I was wondering on my way in to work this morning (I bike commute through some very interesting neighborhoods) why someone hasn’t created at cycling jersey with an NFL or other sports team or NASCAR on it. Seems like several of us get razzed as we ride and this might actually help us with our less bike-friendly brethren. Many folks don’t know or understand or care about cycling/cyclists (other than Lance) or anything remotely perceived as Euro. Why not get in the good graces of the redneck driving the pickup by you on a road with no shoulder.
Anyone else have a take on this? Ideas for jerseys…Domestic beer (bud, miller, pabst, etc.), NASCAR (Little E, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt, etc.), NFL (Raiders, Browns, etc.)…anyone???
i have a john deer jersey that i like to think makes the rednecks and hillbillies think twice when i’m out riding in the backwoods mountain areas of north carolina…plus it looks really cool and from what i can tell is kinda rare
Colorado Cylcist sells some Beer Company bike shirts. I think it’s some local micro brewery though. I like the Rolling Stones bike shirt and willget one with my next CC order.
Microbrew jersey might make it worse - remember the target crowd here. It needs to be “instantly” recognizeable and very simple (i.e. a great big, black number 8), Ford blue Oval, Chevy bowtie, Ram’s head, etc.
Problem here is, the opposing truck lover will then run you down because you had a Ford logo on.
Any universal “redneck” icon? I guess a great big American flag should be safe, right?
I live in New Zealand. Several years ago, my wife was holidaying in Australia and bought me an Aussie flag cycling jersey. Now I understand that most people outside Australia or New Zealand probably couldn’t tell the difference between our two lags, but we can.
When I wore the Aussie Flag shirt, road rage incidents increased greatly. While no-one ever hit me, I did get alot more people driving very close, intentionally. I got honked at (right as the passing car was beside me) alot more often and even got spit at a few times. I don’t have a Kiwi flag jersey, but road rage incidents in ohter jerseys are muchless frequent.
I no longer wear the shirt. In fact, I gave it to an Australian co-worker. He was happy to get it. He thought I liked him, not that I’m trying to get him killed!
I think bright jerseys, for visibilty are good, but anything that might offend a driver from a potentially dangerous demographic group is unwise. For example, wearing an bike jersey that says “Long Live Osama Bin Laden” might shorten your life expectancy if riding in the good ol’ USA. Just like a George Bush phot on your cycling jersey might not go down so well in the Middle east.
Personally, I like the one with the picture of the girl(s) in G-String outfits riding bikes, as teh back of the jersey.
American flag maybye, but put a big ol’ confederate flag on your back and you are safe anywhere below the mason dixson.
Not that I would wear it (i live near Detroit) but the good ol’ boys will love you. Just get used to the sound of WHOOO-HOOOO, YEAH HAW, pick up horns and shot guns going off as you get passed - don’t worry this means you are now part of the club, not a target.
There was/is a John Deere team and a guy that rides around Chapel Hill a lot has the whole team kit, complete with matching bike. I have a buddy who is from a real NC farming family and he thought it was great and wanted to see about getting one for himself.
Same with my Texas flag shirt here in Colorado… Maybe if I ride with someone wearing a California shirt, they’d pick him first. It’s a close race, but Californians might be just a little more disliked here than Texans… although I could be wrong. It’d be my luck some enterprising person would decide to kill two birds with one stone.
Three words: “Git’er Done” or maybe it is two. I just know that a large woman in a small Ford Festiva had some interesting words for me about not having enough room for both of us on the road. She had a bumper sticker with that logo.
