Casual Clothing for Commuting and Days Out

vulva65

Good Afternoon,

I'm getting a bit annoyed with cycling to work in my standard mountain bike kit (never lycra!) and then having to change into something that I'm not going to get funny looks at in the office, the main problem is shorts as my zenith shorts are ideal for nice long messy days in the saddle but look out of place in the office, or if for example I just want to nip down to St Ives and meet friends for a pint, I stick out like a sore thumb!

Does anyone have any recommendations for casual but practical (at least semi practical) clothing, ideally some sort of cotton shorts with some stretch in them, and some simple t-shirts/shirts that would be suitable. I've seen a few examples but they always seem to break the bank. I can't warrant spending close to £100 for this shorts, was looking at around £40 if anything exists.

One last thing, riding shoes that aren't ugly and bulky as hell, the fiveten Danny Macs are lovely, but again about £100, was hoping for cheaper. I'm saving for a house and can't justify spending money I should be saving....plus the gf doesn't know I'm spending it!

Lots of demands I know, but you're a wise lot and I'm sure you'll think of something!

fat daddy

cant you just wear ordinary clothes ..... as opposed to cycling specific ones ?

you can pick up a pair of shorts, T-shirt and a pair of trainers from Asda for £30 all in .... and you can even ride a bike in them.

I had the same dilemma as you a while back about commuting in on days where I didn't want to wear "kit" ..... turns out you can put regular shorts and a t-shirt on and they work fine

Hinaultscrapcousin

What Fat Daddy said.

I have a load of Vulpine stuff as I was lucky enough to get to the sale in London. It's awesome and I wear it off the bike as much as I do on it, but you don't need it. Regular shorts and a t-shirt will do fine.

If it has to be specific, Swrve do some cheaper stuff:

https://www.alwaysriding.co.uk/swrve-li ... horts.html although not that cheap.

There are some Muxu 3/4s on sale here:

https://www.alwaysriding.co.uk/muxu-tem ... short.html

https://www.alwaysriding.co.uk/muxu-rid ... horts.html

For shoes, if you're on flat pedals just wear anything.

vulva65

Cheers for the advice, vulpines stuff looks really good. Also saw clubride which do some really nice casual shorts with some spandex in so plenty of movement.

I used to wear just standard cotton t-shirt but as I can't shower at work I would end up sweaty and stinking...which is always a good look. I've got a plain tech tee which seems to do exactly what I need. The cotton shorts I was riding in were the same problem, and also had no stretch in them so weren't comfortable for anything over a couple of miles. Could go a size bigger I guess, but don't want super baggy shorts.

Clubrides Phantom, Crush and Mountain Surf shorts are all lovely despite pretty terrible names, but are all either sold out or hard to get hold of.

cooldad

How long is your commute?

vulva65

cooldad wrote:

How long is your commute?

Only 4 miles each way.

cooldad

Sweaty and stinking after 4 miles? Just slow down a bit and take an extra 30 seconds to get there non sweaty.

kevinharley

I wear 'normal'-ish clothes most of the time commuting, as well as some client visits I do as part of my work, so can cycle up to 40-50km some days. Mostly wear jeans, try to wear Merino t-shirts where I can as they smell less when they get sweaty, but they are more expensive and don't last well, always seem to get small holes in the knit within a few weeks. As a 'jacket', I tend to wear this: http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CLPXPROFIT ... eve-jersey (which is actually a jersey) - warm enough over a short-sleeve/long-sleeve top for Autumn-Spring, nice and stretchy and comfortable, and with a sufficiently acceptable casual 'off the bike' look, particularly if sized up a size (ie, I have a medium, tend to wear small for most things). But its getting too warm now to wear this regularly.

You can get 'cycling-specific' jeans, which I've been tempted by before, but again, they tend to cost significantly more than the £20-£30 I think is an acceptable (Tesco/Asda/H&M) amount to spend on jeans. Have a couple of techy-type t-shirts which look acceptable in the office, and which dry quickly when sweaty, but do smell a bit. Try to avoid cotton unless its cooler and / or I'm only going to ride pretty gently.

Footwear - I use SPD's, and wear these, which are an acceptable riding / office / work shoe for me:

https://www.evanscycles.com/shimano-mt4 ... GwodPwkMqg

vulva65

kevinharley wrote:

I wear 'normal'-ish clothes most of the time commuting, as well as some client visits I do as part of my work, so can cycle up to 40-50km some days. Mostly wear jeans, try to wear Merino t-shirts where I can as they smell less when they get sweaty, but they are more expensive and don't last well, always seem to get small holes in the knit within a few weeks. As a 'jacket', I tend to wear this: http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CLPXPROFIT ... eve-jersey (which is actually a jersey) - warm enough over a short-sleeve/long-sleeve top for Autumn-Spring, nice and stretchy and comfortable, and with a sufficiently acceptable casual 'off the bike' look, particularly if sized up a size (ie, I have a medium, tend to wear small for most things). But its getting too warm now to wear this regularly.

You can get 'cycling-specific' jeans, which I've been tempted by before, but again, they tend to cost significantly more than the £20-£30 I think is an acceptable (Tesco/Asda/H&M) amount to spend on jeans. Have a couple of techy-type t-shirts which look acceptable in the office, and which dry quickly when sweaty, but do smell a bit. Try to avoid cotton unless its cooler and / or I'm only going to ride pretty gently.

Footwear - I use SPD's, and wear these, which are an acceptable riding / office / work shoe for me:

https://www.evanscycles.com/shimano-mt4 ... GwodPwkMqg

Cheers Kevin, some good shouts there, really like the jersey and nice and cheap too. thanks bud.

daniel_b

I have cycling 'specific' jeans, but I just use them casually - I like to carry the bike theme throughout my life :-)

Mine are Endura Urban Jeans for half price (£39.99 though back up now) from Wiggle, Sombrio ones from CRC, again at a big discount (£30 IIRC), and what I have on today, some Vulpine jeans, £130 or £150 down to £50 - still pricey, but seem very good quality, and a cut I like.
Would NEVER have bought them at full price.

mrfpb

+1 for swrve. Good durable trousers and shorts. Currently doing a sale on 3/4 wwr

https://www.swrve.co.uk/collections/shorts

I find the crotch on my regualr chinos wear out really quickly on the bike, so I've been buying more bike specific casual trousers and shorts, usually picking up sale stock. Ted Baker did a nice bike specific range with decent shorts, but they are hard to get hold of now.

Always keep an eye on Sport Pursuit for Vlpine stock, it's usually 1/3 of the rrp and doesn't have the issues that people have with the Vuipine site sample sales (ie overloaded and not gettin the stuff you think you've ordered)

vulva65

Thanks for the advice guys, i'll have a look at those suggestions as I'm happy to spend £40-£50 for a pair of jeans that I will happily wear off the bike too. Also good suggestion on Sport Pursuit, I tend to delete their emails out of habit, but will have a look because they often have some really good deals. Thanks again!