What about the kit??

[TxDoc]

Is the kit supposed to match the bike?

Nope. Some people like everything to match (yes, yes, alright, I'm one of them) and some others don't. Wear what you like - your pink sunglasses included - and don't worry about it. You are the one that has to like the bike and the kit - not the LBS fashion guy...

[Zen]

I take pride in having nothing match.
I may start wearing one Adidas and one Sidi.

[tzvia]

I've always felt that one risks looking like a poseur with a 'kit' that matches. I see them when I ride at the beach, nice bike, not a speck of dirt, perfectly matching clothing, down to the socks. Never actually riding, mind you. Just standing around some waterhole. Most people I see actually RIDING aren't quite as fashion consious.

I ride whatever isn't in the wash. My mother was the accounts administrator for HiTorque (MTB Action, Road Bike Action..) magazines and she brought home a lot of shirts and shorts over the years and nothing matches and I don't care. Free is good. I've got stuff with logos of teams and companies that don't exist any more and I don't care. I look like a circus on wheels sometimes. As long as I'm riding and not posing I don't care. I'm having fun.

To me, the 'kit' that matters is what is in the saddlebag or Camelbak (and yea I ride with a Camelbak so I guess I'm a Fred). Kit is what I use when something happens and I have to fix my bent wheel and patch a tube so I can make it home.

[TxDoc]

I've always felt that one risks looking like a poseur with a 'kit' that matches. I see them when I ride at the beach, nice bike, not a speck of dirt, perfectly matching clothing, down to the socks. Never actually riding, mind you. Just standing around some waterhole. Most people I see actually RIDING aren't quite as fashion consious.

That's ok, just remember that appearences can sometimes be defying... there are people out there that ride 60miles per day and just clean their bikes (or ask their mechanics to do that). And they like to look nice and have matching team clothes, helmets, socks, gloves, etc - especially if there's the chance of someone around taking pictures.
You cannot infer just from their looks that all of them are poseurs that never actually ride. In fact, I know quite a few good racers that are fashion divas as well, more than a couple of them gone pro...

[Bluetree]

The guys on my team are notorious posers...and that's not considered a bad word because style points at the coffee shop count! In fact, many of the race reports end with "...and we looked great, too!"

But they indulge in their divaness because it's a fun diversion from the intensity of racing. Dont believe for a second that they don't razz each other if someone wore the wrong socks or if someone else forgot to shave their legs the night before! But its all in fun and part of the team-bonding rituals. If they're hangng out at a local waterhole, they usually have no intention of real riding that day, or else it might be a post-ride break. (Keep in mind that a lot of racers ride every day, so some days are "easy" days.)

Wear what you want. Have fun riding your bike. If anyone has an issue with what you're wearing, it's their problem... not yours!

[AliceB.Toeclips]

And ready to share...the sartorial secrets of the stylish old bat!
Go ahead, be 'clothes-minded'...in here, we are all safe.
Check out last year's VERY successful 2008 calendar where I posed in 85% cacao chocolate and little else (see "new calendar" on right margin of my blog at jacquiephelan.com)
Marin photographer Anne Cutler said: "Why not show everyone what you are wearing the OTHER half of the time?"
And "Unmitigated Gal 2009" was born: a full-color calendar that ONLY people who want will be buying, since we were clever and had the company that makes them ship only when an order arrives (thus: no boxes full of beautiful calendars in the home of the model, who is tragically incapable of actually selling her own...er...fabulous calendar.
This is where you (my tribe, after all) come in: word-of-mouth (the first three letters in "WOMBAT". How about looking at the calendar and lodging your very valued opinions?
You can imagine what kind of reception it might get at a print bike magazine (which is a thinly disguised men's lifestyle mag, n'est-ce pas?)

So, here tis: http://www.lulu.com/content/3682015
at least, I hope it is...
Cheers, all...

[Lifesgreat]

You mean you're supposed to match?
I suppose my shorts and saddle match. . .

[lph]

Oh, sheesh. Sometimes I nurture these sweet dreams of finding a stunning red vest, a gorgeous red helmet and, of course, red shoes, and looking terrific on my brilliant red road bike and metallic red mtb. But I end riding 90 % of the time on my turquoise green with red fork FrankenKonacommuterbike wearing whatever fell out of the closet, and the remaining 10% in the hideous club kit some guy dreamed up mid-70s. (5 primary colours, I kid you not.) By sheer chance my helmet and shoes match each other, though.

[pardes]

Lph, I never liked the color red until I got a red bike. I was happier with muted fall colors. Especially autumn hunter green and indigo night blue.

Now I have a red helmet, red backpack, red winter biking coat, red gloves all delivered to and modeled at work for coworkers who just shake their head.

I put them over the edge with this when I walked through the lab with the flaps down in my spiffy new white labcoat.

Now red is the new autumn hunter green.

[snapdragen]

And ready to share...the sartorial secrets of the stylish old bat!
...

O.M.G. I love the Airstream trailer shot....although the purple...wtf is that, a giraffe print? is great too. Ooh, and the couch...hell they're all fun.

[sundial]

The nice thing about getting older is you care less what other people think.

[Jiffer]

Occasional matching is nice. Worrying about matching all the time is for 'sissy' or those with low self-esteem.

This whole thread cracks me up, and this quote in particular! Well, put me on the "sissy" list because I'm a matching fanatic and I certainly don't have low self esteem. I wouldn't say I "worry" about matching, though, I simply "like" to match and make a point to whenever possible ...

I'm having a hard time visualizing the guy at the LBS shop telling you that you "have" to match your "kit" (whatever THAT is!) ... and being serious! I'm all about matching, but I would never tell someone that they HAVE to match except in jest. If he thinks you HAVE to match, what happens to those who don't? Are they outcasts in the cycling world? Give me a break! I match because that's what I like to do, not because there's some rule about it.

And, actually, when I just thought about it, my sunglasses only "sort of" match me. I'm all about pink (and black and white). My Oakley sunglass frames are black, but my lenses are yellow, the only yellow I wear. I love those lenses, though, for their function. I can wear them when it's bright or when it's dim and they are great for both.

Where what you want. It's your life and I'm pretty sure you won't be a cycling outcast for wearing pink sunglasses with a black and yellow bike!