Stealth Cycling

It may surprise some reading this, but I wasn't always happy being a cyclist. I loved cycling, but appearing as one of those (as I saw) aloof, self-regarding masochists - a road cyclist - was something I made every effort to avoid. This was made easier by my starting out in mountain biking, where the lycra tends to be hidden underneath more durable layers and the shoes remain useful when you get to where you're going.

Say what you like about road cycling, full race kit makes it difficult to actually ride anywhere. You can't carry enough layers to keep you warm when you stop; wearing nothing but a layer of tight-fitting fabric around your nether regions doesn't present a view you want to share too much; and, most importantly, the shoes are lethal. Before I had any interest in cycling as a fitness tool and recreational activity, and surely long after, I saw (see) cycling as a method to get from place to place. When I got to my destination, I would then want to do whatever I came there to do without looking or feeling like a cyclist. I still cycle to work every day, and I wear normal clothes.

The point that I am slowly coming to is that I've felt, from the beginning, that most cycling should not require "looking" like a cyclist - especially not once you get to your destination. Thus, "dual-mode" clothing has always interested me.

High vis is good on a bike. It's not great - it's not attractive, and that's a reasonable consideration. I work in an industry that clashes with people's aesthetic tastes daily, and to dismiss the desire for the world to look pleasing is to give up any attempt to engage with one of our most important stakeholders. Intuitively, making things beautiful is worthwhile because it provides "free" pleasure. Despite this, high-visibility clothing is a useful enough an "attention-grabber" to be worthwhile using on a bicycle on public roads. Today, anyway.

As soon as you're off the bike, though, it looks daft.

With this in mind, I made a few "modifications" to some of my kit. Whilst I'd only be the last word in fashion if my appearance actively drove away the audience, I think they work quite well.

Pedal reflectors work well, because they're dynamically moving lights. The more dynamic lights you can have, the better off you are. Hence reflective trouser clips.

But these are naff.

As any good urban cyclist - and the good Sir Chris Hoy - will demonstrate, the only appropriate method for keeping one's cuffs out of the drive train when the weather is within your tolerance is to roll up your trouser leg. Rapha is well aware of this, with highlights and branding on the inside of the leg. But you don't need to pay over a hundred pounds to get a pair of cycling-specific jeans.

Hi-vis vests are cheap, commonly available from pound shops, and they have several strips of a certain highly reflective tape on them - probably made by a certain American chemical company that is so large that its only close competitor in the field of tape-backed artificial products is Simon Cowell. 

Pulling this tape off and sewing it onto the outside leg seam on any pair of jeans makes an instant reciprocating reflector that is entirely hidden when the jeans are rolled down. Stealthy!

You may notice that my stitching is, to use the technical term, naff. This is for several reasons:
1) I am lazy
2) I am no good at sewing
3) I forgot to check which side was reflective, so this is actually my second attempt, so I was bored
4) I plan to go over it later with fabric glue, otherwise known as "the friend with a sewing machine for people who don't have any friends with sewing machines."

From the same vest, I made some modifications to my rucksack. Just throwing a vest over your rucksack is effective, but looks unbelievably naff, so I put a bit of thought into this one.

I put a strip of reflective tape onto the back, to shine back whenever I'm sat up at lights. Most of the rest of the vest I sewed onto the bottom of the bag, so that when I'm pedalling with my backside in the air, it's visible, but walking around during the day it's pretty discrete. It's stood up ok over the past year and a bit, but my poor stitching needs replacing now.

Finally, something not for me, but for the bike. As we all know, bike-mounted lock holders are the work of the devil, destroying the lines of the bike, but what are you supposed to do when you need to carry your U-lock, but don't need a bag?

Well, any urban cyclist worth his salt will tell you that you stick it in your belt. But you have to lock it on to be secure, and it stresses the belt loops. What can you do?

Holster.

You can buy these, but what's the need when you can make one yourself? All you need are a few strips of unstretchable fabric.

If you're like me, you'll have a good few pairs of jeans with crotches worn out by saddle time. Even if you're able to fix them, you'll always have one that you're using to take patches from.

Sew the strips around the lock, close enough that it can't slip through, and put a couple of belt loops on the back. Bob's your uncle.

You can buy equivalents of all of these ideas (although I don't know of any rucksacks that limit their high-vis to the underside), but what's the need when you can mod it yourself?

So there you go. Just remember the golden rule: As with single-speeds, it's not hipster if you've Done It Yourself.