It gets talked about from time to time and I'm one of the big haters.
Amatuers wearing Rainbow stripes/yellow/polka dot jerseys.
It makes me cringe when I see a overweight unfit fat bloke labour up a climb with a world champs jersey on. I don't even think they should go on sale but then chain reaction do this...

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=86069

Stephen Roche was my idol, The first ever Tour I watched was this tour. SO if I bought this jersey I'd be celebrating not only his great year but my love of cycling right??

Damn you Chain reaction.

I don't think I'd spend that much $$$ on it, but yeah, I'd wear it... it's slick, and for those who know what everything means it's very significant, and gives respect to a feat that we may never see repeated.

I have and wear this BIANCHI Jersey to commemorate Ullrich waiting up for Lance Armstrong when he was taken out by a spectator.



for the record, I don't have any Postal Service, Discovery, RSNT, Mellow Johnny's or other Armstrong affiliated jerseys.

Just buy the shirt. I hate the way people think along these lines.
No one will mistake you for a world champion and the world champion and his team would not care either.
Just because I'm dressed this way does not make a... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL-1kHxsavI

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I never took drugs to improve my performance at any time. I will be willing to stick my finger into a polygraph test if anyone with big media pull wants to take issue. If you buy a signed poster now it will not be tarnished later. --Graeme Obree

Go on! Treat yourself!

Hey. Football fans the world over wear their teams kit. What's wrong with flying your colours?

And if you see Stephen Roche these days like I did when out for a ride at Villeneuve Sur Mer, he himself is an overweight fat bloke so it's perfectly possible to be mistaken for a World Champion

It is widely accepted to wear vintage team jerseys, and I'm thinking by extension that should hold for commemorative jerseys as well.

But the starting point has to be, are you accepting the jurisdiction of the style police in the first place?

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Bikes: Raceur, Beateur

Agreed. I've never understood why cyclists are so uptight about this.

If you like it wear it , don't let anyone tell you what you can and cannot wear. I just find it funny if I see a fat bloke wearing a yellow jersey and a great big belly flopping over his shorts, a bit like Jan Ullrich in his prime By the way, its a very nice jersey

Greg Lemond being out of action due to having been shot by his idiot brother-in-law (related to Dick Cheney?) may have played a non-trivial part in Roche's success that year.

I'd wear anything associated with Roche, Kelly, Hinault, etc....
But I am too cheap to buy that one.

i played competitive for 15 years and despite owning professional team kits, i think i only "practiced" in one , once or twice at most. I think there is just this expectation or something of the person. Like if someone showed up on the pitch with a ronaldinho barcelona shirt , he better be god's gift to playing.... and if he sucks, i judge him more

practicing in a pro kit or playing recreational soccer in a pro kit is like fredding on the soccer field. call me snobby but even before i started riding bikes, my mentality was that i reserved pro (football) team kits to hang in my room or wear when im out at the pub with mates to cheer.

i dont think it's a direct equivalent to the cycling world, but to train i played in non-descript shorts, non-gameday socks, usually a t-shirt or dri-fit (my team warmup specific, if applicable). And yea to further the argument it's not a direct relationship, noone on any of my teams in their right minds would "train" in their sunday/saturday game uniform. In cycling, you kinda do. Furthermore, i have certainly used t-shirts that have the a.c milan logo, or d.c united logo, but they were just freebee t-shirts or something. Im just ranting, so in short... do what you want, but people will judge. if you dont care, power to you.

A friend of mine is a world champ, fair enough he is the over 65 world road race champ. While out on a club run we al stopped at a cafe and another cyclist came over and complimented him on his jersey and asked where he bought it from as he'd quite like one too.
He wasnt best pleased and I felt quite sorry for this guy thats been racing for nearly 50 years riding his Rainbow stripes with pride and yet you can go to the shop and buy a replica.
It should be reserved, just my opinion.

I agree. You shouldn't be able to buy jerseys that have to be earned. Rainbow, yellow, pink, green, national champions, national teams...

To my mind buying and wearing these jerseys is akin to buying a medal and hanging it around your neck.

Commemorative or retro is a completely different thing.

Thats my thoughts as well Privateer. I dont think the Roche jersey is any of those, although I would normally stay well clear of anything with rainbow stripes.

No I wouldn't wear this jersey, but I don't like black jerseys.

I actually have one USA national team replica with WC stripes because I'm American and it is fun. I would say less than 5% of the people I might ride with know what the stripes represent.

If one earned those stripes, then I bet the jersey feels a lot different to wear.

sent by tapatalk because my computer is a paperweight

Wear it? No.
But if you're a fan of the rider to a great extent, purchase it, track him down to sign it with a permanent pen (perhaps a bleach pen since the majority is black) and then have it framed. It is a rather well designed jersey.

edit: just realized it is already signed, sort of. A real signature would add value, but that being said it can be framed as-is.

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Exp001