I disapprove of all wheeled transport.
It’s bad enough to contend with joggers treating our side-walks like a track-field but, when you add wheels to these twits, it makes one feel as if some steampunk, cyborg circus is in town.
Whether travelling upon roller-blades, skateboards or bicycles, these people must think they’re a bunch of acrobats.
Whatever happened to strolling?
I guess a nice, quiet walk just isn’t cool in our fast-paced, GO-GO-GO world.
Should I ever decide to affix wheels to my feet, I’d like to look decent while I do so. Insofar as one can look decent while they manoeuvre a contraption more suited to a tightrope than a city street.
Rapha in combination with Saville Row tailor, Timothy Everest, have made such a proposition possible. They’ve built a three piece, bespoke bicycle suit. Though I know I should make some clever pun about spokes and bespoke, I’m just drawing a blank. Please try to think of your own.
This suit employs hydrophobic nano technology to ensure dryness and the ceramic coated wool fibers are also dirt resistant. But that’s not all. The suit also alters its own temperature. Three degrees higher when you’re cold and three degrees cooler when you are hot. Fascinating innovations all round.
And you’ll pay for it. The suit costs $3,500, which is out of my league but still quite reasonable when you consider the workmanship, materials and the people involved. An off the rack version of the blazer will be available in fall for $700.
One can only hope that this will kill spandex for all time.
2 comments
1 ping
Patrick
March 6, 2009 at 11:49 am (UTC -5)
Attire is only part of the bicycle problem. Today’s two-wheelers are brimming with needless technological wank, and look like gym equipment.
I asked one of Toronto’s bike shops to build me a bicycle that I could ride while wearing a suit. They looked at me as though I’d just asked to be slaughtered and consumed. Eventually they built it, nicknaming it the “Mennonite bike.”
It’s not perfect though. Have you ever seen what damage modern steel pedals do to leather soles?
Ryan Oakley
March 6, 2009 at 1:19 pm (UTC -5)
I can only imagine.
Owl Pellets « The Grumpy Owl
April 7, 2009 at 6:59 am (UTC -5)
[...] In These Clothes, You Can Go Far: More on that bespoke bike suit. [...]