James ClarkeThe world has well and truly gone cycling mad – particularly in the UK. This is something not to be complained about though; after all cycling has been proven to: lower your resting heart rate, Improve muscular strength and endurance, lower cholesterol and cycling is also a social sport that allows you to constantly meet new friends and see places that you never knew existed. In light of this, we’ll refrain from giving you pointers on how to become the next Mark Cavendish – rather what will do is detail how to ride in style. Admittedly, It’s hard to grasp how any Gent can look stylish head to toe In lycra and other unsightly pieces. But surprisingly, It can be done and to prove this we have explained five key items of cycle wear and selected which of those tick the box of style approval here at MFM.
Key Item One: The Helmet
First things first, we must take time to consider the most crucial item of cycle wear – The Helmet. As you know, the Helmet serves to protect your head during a collision or fall. The road cycling helmet is traditionally light in weight – as is the majority of cycle wear – and works better when sat snug onto the riders head. Too tight or too loose will make wearing a helmet effectively pointless.
Though no helmet guarantees ultimate safety, some are far more efficient than others and happen to be a lot more aesthetically pleasing too. Below are six of the safest and most appealing helmets currently available.
Key Item Two: The Shoes
In Men’s style, footwear is arguably the most important aspect to get right. Your encouraged to spend a little extra on shoes to notice the array of benefits. This exact principle applies to Cycling footwear – cheap cycling shoes not only look, well, cheap, but they perform badly likewise. Often they are heavier, poorly suited to adverse weather conditions and the longevity is generally shocking. Instead, spending that extra £30 to £50 more will result In your footwear being of far better quality, and also (more importantly to us) they’ll look better. Feast your eyes over the below images to see well crafted, MFM approved, stylish cycle shoes.
Key Item Three: The Wind-stopper
For any cyclist, a well performing wind-stopper is a much needed bit of kit. One minute you could be storming up a tough hill and working up a temperature, the next descending at 40mph freezing you t**s off! An adequate wind-stopper will be thin enough not to cause you to over heat; but thick enough to fight the wind. In addition, the wind-stopper will be the item of clothing you’ll get the most use out of – and actually looks cool off the bike too. It can make a great throw on item for a trip to the shops or a walk with the dog. With this in mind (and of course it’s performance in the saddle) we present to you six of our most desired wind-stoppers that are refreshingly in tune with AW13 by being in shades of Mustard, Burgundy, Red and Black.
Item Four: The Sunglasses
Cycling sunglasses – this is were you can let your inner fashion forwardism (yes we made that word up) loose. It’s the piece of cycle wear that nobody can miss, precisely why it needs to be gotten right. Donning slick eyewear on the bike does more than just look good however. Your shades will defend your eyes from dust, dirt, damage from sun exposure and from small particles in the road like gravel and stones. Similar to the wind-breaker, a pair of cycling sunglasses will look fantastic off the bike and the sporty style of them will bring a modern, contemporary look to any outfit. Spend a minute taking a look at our six pro cyclist inspired shades.
Key Item Five: The Watch
Being on the saddle for hours on end is a fine way to loose track of time. For some, this is part of the enjoyment. But for the rest of us that need to keep an eye on the clock, a watch will be required. When purchasing a watch for cycling – or any form of exercise – you’ll need to look for something first of all light in weight, and also water resistant. Additionally, many sports watches these days have multiple performance enhancing features such as GPS, tracking and heart rate monitoring. Although your Rolex or Tag Heuer is your favourite time piece, below we put forward six of the hottest sport watches on the market that’ll do a better job and look a lot more serious whilst riding.
Finally
As we’ve mentioned, cycling isn’t necessarily the most stylish sport with the all that unforgiving lycra and all. That being said, we’d like think that we’ve carefully cited how to get it right on the bike and look more Bradley and less Borris.