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Shorts with minimal chamois

Hi,

Can anyone recommend me some Lycra shorts that have minimal padding for chaffing.

Massive gel pads don’t work for me as they push up into the perenium.

A saddle that fits and minimal cycling shorts yay.

Cheers.

 

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Fish_n_Chips | 5 years ago
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Thanks.

I can sit on my saddle naked without chaffing or pain sorry too much info.

When I wear thick padded Lycra shorts in an aero position, I feel uncomfortable.

Using thin layer chamois Tri-shorts I have the perfect fit.

I just wondered if anyone knew if any race like shorts with minimal padding.

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peted76 | 5 years ago
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Average sit bones width.  Flexible. But too tight in the nether regions.

Your sit bones are 'missing' the flat part... erm that's not clear, however it says to me that your saddle isn't in the right position or your fit is wrong. You should be comfortable sitting/riding on the wide part of your saddle, as it's difficult to see where you are sat, then on a normal saddle you should expect to see about an inch and a half of the nose of the saddle protruding.  

There's more to this however, consider your shorts.. some shorts are more 'pro' fitting which often means that they have the pad further forward (Rapha Pro bib shorts), where other shorts are more 'normal riding' fitting with the pad further back (Rapha Classic bib shorts).  I have very flexible hips, so the pads more forward suit me far better than a pad further back.. it just means that if I put a pair of shorts on which are 'normal' I'll position them further forward than they might usually sit.

Get some chamois cream to stop the 'chaffing'. I forgot to put some on and chaffed my willy the other month on a long ride..  not nice.

 

 

 

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theslowcyclistxx | 5 years ago
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Sounds like the saddle might not be the right for you, but if you actually want bibs with less chamois, tri bibs are the way to go as another commented. My personal preference is castelli in tri bibs, but if you want to go thin, then I can recommend newline, since I have a pair of tri bibs from them with extremely thin chamois.

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theslowcyclistxx | 5 years ago
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Sounds like the saddle might not be the right for you, but if you actually want bibs with less chamois, tri bibs are the way to go as another commented. My personal preference is castelli in tri bibs, but if you want to go thin, then I can recommend newline, since I have a pair of tri bibs from them with extremely thin chamois.

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Fish_n_Chips | 5 years ago
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Thanks for the advice everyone! yes

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Roadie_john | 5 years ago
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With saddle pressure, a lot depends on how you sit on the saddle. I’ve always sat a long way back on the saddle, and found the old flite shape by some way the most comfortable. I also have a long and low position so there’s a lot more weight on my arms. If you’re sitting forward on the saddle then you may be further onto the nose which would mean you’re putting your weight onto the narrower part of the saddle, and if your bars are high then there’s a bigger proportion of your weight on your backside.

These variables mean that saddles are incredibly personal, regardless of what sit bone measurements you might have, so all you can do is try different types.

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Fish_n_Chips | 5 years ago
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Hi,

I’ve been measured as having 133mm sitbones with good flexibility.

143mm saddles don’t work well for me and even with huge cutouts like the Selle Superflow.  My sitbones miss the saddle flats and I squash my perenium.

I’ve ordered a Pro Stealth 152mm but currently using a cheap Spesh Toupe 155mm without a problem. The 143mm hits my perenium.

When using my Tri minimalist shorts I’m fine.  Using a heavy gel pad short starts to push into the perenium.

Too much padding defeats the purpose for me as the sitbones can’t do their job.

I’m 6ft2, wide shoulders, wide hips, overweight by 8 kgs and riding a road bike 57cm top tube.

I don’t mind hard seats but need a little padding to stop heat from friction.  Running Lycra worked but friction occurs, hence the thin chamois from Tri lycra shorts are fine even for a few hours.

Maybe my rear has too much Inbuilt padding and needs to lipo/diet/ride more!

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Roadie_john | 5 years ago
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Tri suits or triathlon-specific shorts usually have thinner pads - they dry faster from the swim and don’t chafe on the run, so you could look around triathlon manufacturers and suppliers. 

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CXR94Di2 | 5 years ago
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Sounds like you need a cut out saddle or noseless saddle like Adamo.  Shorts only allow long sessions in the saddle.  A comfy saddle is first then padding

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Griff500 replied to CXR94Di2 | 5 years ago
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CXR94Di2 wrote:

Sounds like you need a cut out saddle or noseless saddle like Adamo.  Shorts only allow long sessions in the saddle.  A comfy saddle is first then padding

This!

You don't say what level of seat fitting you have undertaken, but I had a similar problem with the stock seat that came with a £2.5k bike, plus a couple of Fizik seats the bike shop loaned me. I was taking the weight on my perineum instead of my sit bones. It turns you that despite being very slim (5ft11 with 30 inch waist), I have wider than average sit bones. The result of this was my sit bones dropped off the sides of the seat.  A wide, rather than medium, seat, combined with perineal relief (Specialized Power Pro) solved my problem. 

 

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