44 BICYCLING.COM • ISSUE 5F
HOW I LEARNED TO LOVE THE WORLD’S
LOUDEST JERSEYS. BY PETER FLAXI WAS
WRONG,
PRIMAL
IS THE
GREATEST
BRAND
EVER
For years, I was the furthest thing from
a big fan of Primal. I was the kind of
rider who wore kits with Italian panache,
aerodynamic fabrics, and Pantone-
informed color blocking. Primal, by
contrast, looked like the uniform of a
distant cycling tribe, the IDGAF charity rider. I
regarded the brand as the Nickelback of cycling
apparel—unimaginatively loud, unrefined, and
popular for the wrong reasons.
But over time, my views on cycling style (and bike
culture) shifted radically. I used to see the cycling
jersey as a high-performance fashion statement,
when in fact, like the bicycle, it’s something simpler
and more profound: a vehicle to make people happy.
Fortunately, my newfound wisdom is something
that Primal knew all along. While many competitors
chased color trends and marketed some version
of the same Euro restraint, the Colorado-based
company has outfitted riders eager to express
something personal—a love for the Dead, a home-
town IPA, or maybe the Houston Astros—without
shame or apology.
From the start, Primal was comically brash. Back
in 1992, at the now-defunct Interbike trade show,
current CEO and cofounder Dave Edwards and his
former partner booked a booth and displayed six