How to ride a bike wearing a suit

It's not difficult to ride a bike wearing a business suit. Many people do it all the time. In fact, it's pretty much common sense for anyone that rides a bike regularly in any atire. That said, suits are fragile and expensive. I was worried the first time I tried it so I thought I'd answer the question here for others who search for the same thing later.

• Roll up your pant legs (both of them). Some people use those little reflective ties to tie the ends. I find that those things work reasonably well but not perfect. If you can't afford to get grease on your suit, don't risk it. Rolling is a guarantee.

• Tuck your tie into your shirt. Just shove your tie between the buttons of your shirt. It will hold steady there and won't it flap around.

• Pack your suitcoat. I've found that suitcoats just aren't cut for the the whole crouched over biking posture. As a result, I've found its better (and cleaner) just to pack the coat. If it's cold, I'll wear a windbreaker on top and then swap it out when I arrive wherever I am going.

• Watch out for toeclips with polished shoes. If you use toeclips, those can scratch up the top of your polished shoes. Often, you can just turn the pedals upside-down and this will solve it. Sometimes this isn't possible because the clips then hit the ground or because you find them very useful. In these cases, bring a pair of shoes to swap, take a bike without toeclips, don't wear shoes will this will matter, or just be careful.

Of course, feel free to edit this page to add your own advice.

More Information

• There's some interesting discussion on riding your bike in the rain over on the talk page.
• The New York Times just ran an article on this very topic. Their answer seems to be, "buy a Dutch bike."