# Rain Jackets - Black ONLY?



## 55x11 (Apr 24, 2006)

I cannot believe in this day and age the sponsors cannot make rain jackets that have their team logos on it!
Team Columbia has nice logo jackets (and even shoe covers have Columbia logo) but even then they are mostly black. Astana and Lampre have custom color jackets.
So many plain black jackets. Why is that? Some of them look pretty high tech - made out of some stretchy fabric (like the TREK team has) that makes it very aero, does not bunch up at all. Sky has customized Sky jackets (again mostly black - with just able stripe on the back so difficult to make the Sky riders like Catalado among other riders when shot from the side). Moviestar has custom made color-coordinated helmet covers, so why not jackets?
Even the clear jackets don't really work that well for me - on TV you cannot make out the jerseys, they just all look white. 
So there must be a good reason for this - what is it? Even vests are black for many teams. But it's not even consistent among the same team - some on Europcar had black jackets and some green. What gives?

Incidentally, what brand are the clear/black rain jackets are those?


----------



## MMsRepBike (Apr 1, 2014)

It's my understanding that the new all black jackets are a neoprene material. They'll probably get them all branded up in time but they're trying out something new that apparently is working well. I, for one, am quite interested in this neoprene fabric for a cycling jersey/jacket to wear in the cold inclimate weather.


----------



## spookyload (Jan 30, 2004)

It is past memorial day now, so you should be seeing white jackets till labor day...if they have any fashion sense at all.


----------



## rufus (Feb 3, 2004)

MMsRepBike said:


> It's my understanding that the new all black jackets are a neoprene material. They'll probably get them all branded up in time but they're trying out something new that apparently is working well. I, for one, am quite interested in this neoprene fabric for a cycling jersey/jacket to wear in the cold inclimate weather.


Not so sure about that. A lot of the black jackets were billowing up from the wind just as traditional rain jackets have long done, so didn't appear to be tight and stretchy like neoprene. The new Gabba jackets by Castelli that the commentators are always talking about are some sort of neoprene like material, and they are formfitting and stretchy. A lot of the other teams' riders use them, even though they aren't sponsored, so maybe the black ones are easier to get and cover up the Castelli logos 

Let's face it, black is trendy.


----------



## DZfan14 (Jul 6, 2009)

Yeah, the Castelli Gabba is the most popular rain jacket in peloton or at least the most desired. Castelli only makes a few of those jackets that do not have their logo on it. I am not sure, but the only team that wears Castelli is Garmin, so they would be the only ones wearing that jacket that would have logos on it.


----------



## LostViking (Jul 18, 2008)

DZfan14 said:


> Yeah, the Castelli Gabba is the most popular rain jacket in peloton or at least the most desired. Castelli only makes a few of those jackets that do not have their logo on it. I am not sure, but the only team that wears Castelli is Garmin, so they would be the only ones wearing that jacket that would have logos on it.


If the Gabba only comes in black - then wear black! :thumbsup:


----------



## mat-with-one-t (Jul 1, 2008)

It's interesting. I commute daily in all weather. I used to be a big believer in bright colours such as flouro yellow rain jackets. But one thing has changed - lights!
Lights now are super bright, better, lighter, longer, faster, whatever. I have a MoonShield flasher in the back that you can see from space, a Gemini front headlight that you could use to spot bad guys at night from a police helicopter, and a spare bright flasher attached to my backpack.
I've been studying riders passing at night/in the rain. Particularly in the dark, I really don't think clothing colour makes a big difference if your lights are good. My lights are so good that I use (at least the rear flasher) in the day too (unless the sun's blazing).
I also think it's good to "define" your shape on the road, and pretty much everything now (clothes/packs/etc) have all sorts of reflective strips.
Look around when out in rain/poor light and see what you think.


----------



## 55x11 (Apr 24, 2006)

I agree lights have improved but your visibility depends on the brightness of the lights OTHER people use, not your own lights. There's a difference.

Reminds me:
When I was younger I used to do a lot of cycling workouts very early in the morning, before 6AM.
In the winter it was pitch dark when I would leave my house, but would get bright after 10min of riding, and also not much traffic so I didn't use any front lights, just superbright back light. Not even a blinky on the front. I knew the roads near my house by heart, so 10 min in the dark didn't seem so bad, and then it would get bright enough to not need a light. Perhaps not the best decision, but I didn't know any better back then.

Once, riding in particularly dark (in between streetlights) section near my house I almost rode into a runner. He was going the wrong way, in the bike lane, and was wearing all black, not reflective, just black clothing. I barely saw him (or sensed him) and swerved around him last moment to avoid collision. I wasn't going that fast but it was still a bit scary. He yelled "You should have a light!" plus a few other words that should not be repeated. I felt really bad at first - but then I got to think - he had no lights either! And he was going the wrong way on the dark street, wearing all black, completely invisible. And this is my problem?


----------



## Hiro11 (Dec 18, 2010)

I enjoyed the fact that the Gabba Pro Edition included a black Sharpie in the box as a nod the the fact that so many non-sponsored pros use it and blackout the logos.

One other point: it's very telling to me that pros are so careful about their rain jackets to the point that they may actually stop racing to ensure that the jacket makes it safely back into a team car when it's not needed. Seeing a pro throw a rain jacket on the ground is extremely rare, even at a critical stage of a race where they need to get rid of the jacket. I understand that a good Gabba jacket can run almost $250, but surely pros get volume discounts and in the grand scheme of racing, surely maximizing performance is the most important thing. To me, the defensiveness over rain jackets is a great indication of the absolute shoestring budgets that most teams are run on. I can't imagine an NFL player worrying about their equipment, pro tennis player bring bags of essentially disposible racquets and shoes on court etc. Cycling is just dirt poor in comparison.


----------



## mikerp (Jul 24, 2011)

Hiro11 said:


> I enjoyed the fact that the Gabba Pro Edition included a black Sharpie in the box as a nod the the fact that so many non-sponsored pros use it and blackout the logos.
> 
> One other point: it's very telling to me that pros are so careful about their rain jackets to the point that they may actually stop racing to ensure that the jacket makes it safely back into a team car when it's not needed. Seeing a pro throw a rain jacket on the ground is extremely rare, even at a critical stage of a race where they need to get rid of the jacket. I understand that a good Gabba jacket can run almost $250, but surely pros get volume discounts and in the grand scheme of racing, surely maximizing performance is the most important thing. To me, the defensiveness over rain jackets is a great indication of the absolute shoestring budgets that most teams are run on. I can't imagine an NFL player worrying about their equipment, pro tennis player bring bags of essentially disposible racquets and shoes on court etc. Cycling is just dirt poor in comparison.


You've hit the nail on the head, a great deal of the teams run on a shoe string budget, Gabba's come in black or fluo, I'm sure Castelli would be happy to make some custom ones but that would go counter to the regular sponsorship of products. I'm going to guess that most of the teams have team jackets that match but guys opt to use the Gabba (paying out of pocket) as they are so much better, how many other rain jacket need grommets to let the water out of the back pockets?


----------



## rufus (Feb 3, 2004)

Rolland chucked away his rain jacket the other day. And there were a lot of guys throwing away smaller stuff like hats and gloves just before the start of the final climb Tuesday, once the weather improved. They were taking off their helmets, whipping off their fleece or neoprene skullcaps, and then putting their helmets back on.


----------



## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

MMsRepBike said:


> It's my understanding that the new all black jackets are a neoprene material. They'll probably get them all branded up in time but they're trying out something new that apparently is working well. I, for one, am quite interested in this neoprene fabric for a cycling jersey/jacket to wear in the cold inclimate weather.


It is my understanding that neoprene is hard to colorize (sponsor logos that is) and keep all its desirable traits.


----------



## looigi (Nov 24, 2010)

Neoprene? AFAIK, it can be closed cell foam as in scuba wetsuits or a solid sheet or film. In the case of these jackets, which is it and specifically what are its desirable traits in this case?


----------



## 55x11 (Apr 24, 2006)

I agree. And yet they go through wheels and frames, and other expensive parts like crazy. Even water bottle expenses add up after a while. $5 per bottle times 10 bottles per rider, times 8 riders, that's $400 per stage. One major pileup like the ones we see so often is $ tens of thousands worth of damage, maybe hundreds.


----------



## superg (May 9, 2010)

I mostly agree, even if they get the sponsor's discount...



55x11 said:


> I agree. And yet they go through wheels and frames, and other expensive parts like crazy. Even water bottle expenses add up after a while. $5 per bottle times 10 bottles per rider, times 8 riders, that's $400 per stage. One major pileup like the ones we see so often is $ tens of thousands worth of damage, maybe hundreds.


----------

