling "your a poser"???????????

I was completely unaware of the unwritten rules of roadies ... and not that I care, because I don't care what a roadie thinks. I actually wish there were fewer roadies around - I'm convinced that they are at least partially responsible for what appears to be increasing animosity between cars and bikes on the roads of the SF Bay Area. Roadies ride around in large packs, taking up more than their share of the road and piss off those in cars which doesn't help those of us that believe there needs to be a mutual respect and share the road attitude between the both because when it comes down to it, a car is going to win pver a bike any.

Anyway, who cares about someone wearing a team jersey? Occasionally, we'll see the USPS team (usually the B team) riding the roads around here, and (to my knowledge) I'd never confuse some guy on his weekend ride for one of the professionals. It's just a guy who likes cycling. Who cares?