Advantages of cycling pants / shorts vs street cloths?

On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 14:13:41 -0500, jj wrote:



What is a solid decade? Ten years of riding?

I think he means a 10 mile ride;-)

The cycling shorts have a couple functions. If they are fairly tight, they
act to slightly compress your thigh muscles and (arguably) allows them
something to work against. It feels good to wear them if they're tight (but
not tight in the groin or anything).

Second they cut down on wind resistance relative to baggy shorts which can
act as a mini-parachute when wind blows up inside them.

Third they can dry quickly, wick moisture, though I do sweat a lot and mine
are never wet.

Last they do have some padding to cushion the bottom. This padding is only
really helpful on rides over 25 miles or over two hours in the saddle. For
some people the chamois is lightly greased where the bones contact them and
this can help prevent friction saddle sores.

I don't think there is necessarilly a distance or time requirement for
the padding. I do a lot of 20 mile rides, where I am glad I am wearing
cycling shorts. As you say YMMV.

When I was only getting 100 miles per week I rode without padded shorts and
had no problems, so ymmv.

jj


Life is Good!
Jeff

Ken Marcet wrote:
Okay I just did my first really solid decade on my rehabed ride with
the new
saddle.
The saddle seems fine, adjusted well, stem height handlebar
positioned well.
For longer rides, what is the advantage of cycle wear?
From what I have read, it seems to me that mostly the purpose is to
wick
moisture away from your body.
Is this correct? What other advantages would they serve?
I have seen some with "padding" in them, is this for extra cushioning
of the
sit bones?

The main advantage of bike shorts is giving you a smooth surface to sit
on. No wrinkles, no thick seams, no rough edges to chafe your skin.

They do this by being tight enough to prevent wrinkles and by having a
thick enough pad that it can't fold and crease under you.

Moisture wicking is secondary. Padding for extra cusioning is
secondary (otherwise you could just add it to the saddle).

"Ken Marcet" wrote in message
...
Okay I just did my first really solid decade on my rehabed ride with the
new
saddle.
The saddle seems fine, adjusted well, stem height handlebar positioned
well.
For longer rides, what is the advantage of cycle wear?
From what I have read, it seems to me that mostly the purpose is to wick
moisture away from your body.
Is this correct? What other advantages would they serve?
I have seen some with "padding" in them, is this for extra cushioning of
the
sit bones?

Ken
--

I never get on my bike without wearing a pair of Lycra padded cycle shorts -
albeit underneath a pair of RonHill Bikesters. Lycra has the relevant
stretch to give the necessary movement of clothes without chafing the
delicate regions of the anatomy. I'm a middle-aged, overweight woman and I
can ride my bike all day in comfort due to the combination of correctly
fitting saddle and Lycra padded cycle shorts. Going "commando" beneath the
shorts is recommended. The benefits of padded cycle shorts cannot be
overrated in my opinion.

Cheers, helen s

On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 13:25:24 -0500, "Ken Marcet"
wrote:

Okay I just did my first really solid decade on my rehabed ride with the new
saddle.
The saddle seems fine, adjusted well, stem height handlebar positioned well.
For longer rides, what is the advantage of cycle wear?
From what I have read, it seems to me that mostly the purpose is to wick
moisture away from your body.
Is this correct? What other advantages would they serve?
I have seen some with "padding" in them, is this for extra cushioning of the
sit bones?

Ken

I would humbly suggest that the main purpose of cycling shorts is to
prevent chafing. Just imagine wearing regular cotton shorts, working
up a good sweat, and feeling that wet cotton sliding on your leg with
every pedal stroke for a hundred miles. My legs develop a rash just
thinking about it!

Lycra clings tightly to your legs so it can't slide and chafe.

I agree with the other posters not wearing underwear.

I am also among those who get sore nipples on long rides. For me, this
happens with polyester jerseys, too. I find that a couple small
band-aids(tm) applied before a ride work very well for this.

Larry

On 13 Mar 2005 19:31:42 -0800, wrote:

The main advantage of bike shorts is giving you a smooth surface to sit
on. No wrinkles, no thick seams, no rough edges to chafe your skin.

Absolutely - hence the importance of not wearing underwear underneath.

There are plenty of collateral benefits, but that is the main one.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

Ray wrote:
LOL! Are you being serious?

I've had runner's nipple -- back when I was a runner -- and it's pretty
serious. The shirt bounces around with the running motion, abrading the
nipple clean off and causing bleeding and discomfort.

Cycling clothing: For short rides (under 10 miles or so), I usually
wear street clothes, although I might have bike shorts underneath to
prevent chafing.

RFM
http://www.masoner.net/bike/index.php4

Fritz M. wrote:

Ray wrote:
LOL! Are you being serious?

I've had runner's nipple -- back when I was a runner -- and it's pretty
serious. The shirt bounces around with the running motion, abrading the
nipple clean off and causing bleeding and discomfort.

Aagh! Bleeding!?
I can remember getting a painful case of "runner's nipple" once when I was
young, not from running but from playing in the water on a rubber
inner tube, and there was nothing obviously wrong visually. I can't
imagine how it would feel if it got so bad as to result in bleeding!

Cycling clothing: For short rides (under 10 miles or so), I usually
wear street clothes, although I might have bike shorts underneath to
prevent chafing.

I often won't bother with cycling shorts at all for rides of this length,
such as my 13 km commute, which I'll happily do in jeans or whatever else
I'm wearing (I don't have padded saddles, so that might help prevent
chafing, I don't know). Rides much longer always will have me in cycling
shorts, though.

--
Benjamin Lewis

A small, but vocal, contingent even argues that tin is superior, but they
are held by most to be the lunatic fringe of Foil Deflector Beanie science.

"Fritz M" wrote in message
ups.com...
Ray wrote:
LOL! Are you being serious?

I've had runner's nipple -- back when I was a runner -- and it's pretty
serious. The shirt bounces around with the running motion, abrading the
nipple clean off and causing bleeding and discomfort.

OUCH! I used to run, but I never had that problem!


Cycling clothing: For short rides (under 10 miles or so), I usually
wear street clothes, although I might have bike shorts underneath to
prevent chafing.

RFM
http://www.masoner.net/bike/index.php4

"jj" wrote in message ...

Rather specious reply to a newbie just looking for some advice, don't you
think?

Newbie's don't know anything, they're a loss cause and irritate me.

I stay away from them.

In article ,
Little Meow wrote:

Fabrizio Mazzoleni wrote:


"jj" wrote in message
...

Rather specious reply to a newbie just looking for some advice, don't
you think?

Newbie's don't know anything, they're a loss cause and irritate me.

I stay away from them.

If you won't teach them, they end up like this:
http://www.bigbangcirkus.com/bike/bike-seussa.jpg

A sight like that makes a compelling case for a bicyclic version of the
doctrine of double predestination.

And I am by no means a Calvinist,
--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.wiredcola.com
Verus de parvis; verus de magnis.