Cycling caps have been and continue to be an essential part of road cycling, but without a doubt, they also have important reasons to be used in other types of cycling. The good mountain bikes under 500 are suitable for all-style bikers.
Steeped in more than 100 years of cycling heritage, cycling caps are much more than an ornamental element with which you can identify with other cycling lovers. Worn with panache and pride on the heads of cyclists around the world, the cycling cap has become an icon in its own right.
What is a cycling cap for?
There are many arguments for wearing a cycling cap, but the practical reasons for wearing a cycling cap are: to prevent sweat from dripping into the eyes, also the rain, and the visor is a great head, face, and eye sunscreen.
However, there are many more reasons that explain what a cycling cap is for:
A great replacement for a sweatband (unlike a helmet, but will never replace it), the bike cap will prevent sweat from your scalp from dripping into your eyes, as well as preventing rain from entering them.
Parasol. The visor of the cycling cap is much more effective in blocking the sun low on the horizon than sunglasses. Its distinctive visor is long enough to protect your eyes from the elements but is ideally short to allow you to look at the road with your head tilted without interfering with the range of your vision.
If you are losing your hair, it can also prevent the sun from burning you through the vents in your helmet. And if you have a prominent nose, it will keep it as less tanned as possible, as will your entire face.
Chill. When it’s really hot, soaking a cycling cap in water is wonderful, as it keeps your head cool.
Heats up. The cycling cap prevents the wind from taking heat away from your head in cold weather.
They are also great so that your hair does not become unruly without a cause, whether with a helmet or without it. Well, they stop those ungainly ridges of hair if it’s still damp when you leave the house, or they prevent sweat from forming them. As well as preventing the padded linings of your helmet from trapping your hair.
Likewise, you can wear a cycling cap to distinguish yourself as a rider when off the bike.
Simply put, a cycling cap is a class statement. And as Mark Cavendish puts it, “A cycling cap is a sweat barrier, wind deflector, sunscreen and more, but I wear one, to honor the heritage of the sport and the riders of those early years which laid the foundation for the sport. Cycling to become what it is today.
History about the cycling cap
The history of cycling is full of extraordinary images, but only one character has remained constant through the years: the casquette (its name in French) or cycling cap.
First, it was the 8-panel tweed called “Harris,” which was replaced by the “Plana,” which is the predecessor of the “Ascot” type cap, but as tweed is not what we would call an ideal fabric for physical activity in hot climates and, the great Rounds begin in the spring, it mutated rapidly.
And according to the historian Scotford Lawrence, author of the book: “The Velocipede (Cycling History)” Paperback (2014), one of the first sightings of the cycling cap dates from 1895, the year in which a photograph shows a group of cyclists on his “High Wheelers” on the track in “Crystal Palace Park” in London, England (Crystal Palace Park), wearing a predecessor of what we now know as a cycling cap.
“Some of them wear the round schoolboy cap.” That cap that became the cycling cap was made of lightweight cotton fabric with a short, lightly padded peak or visor and a kind of inner band that traps the head at the forehead and neck to keep it snug. This tensioner was usually made from the reinforced upper part of a lady’s stocking.
Protection from the elements
From the early days of professional racing, the cycling cap appeared as a purely functional item so that the elements would not interfere with the feats that those cycling heroes pedaled. Thus, the steel riders began to wear white caps, flexible, smooth, and easy to store in any pocket, which eventually turned from white to gray, thanks to the dusty and rough roads on which cycling grew.
This inevitably leads me to think that in the beginning, there was something ironic about the cycling cap back then. Well, since the runners of the time were tough men, more like boxers, than the slender thoroughbreds of the last decades, the cycling cap was simply something delicate for the time.
In the photos from the period, it seems that those riders put the caps on their heads in disgust, as if forced by their mothers, to avoid the cold. They simply reinforce my theory that the riders of early cycling were tough guys, which were hardened by pedaling the rudimentary roads of their time.
That cycling cap dates back to the end of the 19th century. It quickly became a symbol, which seems ridiculous to the rest of the population, but which, even today, serves as a nod between cycling brothers.
When the helmet was for amateurs
In 1991, the UCI rules stated that helmets were optional for professionals but mandatory for amateurs. The immediate effect was that for any young fan who was forced to wear a helmet, the cycling cap became the symbol for achieving true professionalism within cycling. The rule remained until 2003 when helmets became mandatory for everyone and the cycling cap began to disappear under the cycling helmet.
Its shape has hardly changed over time, proving that it is a great piece of design, both aesthetically and functionally. It has subtly managed to be the perfect union between form and function and is an excellent example of why the former follows the latter and why they create beautiful things together.
Cycling caps today
Although the cycling cap has had its ups and downs, it is not a forgotten item in history. Today, the cycling cap is still as alive as from its beginnings, and not only as an accessory to shout in the distance that you are a cyclist in love with the bicycle, it is still functional and useful, and even with a helmet, still it has the purpose for which it was first created.
There’s more variety than ever, and they’re made with state-of-the-art materials to keep you cool, warm, and dry, or just to look amazing.
In terms of shape and style, modern summer and winter caps are not so different from those used by Coppi in the 1950s. That is a fabric that covers the head and helps maintain a stable climate for the rider and, a small visor that does not obstruct visibility.
Winter cycling caps
For winter, however, caps come in all sorts of shapes, as designers have struggled to create a style that fits the term ‘classic’ properly but still keeps most of the bare skin on your head covered.
Generally made with wool or thermal materials, this type of cap has been designed to conserve as much heat as possible but without sacrificing breathability; some conveniently feature designs that add a bit of extra protection at the back of the neck and spread out on the sides to cover the ears. There are also them with protection against the wind, which in mountainous areas is very convenient.
Cycling caps for summer
Cycling caps for summer are lightweight and simple in construction, but always thinking about protecting from the scorching sun. They are almost always one size fits all and often with a strap of elastic around the back that serves to ensure that they fit on all heads.
They are made with different materials but designed to allow perspiration, comfort, and sun protection, which is why the industry currently uses water-repellent materials against UV rays and offers a light layer against the wind.
Wearing the cycling cap has become an art in itself. All the pedal greats have had their style to carry it with panache, and the rest of us have gleefully imitated them.
It is a symbol that the entire cycling family wears as a dress code. Like a colorful cycling jersey, it sets us apart from the rest of the world.
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