What do you look for in cycling gear?

Ah, maybe I've mis-sold this… we're not anti-lycra. It will be 'cycling gear', which means lycra, for sure… we're not trying to muscle in on Levis commuter jeans or anything. I guess we're just trying to get past the two camps, which seems to be one side being LYCRA! in capital letters (branded team gear, garish colours etc) and the other side being gear just made for cycling the few miles to work, but that isn't that great for serious cyclists.
We're trying to see if there's a middle ground. I've personally found a few awesome shirts that are technically retro team gear (like the old Molteni black shirts on Prendas, for instance…), so perfect for those big, 100-mile, weekend rides, but they also look ace with jeans or whatever.

Hope that makes sense…

Minas, what sort of colours, though? I mean, are you after the typical lairy team colour type things that are already out there, or do you just mean those 'urban' type styles people like Rapha do, but with a bit more colour in them?

Thank you

Thanks for your suggestions. All are ace, and infinitely less sarcastic than I was expecting. I think most of you are on the same wavelength as us, which is nice.

Just kinda surprised that nobody has one of those things where they go 'why the fuck do they not have xxxxxxx on jerseys?'

I guess that's why the design hasn't changed for the past 30 years!

Problem is most of the time there is too much stuff on jerseys, its like an LSD flashback when the MAMILs fly by. Personally I dont like the OTT branding, team names, garishness on my clothes. I go out of my way to find stuff with discrete design, I really dont want to go around like a billboard, and Im definitely not fast enough for it. That said I do occasionally go fluro for visibilities sake, but usually only when out for a decent ride. For the everyday a cheeky bit of reflective material you can reveal is plenty.

Some of the Solo stuff is nice. For example:

... and De Marchi makes for a good compromise:

Stop searching for that "looks just as good off the bike" supposed nirvana. And go easy on the branding.

The rest is detail :)

Good advice.

@MG83 , I assume you have perused the Stylish cycling kit threadconvesation. If you haven't, it may provide you with some ideas of what people are liking lycra-wise.

Thanks arrowplum, I haven't yet, but I will do now.

And thanks everyone else for the suggestions. Really liking the retro feel of that Solo stuff

everything black, that's about it