Paul_P

I haven't figured out how I could ride padded cycling shorts without underwear and not get everything pinched, squashed and otherwise mutilated. Maybe bib shorts, which I haven't tried, with enough tension to keep things in place.

The trick is to use thin, tight underwear with the least amount of seams and maybe some vaseline in critical areas.

Koyote

Umm, no.

Seems like you need some shorts or bibs that fit properly.

70sSanO

I ride my road bike without underwear and my mountain bike with underwear in nylon unpadded cargo shorts.

Eliminating seams seems to be the key.

John

Paul_P

I have three different pairs of cycling padded shorts (best pair 100$ Louis Garneau) and what they all lack is some sort of hammock to keep things in place, unless I'm pulling up on them, like a bib would. I find it odd that no one else seems to have a problem when I can't see how it can work. Once seated on the saddle things are ok, but if I stand up or get off the bike things start moving around.

Maybe I should have read the manual, if only there had been one.

Trakhak

Boomer digression:

Yes opening for Deep Purple? Funny how the fortunes of geriatric rock bands rise and fall.

On the other hand, some years before Mike Sinyard began Specialized by riding around on his bike to deliver Campy parts to local shops, I went to an open-air concert outside New York City where my friend Chris and I saw Yes opening for Humble Pie, followed by Mountain as the headliner.

Best memory: during the downtime after Humble Pie finished their show, while roadies were setting up Mountain's equipment, some guys were tossing a football around out on the field. One of them threw it onto the stage just as Leslie West wandered out onto it to take a look at the crowd. He picked up the football and threw it back. A beautiful long, high, arcing pass. The guy had quite an arm.

SoSmellyAir

My first padded bikewear was also a pair of LG shorts and like you I found that they did not work too well, in my case due to my beer belly. There is a reason why most people switch to bibs.

This is just wrong. The pad in padded bikewear is not there just for cushioning, but to maintain contact with the wearer, such that the sliding interface is between the shorts and the saddle rather than between the shorts and the wearer, which would cause chafing. Thus, adding another layer between the padded shorts and the wearer (i.e., underwear) would defeat the second purpose.

mackgoo

In reality it's not the saddle it's the fit.

PoorInRichfield

Yeah, I agree to a point. One of my favorite online bike fitters just did this video on the very topic. However, saddles come in all shapes and sizes and so do our butts, so it seems like a matter of luck sometimes if the saddle your bike came with actually fits your butt.

Wildwood 

Probably demographic variations from the MultiVerse of Universal unReality
I never called anyone lazy. Different lifestyle choices (in my demographic) can totally resolve (within reason given age brackets) many physical issues every human will face. Americans should heed the need, Congress will continue to raise the retirement age for 'working adults'.

Getting practical, if the USofA could reduce Type2 diabetes by half without medications (or impact obesity), How would that affect the Nation? Watched Canadian television lately? Simple, straight-forward ads for healthy living, not Pharma sponsored, are broadcast regularly. Get active or get sore and sedentary. Cycling isn't for everyone, but some exercise regularly and some dietary restraint should be.


Every physical sport has a learning curve. In cycling, the saddle is clearly an obstacle on the curve, possibly followed by the fear of crashing/getting hit by a cager. My young son, after being 'hit by the pitcher' enough times because he was a homerun hitter - won't touch a glove or baseball at 34, nearly 2 decades later.

Koyote

I, too, have never heard anyone else express this problem -- which means that it is likely a problem of your own making.

If you find that things do not, ahem, stay in place, then I suspect that your shorts are simply too large -- probably way too large. They should be snug enough that it is a bit (not much, but a bit) difficult to pull them on; they should feel rather tight, and your nasty bits should be snugly held in place. I do prefer bibs, but even properly-fitting shorts of decent quality will not give the problems you are experiencing.

Polaris OBark

She managed to pull it off (so to speak) without me seeing anything.

rsbob 

Had a very knowledgeable female help me with a broken off presta stem and then helped my wife find the perfect rain jacket. REI usually has one as well.

I own 3 pair of Endura cycling shots that have a notch cut out of the chamois in an anatomically advantageous place to keep Mr. Johnson in place. Wonderful shorts.

Polaris OBark

Do your balls hang low?
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie 'em in a knot?
Can you tie 'em in a bow?
Can you throw 'em over your shoulder
Like a continental soldier
Do your balls hang low?

mstateglfr 

Everyone is free to participate in the hobby in whatever way they see fit... It that doesn't mean people can't also do it incorrectly.
Seems like that shiukd be an oxymoron, yet here you are as livinf proof that you can cycle however you want yet also do it wrong.

Wild.

RCMoeur 

At least we can now argue over a good variety of saddles.

(pulls up rocking chair)

As I recall, when I started riding 40+ years ago there were far fewer options. There were of course the Dead Cow Saddles which once broken in could be comfortable for those of faith. There were the hard plastic with a thin pad 'hiney hatchets' shipped on millions of bikes, including my first "good" road bike. There were the racing saddles like the Concor which were hard plastic with thin pad, but shaped differently. There were double-sprung mattress saddles, but blocky and shaped like a dark-colored cake slice. There were the padded Mesinger & Persons saddles, which seemed cushy but had an unyielding steel pan. And if you knew where to look, there were flexible plastic saddles like the Unicanitor. I know I'm leaving out others, but this should cover most of what was out there then. I wasn't happy with any of them except the Unicanitor, and even that relationship wasn't always perfect.

I remember getting a lot of unsolicited advice on saddles about that time as well. I noticed the racers would follow many fads that they thought would be more competitive (cough PMP cranks cough), and that included saddles. Club riders also told me what they thought I oughta ride, but a lot of that seemed like it was just using what they settled on or finding something that could be endured instead of enjoyed.

These days, there are hundreds of different designs, plus the old stalwarts. I remember discovering the Serfas comfort saddle in the early 90s and thinking if I had that a decade plus earlier I would never have bought my recumbent. Now the problem is finding the right one amid all the options. My personal choice (double-sprung with padding) is different from what many of you would choose, but my old butt seems happy with it from 5 miles to 100+ miles. But I won't say anyone is wrong for not liking something different.

zandoval 

Yes... The fit and range is broad, but still I cant afford them. Think I'll just wait for the ChiCom knockoff. Yep... Ill admit it...

I agree...

zandoval 

In many ways its pretty simple. Maybe we just need ta get our arses outta the saddle to begin with.

Compared to how I rode 50 years ago, I have to admit that I personally spend way to much time in the saddle!

Trakhak

Also, cheaper shorts usually use thinner, stretchier Lycra. They offer little support even when brand new and eventually lose shape, making the problem worse. Heavy-weight Lycra shorts give better support and maintain that support longer.

Fredo76 

Some pros used to relieve severe saddle sores by riding with a raw steak in their shorts. This was told to me in all seriousness by a former British pro named Wally Summers. He was a bit of joker, but I believed him.

Leisesturm

I don't know, how this thread has gone on this long without anyone observing the fact that someone who has never ridden wouldn't know how uncomfortable a saddle can be. It took 16 posts before anyone mentioned cars and the thread quickly returned to thrashing about the saddle thing. There are enough 'comfort' saddles on the market that look enough like the saddles on Harley Davidson cruiser motorcycles that I DOUBT that it's the thought (no actual experience, remember) that a bicycle saddle might be 'uncomfortable' that is keeping folks off bikes.

Hell, even those of us that do ride. How many of you actually do it every day? If you can't car top that sweet Salsa Stormchaser to Schollz's Slough to do your weekly loop, it isn't happening. Riding, for the majority of cyclists. The large majority of cyclists, must, take place where cars are not present. Period. End of story. Before you ever swung a leg over, you knew that cars could maim and kill you and, and, no way were you going to put you and/or your sweet Salsa Stormchaser in harms way that way.

I know very few people that ride. I know hundreds, literally hundreds (I work for a church) that do not, and will never, ride a bicycle. None have ever said that it was the perception of bicycle saddles being uncomfortable that keep them away from the sport. Many, many, have observed the dangers inherent, and how they wish I could get around some other way. Some even admit to praying for my continued safety on the roads.

Not exactly sure what the point of all this really is, but I've been around bikes long enough to know that the main problem with saddles is that they (and the bike) are not adjusted (fit) properly enough to afford what comfort is possible. I put it that way: 'what comfort is possible', because, it really does seem sometimes like people expect to be as comfortable on a bike as on the recliner in the living room. That is not presently, and ever likely to be, possible.

genejockey 

I don't know about shorts, because I started wearing bibs 20 years ago. But I can tell you that the problem of keeping the external genitalia up and out of the way was a continuing problem that gets worse with age. I tried several mid-range bib models, and the ones that worked best were Louis Garneau FitSensor 2s. When the introduced the FitSensor 3s, they weren't as good. But I still had to adjust my junk several times over the course of a ride, and as you mention, standing up would allow things to fall out of place. As far as I knew, that was how all bibs and shorts worked - mostly effective but still requiring frequent adjustment.

I can't remember how, but I ended up on LeCol's mailing list. They had a sale on their top-of-the-line Hors Categorie bibs, normally $220, for $110. Since this was the same as the LGs I was about to buy, I figured I'd try them. I bought 2 pair. Oh. My. God. What a difference! They fit snuggly, as all new bibs should, but they held everything in place! Between the pad and the cut of the bibs, they just worked. Once everything was in place, I could ride 4 or more hours without repeated adjustment. It was a revelation. So I abandoned my LGs and bought a bunch more LeCols, mainly the Sport line, which aren't QUITE as good but are still WAY better than the LGs.

The other thing is, I use chamois cream on every ride. You don't want the bibs moving around on your anatomy, and chamois cream helps with that interface.

I realize that dropping a lot of coin on high quality shorts or bibs is quite an investment, especially if you're still early in the development of your cycling. I ride a lot, up to 160 miles a week in the summer, which translates to 8-10 hours in the saddle, so it's easy to justify the expense. So, it's a quandary - how much to spend? And I realize that the LeCols that fit me great might not work for you. But I guess the point I'm trying to make is that the saddle/shorts/body interface in cycling is SO important that it can be worth the money.

rsbob 

Always thought that a part of cycling was dealing with/enduring discomfort. (Macho element?) Am not talking about abject pain, but not totally free from issues. This doesn’t just have to do necessarily with the saddle, but shoulders, or back or a knee or something. Most of MY cycling is distance oriented where body parts are in the same position (mostly) for prolonged periods of time. For short rides or commuting or errands, this is not an issue. I envy those that can bang out a century without developing an ache or a pain.

I have used this discomfort mantra later in life to deal with other pains that creep up. I know I have dealt with it before for hours on end, and can do it again.

wheelreason

Good show, both bands sounded good. I hope I have that much energy and dexterity when in my 70s (which I'm quickly approaching).

Koyote

I'm in my 60s, and I have no idea what you are talking about. My "external genitalia" may not always perform as they did 30 years ago, but the size, shape, and comfort in decent cycling apparel has not changed a bit. (If yours has changed that significantly, you should probably consult a physician.)

Trakhak

At 72, I can report the same experience with old-man testicular drooping as genejockey.

Result of a delicately worded search:

Yes, testicles naturally sag and lower as men age, and this is usually a normal part of the aging process:

Skin elasticity: As men age, their skin becomes less elastic, which can cause the skin that covers the testicles to sag. Scrotum muscles: The muscles in the scrotum that control temperature don't work as well as they used to, so the scrotum stays more relaxed. Testicular size: Testicular size decreases with age, with testicular length decreasing by 78% and testicular volume decreasing by 37% in men over 60. Testosterone levels: Testosterone levels decline with age. Sperm quality and production: Sperm quality and production change with age. Fertility: Fertility declines with age, but it doesn't necessarily stop completely.