48 BICYCLING.COM • ISSUE 5 Photography byTREVOR RAAB
DAMASQUE
EQUINOX $150
Emblematic of Primal’s
recent push into quieter
designs, the pattern
on this high-end aero
jersey was created by
production artist Adrian
Balsara. The intricate
pattern was inspired by
ornamental tattoos and
the elaborate patterns of
Victorian-era wallpaper.
Balsara drew the design
on an iPad with an Apple
Pencil and refined it
using Adobe Illustrator.
Tim Baker, Primal’s chief
marketing officer, says
their 50-person design
team produces more than
10,000 different designs
each year for branded and
custom apparel. farcical T-shirts, including The Longest Ride,
illustrated with a skeleton riding a mountain bike.
A few months later, retail giant Performance came
calling and asked the duo if they’d put the designs
on jerseys. Before long, they were in catalog pages
and on metric centuries.
Cycling purists could and would make a million
jokes with Primal punchlines; the topic fueled a
double-digit number of sulphurous Bike Snob col-
umns. But the shameless designs on the company’s
jerseys found a devoted following because they were
goofy and unafraid to be loud, and unlike Nickel-
back, consistently imaginative. Who else has built
a business selling dozens of jerseys with Bohemian
frogs on them?
While the company is not historically known
for technical innovation, the quality has always
been there. I got my first Primal jersey a decade
ago at a century in Arkansas. I still have it and still
wear it. There’s nothing groundbreaking about the
textiles or construction, but it has turned out to be
an extremely functional piece: The full-length YKK
zipper is burly, the pockets have never sagged, and
the fit is moderately refined, perfect for nonracers
who do long rambles and charity rides.
Not surprisingly, the brand’s success in the
charity-ride space is more than circumstantial. For
years, Primal has designed scores of kits for Bike
MS, the Tour de Cure, and American Cancer Society
Bikeathons. And the company’s role with these non-
profits goes deeper than sublimation: Primal quietly
donates more than $1 million a year in product,
services, and cash to these and other causes.
Lately, Primal has been trying to evolve to target
a higher-end demographic. The company now spon-
sors the Primal-Audi Denver elite amateur racing
team and sells $150 aero jerseys (look to the left)
that could accurately be called understated.
But I am relieved to report that sorting jerseys
on Primal’s website to highlight best-sellers ref lects
that cyclists are still paying money to adorn them-
selves with ravenous cartoon dogs, Pink Floyd
album covers, and numerous interpretations of the
human rib cage. In short, the essence of the IDGAF
self-expression. While a big chunk of cycling culture
spent decades obsessing over The Rules—the idea,
put forth by the Velominati, a self-appointed arbiter
of cycling dos and don’ts, that bike style could be
codified and judged—Primal always understood
that the right way to look like a proper cyclist is to
wear whatever the hell you want.