Road Cycling Clothing - Pre 2000's

nickolai92

Does anyone remember the main brand players in road cycling clothing from the 70's, 80's and 90's?

It would be interesting to see which of these brands have fallen by the wayside, and which one's have stood the test of time and evolved with new technologies and textiles. The modern cycling clothing market is booming, with new brands popping up all the time, but I think its important we don't lose sight of the heritage that has got us to where we are today!

If any of you have any nostalgia to share, it would be greatly appreciated... and I would also love to hear your views. Are there any cycling clothing brands you would like to see revived?

Many thanks!

amrushton

assos was there in the 90s but expensive then. Santini and Giordana have always been about. In Britain Alexa was popular with a lot of people as it was quite good for the money. Manufactured in Oldham. Lusso was always well priced and popular, also manufactured in the UK

webboo

There was Descente, they still make ski gear.

cougie

There was a lot of kit that wasn't branded. You often couldn't buy the official team kit but you'd get no brand replicas in the shops. I loved the cycling weekly tdf special that would have the Graham Butler ad with all the team kits in.

ugo.santalucia

Nike was popular in the late 90s, now completely disappeared from cycling

kingdav

See if you can find a scan of a Ron Kitching everything cycling catalogue

kingdav

Maybe those are a bit old. You could also look for a madison/freewheel catalogue scan.

Monty Dog

Been riding since the early 80s - lycra didn't come in until the 80s so the 70s was still wool /polyester and shorts has chamois leather pads and there weren't any bibs - we wore elastic clip braces.
Assos brought out the first lycra shorts, and the gimpy / wet look was very popular at the time including others like Descente. Other Italian brands were Castelli, Santini, Giordana but lots of more traditional club riders wore RonKit and Tudor stuff - black tights with knitted W/champs cuffs. Nike gear was a licensing deal with Trek who made all the gear except the shoes were made by Diamant / DMT. I still have some early 80s stuff that I use for retro-events - whilst the retro-look is good because you don't have conflicting designs of multiple sponsors, gimme modern fabrics any day - they keep you warmer, drier and less-stinkier!

amrushton

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Nike was popular in the late 90s, now completely disappeared from cycling

Not quite. Cavendish wears Nike shoes made by someone for Nike. Think there may be someone else who wears custom nikes as well. The US Postal/Trek stuff was made I think by Giordana

Moonbiker

Do glasses count as clothing?

https://cyclingtips.com/2014/10/a-brief ... unglasses/

keef66

amrushton wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Nike was popular in the late 90s, now completely disappeared from cycling

Not quite. Cavendish wears Nike shoes made by someone for Nike. Think there may be someone else who wears custom nikes as well. The US Postal/Trek stuff was made I think by Giordana

I've only just retired my pair of Nike SPDs. And then my son fished them out of the bin because they go better with his new bike...

imposter2.0

Our team kit was Vermarc in the mid/late 90s - still around today..

pinno

cougie wrote:

...Graham Butler ad with all the team kits in.

I eagerly waited for my first ever (mail order) Carrera Cycling Shorts and they were black with a Red along the leg and white lettering :shock:

Etxe Ondo and Biemme spring to mind. Also Nalini - still going.

sheffsimon

Beenbag tights and Duegi shoes were de rigueur for me in the '80s.

cld531c

Still got my Nike shorts - padding not much use but they are still lovely!
Alexa and Lusso were the ones I remember (and always wanted Assos but too expensive!)

imposter2.0

cld531c wrote:

Still got my Nike shorts - padding not much use but they are still lovely!
Alexa and Lusso were the ones I remember (and always wanted Assos but too expensive!)

Alexa was excellent stuff. I miss my Ultratherm jacket...

fenix

Lusso are still going - I got some reflective tights for the winter - amazing things.

cld531c

Imposter wrote:

cld531c wrote:

Still got my Nike shorts - padding not much use but they are still lovely!
Alexa and Lusso were the ones I remember (and always wanted Assos but too expensive!)

Alexa was excellent stuff. I miss my Ultratherm jacket...

Got a yellow and blue one still...might try it this winter

pinno

How many people still have a Ballan long sleeve wind stopper?

DeVlaeminck

Do John Luck shoes still exist - they were my first pair of cycling shoes. Seem to remember Lusso being very common too.

amrushton

Time were highly rated cycling shoes. they were actually made by Carnac (Planet X own the name now).

photojim

Trek Clothing was great in the early 90's - really well made. I still have a lightweight red/white gore-tex jacket and a fleece jacket too. The shorts were also among the best - but I wore those out a long time ago.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

In case you missed it in the bargains thread, Halfords have recently released a modern day replica of their old 1987 ANC Halfords team jersey.

https://www.halfords.com/cycling/cyclin ... ing-jersey

~£28 in their final day of "flash sales" today, if you "click and collect" to use 10% British Cycling membership discount on top of the flash sale discount applied automatically to the basket contents.