Gallery: Cycling Couture: The Kits of Silicon Valley
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Cycling is a pretty big deal in the Bay Area, where it's been said [cycling is the new golf](http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2013/04/business-networking). It’s a fun, challenging, gadget-heavy (read: potentially expensive) endeavor, which of course makes it wildly popular among the employees of tech companies in Silicon Valley who enjoy mixing recreation and networking. So it should come as no surprise to learn that damn near every tech company from Twitter to Intuit has a dedicated band of riders, who rock some sweet kit. Some of these guys (and gals) are wearing outfits that rival the stuff you see in the peloton of the Amgen Tour of California. So in honor of that grueling eight-day race through the Golden State, not to mention [Bike to Work Week](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/05/bike2work/), we took a look at the cycling culture of Silicon Valley. Here’s a look at what you’ll see if you ride (or drive) up and down the peninsula.  __Above: SF2G__ [SF2G](http://sf2g.com/) is a supportive, loosely organized cycling club for folks who regularly (or irregularly) make the bike commute from San Francisco to Palo Alto, Mountain View and points south. Scott Crosby started the group in 2005 after joining Google; since then it’s expanded to several thousand members from oodles of Bay Area tech companies. How do you become a member? You just show up. The group reps a jersey made by California-based Cedar Cycling. The company offers a custom blend of merino wool, nylon, and elastane optimized to provide good temperature regulation and moisture management while minimizing abrasion. SF2G is embroidered on the front of the stately navy jersey, and there's an SF2G patch ironed on the back right pocket. The jersey is comfortable, understated, and made of high quality materials. It's the Lacoste of cycling jerseys.
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Synaptics --------- For those who aren’t familiar, Synaptics provides touch solutions, including capacitive touch, for products like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and the Lenovo IdeaPad Y500. About 15 percent of Synaptics’ 480 Santa Clara headquarter employees are cyclists. Guys like technology strategist Andrew Hsu think nothing of riding 25 miles each way to work, putting in more than 150 miles commuting each week. Employees “earn” their company kit, which Synaptics pays for, by riding a certain distance each May. To entice more employees to take up riding, the company provided an aid station with food and drinks and offered a free lunch to anyone who rode to work last week. The Synaptics company jersey was designed by Eric Faggin, a product designer in the company’s concept prototyping team and the son of company founder Federico Faggin. We're not the biggest fans of the brown and maroon color scheme, but at least the pattern might mask dirt and mud kicked up by your tires.
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Intuit ------ Employee Mauricio Comi calls Intuit riders “a small but passionate group.” They occasionally do group rides, like the MS Bike: Waves to Wine century, and a group of five ride to work together two or three days a week. The company also has an onsite bike share program similar to [larger companies like Google](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/04/google-bikes/), allowing staff to quickly bike from one building to another, and indoor bike storage lockers for those who commute to work. Intuit's kit is pretty middle of the road as far as style goes. The bright blue is eye-catching but not overbearing next to the black, and there's enough branding to make it clear that this is Intuit kit -- but again, not so much so that you want to say "Enough already!"
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Yahoo ----- This Yahoo kit, circa 2011, screams "Yahoo!" with its signature purple coloring and logo slapped everywhere. It definitely scores a 10 for company loyalty. We wonder how many loud and proud Yahoo employees still don this getup for rides. In the past, Yahoo has held [bike fairs](http://www.cyclelicio.us/2007/08/yahoos-company-car.html) at its headquarters. For bike commuters, the company provides secure bike storage on campus, lockers and showers, and loaner bikes for riding around its Sunnyvale campus.
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Facebook -------- Facebook’s cycling uniform looks pretty much like you'd expect it to. It's simple and blue. We love the design of the back of the jersey, which features several Facebook icons on the pockets, a lighter blue stripe across the back, and a large lowercase letter f. Loud, yet tasteful. Kudos, Facebook kit designers, kudos. Like Google and many other large Silicon Valley firms, Facebook has on-campus bikes employees can use to get around campus. To encourage bike commuting, Facebook championed the construction of [new bike lanes](http://bikesiliconvalley.org/2012/02/facebook-commits-to-improvements-for-bike-routes-to-new-campus) in Menlo Park and East Palo Alto. A number of Facebook riders also roll with SF2G.
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Thirsty Bear Brewing -------------------- Thirsty Bear isn’t a tech startup, but the San Francisco microbrewery and restaurant is a popular fixture within the tech and startup scene. Coincidentally, it also sponsors one of the area’s most successful cycling teams, [Thirsty Bear Cycling](http://thirstybearcycling.com/). Thirsty Bear cyclists are nabbing podium spots at races around the Bay Area, across the country and throughout the world. You may have even heard of some of its top racers, like [Chris Phipps](https://www.usacycling.org/results/?compid=233623). Many members are involved in the tech industry and some are also entrepreneurs. Thirsty Bear is almost as rabid about cycling as it is about beer. We initially considered submerging the kits in water for this photoshoot, and when we told team member Eric Lagier that, he replied, “Water is fine, but beer is better.” The large Thirsty Bear emblem on the front and orange-ringed steely-gray design make it easily recognizable from a distance.
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Strava ------ Of course competitive social fitness service Strava would have its own cycling kit. For those of you who don't know, [Strava tracks rides and runs](http://app.strava.com/about) using your smartphone’s GPS, or a dedicated GPS device like a Garmin and creates a leaderboard where top performers are named king (or queen) of the mountain. The company's got some sweet kit, including this Castelli-made outfit anyone can buy through [Strava's online store](http://app.strava.com/shop). The short sleeve jersey features a full zip and the bib shorts are made with high-grade lycra. Strava logos are strategically strewn all over the place so everyone knows you’ll be uploading that GPS data to log your KOMs when your ride is done. With all that branding, it seems a bit Marc Jacobs or Coach, but then, someone eager to log their KOM probably isn't given to understatement.
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Reddit ------ Can I get an upvote? In true Reddit fashion, the design of Reddit’s cycling kit is crowdsourced each year. The 2012 version shown here was designed and voted, or more appropriately, upvoted, upon by the site’s /r/bicycling community. Like Strava's get-up, you don't have to work at Reddit to rock it; it's available by anyone in the Reddit cycling community. But once they're gone, they're gone -- the kits are ordered just once annually, so you've gotta move fast. We love the whimsical Reddit alien peaking out of the center back, and of course, the upvote arrow. The orange accents, like on the rear pockets, are like, *wow*, orange, though. Manufactured by Primal Wear, there’s also a [2013 version](http://imgur.com/a/AXZ6w#0) out now, and the 2014 version will begin being designed in September.
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SurveyMonkey ------------ SurveyMonkey product team head Will Aldrich lent us his "picturesque," as he phrased it, company kit. The fetching green, yellow and gray jersey is made by Competitive Cyclist and features a handy zipper pocket on the back left in addition to the standard 3 back pockets of most jerseys. Aldrich "executive produced" the kit creation, but the apparel designer was Scott Richardson, an associate creative director at CompetitiveCyclist.com. While the shades of green verge on pukey in a certain light, we love that they went subtle (and fun) with the company's monkey head logo rather than slathering the company name everywhere. Around 40 of its 200 employees own the company kit, and 19 people are in the company's [Strava club](http://app.strava.com/clubs/surveymonkey) -- because you've got to keep tabs on whose racking up the most miles and top 10's. The SurveyMonkey team did its first big (15 strong) group ride in September 2012.
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Google ------ Google’s been around a while now, so it has a variety of jerseys and kits floating about. This is last year’s Rasta jersey, designed by Hincapie Sportswear. It isn't a favorite among current and former Googlers -- "Oh god, not that one!" was a common refrain people had when they learned we were using this one. But you still see them in the wild occasionally. What it lacks in looks, it makes up for in quality. It’s made out of moisture-wicking fabric with 30+ UPF sun protection -- good news for the 7 percent of Googlers making the 40 mile trek from San Francisco to Mountain View on two wheels each day. Google heartily embraces eco-friendly bike culture with things like an on-site repair shop, bike friendly shuttle buses, and 1,300 [bikes employees can ride around campus](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/04/google-bikes/).
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Twitter ------- While co-founder Jack Dorsey [Vines himself in shades](https://vine.co/v/bQQX5WXid51) at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge, a number of employees are repping the company while riding across said bridge each day. In fact, about 10 percent of Twitter employees are avid cyclists (or at least subscribe to its internal cycling mailing list). Twitter’s kit was created by two of its employees: Dave Bedingfield designed it, and Galen Pewtherer championed it. The rest of Twitter’s design team helped bring it to life. The kits are made by Voler in Grover Beach, CA. Honestly, we were surprised Twitter's kit wasn't entirely robin's egg blue; the Twitter branding is subtle enough that from a distance, you may not even recognize it as belonging to Twitter. Come on Twitter, more hashtags!
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Wired ----- Many are surprised to know that a number of Wired employees are avid cyclists. Some race in area road, cyclocross, and mountain bike races, while others are ex-racers. We profiled some of the [different types of office commuters](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/05/bike2work/) for Bike to Work week this week. Wired's 2013 kit, designed by former art director Bradley Hughes, is made by Boulder-based Panache Cyclewear. Unlike past kit that is primarily black, white, and "Wired Orange," this year's kit is primarily gray, with green, white and orange detailing. My favorite feature: The Wired cycling mantra, #nottired, stamped on the bib above the derriere (see, Twitter? Hashtags).
