TdF Kits (best and worst)

by Tiki on Jul 11, 2008 4:36 PM EDT Comment 33 comments

Okay, I haven't been keeping up while I was in China, so forgive me if this vital topic has already been discussed up and down by all of you, but all the shake-ups with sponsors have resulted in not only tons of new teams but new kits on familiar bodies. Have to say I was disappointed with the simplistic alterations to the CSC-Saxophone uniform. Very bland.

So who has the best kit in your opinion and why? And who has the worst? And what makes a good kit in general? I have to say, I have always been a fan of FdJ's white-on-white with the big blue shamrock lottery logo. It's nice to have a graphic of some kind on a jersey. Plus the all white is just bold. I mean, imagine the cleaning bills.

Obviously, Rock Racing takes these ideas to the tacky extreme. I think a great kit would somehow simplify the sponsor names and highlight a geometric logo of some kind. Plus a bold color that's consistent on both top and bottom.

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I actually like

the Cofidis kit. It’s not hugely imaginative, but the color works and is easy to spot.

60% of the time, it works every time.

by bethie on Jul 11, 2008 5:52 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Oh, Tiki

It’s probably best that you’ve missed those discussions. The girls go all agog at the white shorts, and Crashdan is obsessed with armadillos. It’s really quite embarrassing.

So how’s that fresh Chinese air gonna work its magic in the road races next month?

by Sui Juris on Jul 11, 2008 6:55 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Not my wife

She freaked at Millar’s skinsuit.

by johnw on Jul 11, 2008 7:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

No way. I don't like the white shorts and I don't think the other girls do either

Go Team Zoe!
Cavendish, Di Gregorio, Fothen, Kirchen , Kreuziger, Lowe, Siutsou , Ten Dam , Y.Trofimov and Vandevelde

by ZoeRochelle on Jul 11, 2008 10:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm afraid that today my reaction to the GarMEN was

“Team Grayasse.”

by JFS_PGH on Jul 12, 2008 12:11 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Chinese air

My daughter, age 7 at the time, got pneumonia two weeks after we landed in Beijing. So the air quality might have some effect on the Olympics. The absolute worst day of pollution in LA is probably the best day in Beijing. About 150 days a year, you can’t see the sun.

by Tiki on Jul 12, 2008 8:13 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

FDJ is my favorite as well

I never really thought that until I saw someone wearing it in person. It is just so clean and simple and graphically cohesive. The all white looks good as opposed to just the all white groinal region, which looks, well, just groinal… Rock Racing looks like a cartoon super villain costume to me, which is the point I know, and most of the others all look like the driver’s door on a nascar car all covered with random sponsor logos.

by Jimbo... on Jul 11, 2008 7:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

This is probably a minority opinion,

but I really like the Rabobank kit. The design is clean and distinctive, and I like the colors. The darker blue is a nice change from all the pale blue in the peloton. The Rabobank helmets, on which the blue is even darker, are really sharp.

by Tifosa on Jul 11, 2008 7:38 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yep

That’s a minority opinion all right.

"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."

by Chris... on Jul 11, 2008 7:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

People who like the Lampre kit

shouldn’t throw stones ;-)

by Tifosa on Jul 11, 2008 8:04 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

+2

by Jimbo... on Jul 11, 2008 11:04 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I like it!

I like that I can ALWAYS spot it.
I like that it emphasizes differences in the different physical types; some look scrawny, some meaty, because of the chest tracery (“basketball seams”) and the zones on the thighs. Makes it easier to tell who’s who when I’m not getting audio, or on low-res video.
I like that it’s been around a while, and that the orange is very Dutch (Royal family / house of Orange) and I think the blue may be for the long sea trading / port tradition.
I like it that the blue on the shorts is dark and in the right places.
I like one main sponsor name.
I even like the swoopiness and the balance of the orange and blue.

Do I like it enough to wear it? Not on your life… but that’s not the point.

by JFS_PGH on Jul 12, 2008 12:21 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Aha, a kindred spirit!

As Thoreau said, “any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one” (or in our case, a majority of two).

by Tifosa on Jul 12, 2008 1:37 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

wait...

you’re back! Welcome home.

"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."

by Chris... on Jul 11, 2008 7:46 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

+1

One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor. - George Carlin

by Ruthann on Jul 11, 2008 8:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hey thanks

But I’m just home for another months then going back to Beijing. Maybe I can report on the road race from the capital.

by Tiki on Jul 12, 2008 8:15 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Fave

This won’t be popular, but I’ll say Lampre. Nice clean lines.

I don’t mind Rock Racing, they’re just going for a full-body tattoo look.

"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."

by Chris... on Jul 11, 2008 7:49 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

And

yeah, I haven’t hit my head today. I know Rock Racing isn’t in the Tour.

"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."

by Chris... on Jul 11, 2008 7:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

yet

(hit your head, I meant… though, egads, I guess some day, when pigs spontaneously combust, that could also apply to rock racing and the tour.)

by JFS_PGH on Jul 12, 2008 12:23 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

After your Lampre comment

I like to hit your head…..repeatedly…........with a large sock full of manure.

"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."

by Drew... on Jul 14, 2008 12:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

you saved it from the Devolder incident?

That’s devotion…or composting.

by JFS_PGH on Jul 14, 2008 4:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

CdE's kit

looks great, especially Valverde’s custom Spanish champion one.

Actually quite like Silence!’s kit this year – much better than the pink Predictor kit of last year.

Columbia and Milram – too similar shades of blue to pick out in the bunch. But better than the High Road kit.

by slowK on Jul 11, 2008 8:36 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

disappointed that Columbia and Milram are same color.

Go Team Zoe!
Cavendish, Di Gregorio, Fothen, Kirchen , Kreuziger, Lowe, Siutsou , Ten Dam , Y.Trofimov and Vandevelde

by ZoeRochelle on Jul 11, 2008 10:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Kinda disappointed in Milram more generally

maybe they can go away? (I know, not fair…they had the color first.)

In bad weather / fog, I even have problems with Gerolsteiner. I do, however, love the Columbia gloves. To the point of wondering how to get some.

by JFS_PGH on Jul 12, 2008 12:25 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I like CdE's in terms of standing out.

I was a big fan of the previous year’s CSC jerseys and think they look boring now in comparison.
I liked the bolder argyle before the white was brought in for the Tour. I’m all about being able to pull them out of the pack on tv although the new tops of Garmin look sharp from the front but they are not the easiest to pull out in a split second panning back view. Today C was actually seen a lot today but I barely picked him up this morning yet tonight while I’m watching I’m seeing him all the time. :-).

I miss the days of bold colors that helped the teams really stand out from each other.

"The most wasted day is that in which we have not laughed."

by nikki on Jul 11, 2008 9:05 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I still

find it hard to tell the difference between CdE and Lotto.

by Monty. on Jul 12, 2008 9:29 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i liked very much white High Road.

In this tour, the Credit Agricole i like.
Silence-Lotto is better than the las years.

Milram is the worst for me, ok Lampre too.

by semprenaroda on Jul 11, 2008 10:01 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Tiki, welcome home!

ready to do some racing?

My choice is Bouygues Telecom. I’m partial to blue and it’s classy looking. Columbia is a close second.

by Mr Van P on Jul 11, 2008 10:07 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, I've always had a fondness for Boogie Nights Telecom

But largely because I love the underdog.

And the racing… well, maybe a Wells in about two weeks, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up with the pack.

by Tiki on Jul 13, 2008 9:58 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

For me, the best kit was Discovery Channel

Now that they are defunct, I’ll still wear my DC jersey happily

Any bib shorts with some sort of semi- circle logo illicits a yell of “fat-ass” from my usually sweet and calm wife. :)

by cyclingchallenge on Jul 12, 2008 2:05 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Garmin sponsored

the TT starting booth at the Giro this year and it looked quite similar in ways to the old Disco kit. I had hoped that the new team kit might pick up from that, instead of just rubbing out the word Slipstream and writing Garmin instead. Maybe next year.

by Monty. on Jul 12, 2008 9:31 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I liked the Slipstream kits but

The Garmin kits are alright, minus the bibs. I like the CdE kits but would never wear black in Tucson myself. I would imagine they’re okay in France though.

If I just had one more gear, I...

by SpunOut on Jul 12, 2008 11:47 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs