When I started riding I wore a massive pair of baggy jeans and a t-shirt. So did everyone else. Very occasionally I would see someone with too much money in a pair of Fox DH pants. But never all the technical shorts and tops we wear now.

Does anyone still blast around the woods in jeans and t-shirt (with nothing more protective than a beanie on their head)?

On the bmx yes. When in town in the summer yes. Otherwise nope.

If I’m just going to the woods behind my house for a thirty minute blast, then yep…really like the fact I just hop on the bike and go….(have to put the flat pedals on tho)..

Yup! Skinny jeans FTW!

yeah sort of… can’t bear the idea of getting oil on my jeans though, cos it might mean washing them

So denim cargo shorts

quite often go out for a ride In a polo shirt and jeans.

never wear those queer looking, super uncomfortable shoes people wear on their bikes either.

Nothing cooler than turning up to a fair weather ride in ‘casual clothes’ and smashing everyone on the climbs and the descents. Bonus points if there’s a flannel shirt’s involved, but a helmet is a must.

cotton and denim is the most comfortable thing in the world when damp and sweaty

Yes! I wholeheartedly agree 🙂

Every ride, rough and ready.

Not jeans but regular non bike shorts, t-shirts, sweatshirts, whatever else takes my fancy. Then other times I’m head to toe mamil. Depends on the ride and my mood.

Not me I’m afraid. I struggle to buy jeans that fit. My upper legs are pretty massive compared to my waist so if they fit my legs I could get an extra person in the waist band. How I envy you people with small/normal thighs. But then due to this problem I petty much live in shorts outside of work anyway.

Tom KP

Every now and then jeans and a shirt, but yeah always with a lid!

Yes, the issue is the crotch always wears through 🙁 (oi steady on)

I’m gonna start, all the faff of finding and changing into my cycle specific clothing before a short ride takes some of the fun out of it for me.

I’ve got some straight/skinny(ish) jeans that still fit me nicely in the leg but are too big in the waist since I’ve lost some weight, they’re ace on the bike. When I have a day in the office I just wear them for the commute and stay in them all day.

I so want to go jumping my hardtail in the woods in jeans and a plaid flannel shirt. I’m crap at jumps and would need to build some first……

Andy of Stooge Cycles nailed the photos on his site, made we want a stooge bad.

I wear baggies that can just about pass for normal casual shorts, mainly because i don’t like skinny jeans, only boot cut, and get sick of snagging my chain ring unless I go full geek and tuck into my socks, but i either forget and snag my jeans, or the denim wears out quick at the inside of the upper thigh from seat rub.

Never. I wear lycra and cycling jerseys/tops for every single ride. No helmet though as don’t even own one.

I want to enjoy the ride and heavy, uncomfortable jeans with crotch seams and sweat holding t shirt is not a good way for me to enjoy it.

In Cornwall, it was a bit warm :/

Never, they get caught in the chainring and aren’t comfortable for riding

Slight stretch chinos (howies crosstown) are great, but only for local pootler on the road, I like them too much

Proper riding is always in baggies

I have a pair of stretchy Draggin kevlar lined jeans that are handy for bombing about in. Safety knitted bobble hat FTW too 😀 Bikes, innit? S’posed to be fun and that.

Yup! Skinny jeans FTW!

Yes, this!
I wouldn’t go on a long ride in them but for general ‘utility cycling’ stretchy skinny jeans are perfect 🙂

@zerocool what do you what at work?

Only pootles to the shops or park with 3.5 year old.
The gusset chafes if any effort is exerted. 🙁

Just the other day I was on the verge of not going out due to the faff involved in getting the kit together. Then I thought **** it, and went out in what I was wearing – jeans, t-shirt and converse. It was fine and in fact the freedom of just riding with no faff, far outweighed any negatives of wearing incorrect cycling gear.
It’s playing in the wood’s on bikes, not the tour de France !
I did however forget to take any water as well. Muppet.

Denim vans and a tee for Klunker rides if its warm then denim shorts.

Jeggings. It’s the modern way.

This thread has inspired me to build a jeans and t-shirt bike out of an old Specialized Hard Rock in the back of the garage. Moto-x bars (which I also have), single speed freewheel and a fat comfy seat. It might catch on !

Unexpected outcome!

Pics please 🙂

😕 Get some shoes that fit then, it’s not rocket science? In 30 odd years of riding i’ve had one slightly uncomfortable pair of cycling shoes. They went back.

And no, never worn jeans to ride further than the shops. Can’t pedal properly with jeans on, not without castration and/or sanding your knees down to the bone being a significant risk. And once they get a bit sweaty. Doesn’t bear thinking about.

Yeah, wore skinny jeans, trainers and t-shirt to an uplift day at BPW…..hadn’t reckoned on it being one of the hottest days of the year so far…..anyway I looked cool and was as fast as anyone there so it’s my standard uplift gear now.

Nope it’s just uncomfortable. Maybe if I was going to the shops or a mates house or something but for a proper ride I wear the proper stuff. It’s so much better. Jeans are hot and uncomfortable and cotton t shirts go clammy and horrible. Even going to the dirt jumps or something I’ll at least wear a tech fabric t shirt with jeans, just so much nicer.

I tend to ride in non-cycling specific shorts (sometimes with lycra underneath) or stretch jeans, with t-shirt (and hoodie, and often other thin jumpers to give me extra layers). I buy jeans specifically for cycling.

I tend to wear a BMX-style helmet for XC, though sometimes I put on a ‘normal’ roadie / MTB helmet).

I work on the basis that –

(1) Cycling specific clothing is not necessary
(2) Cycling specific clothing is ugly
(3) I will be a dirty, sweaty mess at the end of the ride no matter what I’m wearing. Unless I am going really really slow in which case why not wear ‘normal’ clothes?
(4) I am not racing so the ‘fastest’ clothing is not a consideration

FWIW I take the same view on clothing whether on a BMX, a road bike or an old retro steel lo pro time trial bike. Only difference is MTB SPDs and 661 trainer-like SPD shoes on road bikes and BMX trainers and flats on non-road bikes! One day I might go back to SPDs on MTBs, but I can’t see it.

To me cycling is ‘pissing about on a bike for a laugh’ and you really don’t need lycra for that.

The days when the weather is right for cargo shorts and a t-shirt, are the best days to be riding. I will take those opportunities whenever they arrive.

Not recently, it’s been full on dry suit weather for the last 6 months.

@chipkorea where do you get your jeans for cycling? I take much the same view as you so am interested . Do you have kneepads on too?

No kneepads. Wrangler Texas Stretch from a local shop. Though now I am happy with my size the next ones may be online.