What do you wear downstairs?

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Typhon

Senior Member
Location
Worcestershire
I had the same problem so I decided to invest in a pair of cycling shorts. This has helped but hasn't solved the problem entirely though as the padding doesn't seem to reach far back enough! My gentleman's bits and undercarriage are well protected but the padding does not reach far back enough to protect all of my backside, just part of it, which leads me to be quite sore whilst on the bike.

I bought another pair of shorts but I have the same problem. I have tried pulling them up/back as much as possible but it still doesn't help. There is more padding than is needed at the front so I think the problem must boil down to either the shape of my body or the way I'm sitting on the bike. I can't imagine that the shorts are supposed to work in this way?

Can anyone give me some advice on how to solve this problem? :blush:
 

MacB

Lover of things that come in 3's
Well you clearly have an idea of the problem which is always a good start, so you need to look at the variables:-

saddle itself
saddle height
saddle setback - how far the saddle is behind an imaginary vertical line from the centre of the bottom bracket also know as saddle fore/aft position
saddle orientation, ie is it level, nose down, nose up and is it square down the bike centreline

You have three points of contact, hands, feet and bum and I find it easiest to envisage them as a variable triangle with the bottom bracket being the fixed point the others move around. Another thing to think about is how your body moves as you bend from the waist. If you stand sideways to a mirror and bend from the waist you'll see your bum moves backwards as a counterbalance.

This gives you an idea of how changing one contact point, in this case height of handlebars, will mean an effect on another contact point. In this case lowering the bars would mean you wanted to scoosh your bum further back and vice versa.

I'm afraid that after that it really is trial and error and, if you're not confident messing about with things then it's well worth spending a few quid on a proper fitting. But even that's not guaranteed as your needs and preferences can/will alter with fitness levels and weight gain/loss.
 

Typhon

Senior Member
Location
Worcestershire
Thanks for the reply Mac. I got this bike just last week and had a fitting for it, the saddle height feels right for me (my old bike hurt my knees as the saddle was too low I think). The saddle wasn't orientated or moved back or forwards for me though so I will take your advice and bring the bike into the house and adjust it as I stand adjacent to a full length mirror so I can see my contact points and try and adjust it so that the unpadded part of me is not making so much contact with the saddle.

I think part of it may be down to the fact that I am overweight - 14 1/2 stone at 6' 2" which is part of the reason I have taken up cycling. I am a classic male apple shape which means 99% of my excess fat is on my stomach and hips, I have a fair old paunch for my weight and that probably doesn't help the fit of the shorts as they were probably designed for someone slimmer than me in mind.

I think I may have to consider getting a new saddle or a gel cover for the existing one. I didn't want to do it at first because I wanted to get used to a proper road bike saddle but that is not what is important really, getting fit and losing weight is what matters and I'm not going to do that if every journey is painful as the bike will just end up in the shed. Which would be a crying shame as I'm really enjoying cycling.
 

Octet

Veteran
I had the same problem so I decided to invest in a pair of cycling shorts. This has helped but hasn't solved the problem entirely though as the padding doesn't seem to reach far back enough! My gentleman's bits and undercarriage are well protected but the padding does not reach far back enough to protect all of my backside, just part of it, which leads me to be quite sore whilst on the bike.

I bought another pair of shorts but I have the same problem. I have tried pulling them up/back as much as possible but it still doesn't help. There is more padding than is needed at the front so I think the problem must boil down to either the shape of my body or the way I'm sitting on the bike. I can't imagine that the shorts are supposed to work in this way?

Can anyone give me some advice on how to solve this problem? :blush:

In terms of cycling shorts, you could try getting some 'bib shorts' which look like normal cycling shorts but with dungarees on them. These are designed to pull the padding up to the correct position and should help you out in terms of placing them correctly.
Another thing you could try is getting shorts with more panels, this is how many layers of fabric there are. The more panels, the more layers and so the more smoothly it shall cling to the body and your shape.
This means that it should move as you do and act more like a second skin instead of a pair of tight shorts.
 

Typhon

Senior Member
Location
Worcestershire
In terms of cycling shorts, you could try getting some 'bib shorts' which look like normal cycling shorts but with dungarees on them. These are designed to pull the padding up to the correct position and should help you out in terms of placing them correctly.
Another thing you could try is getting shorts with more panels, this is how many layers of fabric there are. The more panels, the more layers and so the more smoothly it shall cling to the body and your shape.
This means that it should move as you do and act more like a second skin instead of a pair of tight shorts.

Thanks for the advice, I may have to look into bib shorts or perhaps a more expensive pair of shorts with those extra panels. I didn't want to spend too much on shorts as I am losing weight and they will probably not fit me in two months time but this is such a big problem for me I think I'm going to have to.

The second pair of shorts I got were these:
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._-Product_Details_Zone_1-_-Blank&iozone=PDPz1

They supposedly have 8 panels but they're no better than the £10 pair I bought before that to be honest. Could you recommend a better quality pair of shorts/bib shorts I should buy?

It's very difficult to know whether it's my body shape or just my position on the bike that's causing this problem, as you can see from that link they have only a photo of the shorts from the side. Sorry to be crude but when I stand up in the shorts, the padding goes from the top of my penis to about 1/3 of the way up my backside, just enough that it's visible when I stand with my back to the mirror and look over my shoulder. Is that correct? It feels like the padding is too far forward but perhaps I am just not sitting far forward enough on my bike.
 

Lyrical

fen x
Location
LANDAN
So much controversy in this thread...

Just a sane bit of logic and summary:
  • If wearing lyrca shorts, wear nothing under them
  • If you don't like to rock out like this then put a baggy pair of shorts over the top of them
  • Wash yo stinky ass shorts like you do your briefs, boxers, whatever.
  • If you decide to wear stuff under the lyrca, you're defeating the point.
Thanks for the advice, I may have to look into bib shorts or perhaps a more expensive pair of shorts with those extra panels. I didn't want to spend too much on shorts as I am losing weight and they will probably not fit me in two months time but this is such a big problem for me I think I'm going to have to.

The second pair of shorts I got were these:
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._-Product_Details_Zone_1-_-Blank&iozone=PDPz1

They supposedly have 8 panels but they're no better than the £10 pair I bought before that to be honest. Could you recommend a better quality pair of shorts/bib shorts I should buy?

It's very difficult to know whether it's my body shape or just my position on the bike that's causing this problem, as you can see from that link they have only a photo of the shorts from the side. Sorry to be crude but when I stand up in the shorts, the padding goes from the top of my penis to about 1/3 of the way up my backside, just enough that it's visible when I stand with my back to the mirror and look over my shoulder. Is that correct? It feels like the padding is too far forward but perhaps I am just not sitting far forward enough on my bike.

I bought 2 sets of those shorts, managed to split both of them in under a week. Decided to buy the DHB ones from Wiggle, only issue I've found is after 3 months they appear to of stretched a little at the back.
 

MacB

Lover of things that come in 3's
Thanks for the reply Mac. I got this bike just last week and had a fitting for it, the saddle height feels right for me (my old bike hurt my knees as the saddle was too low I think). The saddle wasn't orientated or moved back or forwards for me though so I will take your advice and bring the bike into the house and adjust it as I stand adjacent to a full length mirror so I can see my contact points and try and adjust it so that the unpadded part of me is not making so much contact with the saddle.

I think part of it may be down to the fact that I am overweight - 14 1/2 stone at 6' 2" which is part of the reason I have taken up cycling. I am a classic male apple shape which means 99% of my excess fat is on my stomach and hips, I have a fair old paunch for my weight and that probably doesn't help the fit of the shorts as they were probably designed for someone slimmer than me in mind.

I think I may have to consider getting a new saddle or a gel cover for the existing one. I didn't want to do it at first because I wanted to get used to a proper road bike saddle but that is not what is important really, getting fit and losing weight is what matters and I'm not going to do that if every journey is painful as the bike will just end up in the shed. Which would be a crying shame as I'm really enjoying cycling.

At 6'1" and 18 stone I have a fair idea of the additional pressures a bit of weight can apply:biggrin: things certainly ease up with loss of weight and increase in fitness. Like you I got knee pain, and lower back pain, from a too low saddle. Moving the saddle up made a big difference though I then suffered another kind of knee pain when I'd put it a bit too high and far back. This only materialised on my first long ride after I'd passed the 50 mile mark. I was lucky to be riding with some good folks on here who helped me sort it out. I'd try this and get someone to help you with the measurements:-

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=FIT_CALCULATOR_INTRO&INTRO_LINK=NOREDIR

This gives you a little table of 3 possible fits, I find a mix between the more relaxed two, Eddy and Frech, works best for me.

Saddle height I put a flat board on top of the saddle and measure from centre of bb to lower edge of the board, along the line of the seat tube. Remember that for any measurement that is going to be used to track a variable the accuracy isn't that important. Just make sure you measure the same way each time.

Saddle setback, I get one of the kids to hold the bike upright with the rear wheel against a door. Then I measure from the door to the nose of the saddle and then the door to the centre of the bottom bracket. The difference between the two is your setback, I'm good from about 65mm to 80mm as an upper/lower limit.

Bear in mind that as you raise a saddle it will naturally move backwards with the angle of the seat tube, and vice versa for lowering it.

Finally I'd sort out the saddle level, I use a spirit level and I prefer the saddle to be slightly nose up...very slight though. If you have a two bolt seatpost clamp this is easier than a single bolt, but still doable with either. Most fitters would start with a level saddle and work from there.

I'd do all of that before even thinking of the distance to the bars or the height of them. I made the mistake of trying to work bars back to saddle my first time and ended up spending money on some bits I didn't need once the saddle position was correctly adjusted.

Another very good point I picked up from the Sheldon Brown website is around comfort, distance and fitness. He points out that discomfort blamed on saddles or position on bike may just be the result of riding further than your current fitness levels are good for. As you tire you pedal less, so more weight is carried on the other two contact points and also your posture slumps. Try it at the start of a ride, pedal hard and see how much weight is on your bum and hands then coast a bit letting yourself slump and feel the difference....it's really noticeable.

Oh and keep a note of all your measurments, any changes you make and carry the correct allen keys with you to make finer tweaks on the fly. It sounds like more work than it is, I found the fit site linked above got me pretty close first time. I can cope with quite a variance in bar position for riding if my saddle is set right. This then allows me to assess where my hands keep wanting to go to tell me whether I need to alter the reach or height. I find I need some miles for this last bit rather than just relying on a static setup in the garage.
 

Lard Armstrong

Veteran
Location
Milton Keynes
Lose the underwear and swap it for a dollop of chamois cream.

Expensive stuff isn't needed - I made my own for under £10 per litre.

I am intrigued, how do you do that then ?
 

Licramite

Über Member
Location
wiltshire
M&Co Y fronts £8 for 3 under your lycra. dont ruck up and keep your lycra clean.
of course you could rub your bum with a lemon , but thats lemonentry my dear watson.
 

DCLane

Found in the Yorkshire hills ...
I am intrigued, how do you do that then ?

The recipe came from this thread http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/chafing-but-no-chamios-cream-available.82418/ and here - http://www.lagazzettadellabici.com/2011/01/home-made-chamois-cream.html but the page won't load.

Basically it's:

- 500 ml tub of own brand E45 cream
- small tub of Sudocrem
- tea tree oil - a few drops
- essential oils - a few drops

Mix in a big bowl and put back into the pots.

I've been using it all summer and, apart from being a bit runnier than Assos - since I put too much tea tree oil in - it's been great. Oh, and cost under £10 per litre.
 

Typhon

Senior Member
Location
Worcestershire
At 6'1" and 18 stone I have a fair idea of the additional pressures a bit of weight can apply:biggrin: things certainly ease up with loss of weight and increase in fitness. Like you I got knee pain, and lower back pain, from a too low saddle. Moving the saddle up made a big difference though I then suffered another kind of knee pain when I'd put it a bit too high and far back. This only materialised on my first long ride after I'd passed the 50 mile mark. I was lucky to be riding with some good folks on here who helped me sort it out. I'd try this and get someone to help you with the measurements:-

(Cut down the quote so I don't stretch the page too much and annoy everyone!).

Sorry for the late reply, thanks for the advice Mac. :smile:

Over the past few days I have been paying greater attention to how I cycle and how much pressure I was putting through the 3 points. I was surprised to discover that what I thought was an occasional bad habit(sitting bolt upright like on a mountain bike), I was actually doing about half the time and particularly on the downhill bits. As my route is hilly and my fitness is poor, I end up free-wheeling for about 30% of the journey and because of that bad habit I was ending up putting almost 100% of my weight on my bum for long periods of time.

Over the course of the week I have got out of that habit and now ride entirely on the hoods, or sometimes the drops. This was very painful on my shoulders at first as I am new to cycling and brand new to road cycling but eventually I am getting used to it. It has meant that the pressure going through my bum is a lot less. As you said, that website points out that if your fitness is poor you will slouch towards the end of a journey and pedal less which is what's happening to me. In just four weeks I have gone from complete couch potato to doing 20 mile trips so it's not a surprise really. If I was fitter I don't think I would have as much discomfort on the bike as I do.

As I have lost a bit more weight and I am sitting further forward the padding on the shorts seems to be better placed. Before about 4 or 5 inches of my bum was unprotected but now it's only 1 or 2 inches. I have adjusted the saddle (moving it forward and down a bit) which has also helped. I am going on holiday for a week on Friday and as I am losing weight fast and still getting used to the bike and road cycling in general I haven't used that measurement site yet, but I will when I get back as it looks excellent. :smile:

I will keep doing my 20 mile route daily and as my body gets more used to the bike and I get fitter and quicker I hope the discomfort will go away and then once I've got to a point where I can really enjoy cycling again I will start to branch out further. :biggrin:
 

Licramite

Über Member
Location
wiltshire
a good way of giving a bit of bum relief is - especially on down hill bits, stand on your pedals, you hold them horizontal and just lift your bum. just takes the weight off.
 
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