To the comment that cyclists used to race in "ratty shorts and t-shirts"...bicycle racer from the 80s-90s here. We tended to have solid bikes, steel or aluminum, that we could maintain ourselves with two pairs of wheels--one for racing and one for training. We wore cycling shorts and jerseys. Not ratty shorts and t-shirts. I can't remember a single actual racer in non-cycling shorts. We used 2nd-tier components because the top tier was too expensive unless you had a sponsorship. Even then there were rich guys who had the nice stuff but today it happens at a whole other level.