# Is there any "down side" to wearing padded shorts? Or even..multiple pairs of them?



## divisionibanez

*Is there any "down side" to wearing padded shorts? Or even..multiple pairs of them?*

Last time I rode, I worse 3 pair of padded shorts to try to stave off the pain of sitting on a seat for so long. I'm overweight, and I guess my torso just slams down on the saddle. I also have somewhat bad wrists, so adjusting the saddle to take weight off my butt and onto my arms is not good. But other than being very lacking in the AIR FLOW department, is there a downside to the strategy? Any saddles that are made for heavy guys?


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## Oxtox

the most likely reasons your butt hurts are because you don't have the correct saddle for your anatomy, don't have a proper bike fit, and/or don't ride very often. gonna guess it's all 3...

keeping your nads soaking in sweat by using multiple pairs of shorts kinda defeats the whole concept of the pad 'wicking' moisture away to prevent chafing.

trying to create a 'mattress' under your ass with all those layers isn't going to help anything...


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## divisionibanez

Oxtox said:


> the most likely reasons your butt hurts are because you don't have the correct saddle for your anatomy, don't have a proper bike fit, and/or don't ride very often. gonna guess it's all 3...
> 
> keeping your nads soaking in sweat by using multiple pairs of shorts kinda defeats the whole concept of the pad 'wicking' moisture away to prevent chafing.
> 
> trying to create a 'mattress' under your ass with all those layers isn't going to help anything...



:lol::lol: I think #1 and 3 are the most likely. I've always had good local bike store staff fit me for my bikes, but thanks for the opinion!


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## indianajo

Depends how hard you sweat. I don't sweat much below the waist, mostly on top of my head and armpits. So more shorts padding shouldnt be a problem. Other people sweat a lot, everywhere. 
After years of seeing nothing but splinters for seats for sale, I'm beginning to see real sit on seats (8-10" wide) in the accessory dept of the local grocery/discount center. NOT at the bike shop. They are still obsessed with riding around with your back level and your neck bent back 90 deg. 
The most comfortable seat I ever rode was about 8" wide, on my Mother's 1945 Firestone bike. The posture was back vertical, handlebars bent back over the thighs. That was before foam was invented even, the padding was felt or something. Heavy, slow acceleration bike, suitable only for flat Houston terrain, but was a comfortable ride, on my rather thick gluteal muscles. 
The "cruiser" posture is coming back. I certainly am trying to achieve that, even leaning forwards 50 deg on my MTB makes my hands go to sleep after 30 minutes. Even using pool floats tubes as handgrips. I like the 18 or 21 gears of a MTB, though, on the hills here in Clark/Floyd county IN. Ordered a longer stem last week to try to get my hands up higher on the MTB. That will fit some turned back handlebars (1" middle) I salvaged years ago from an old 3 spd schwinn. Cuts my speed to 9 mph average and 6 in a 25 mph headwind, but at least I'm not going to pop my neck disk like my Mother did with stupidly flexed posture (at work). 
To keep my gluteals from melting any more (I'm age 66) I'm doing 30 toe touches 4 or 5 times a week. I imagine the US Army daily dozen "lunger" exercise would be good for that, but my knees are too damaged to do that one anymore. 
Best of luck in the hobby. Read Dr Fuhrman about changing diet to drop excess weight without hunger - I dropped 45 lb in 7 years on a 2500 carb/day diet. Sub mono-unsat vegetable fat for meat fat, no deep fried anything, limit sugar to 5 g/ meal, no snacking, vegetables 3 x a day, is the short form of what I did.


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## Jay Strongbow

What makes the pad work is it being tight to your skin and not slipping and sliding around. Three pairs would definitely slip and slide around.

The better question is; is there an upside to wearing 3 pairs. You're done it so you can decide for yourself. I don't think you'll find anyone to share their experience with that.


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## harryman

#1 and #3 are for sure, it takes a while for your butt to get used to sitting on a bike saddle, even the right one. I go through it to a degree every season as I start doing longer rides in the spring.

Here's my breakdown: a ride under an hour, normal clothes are fine. One hour to 4-5, one pair of padded shorts. A long day on the bike and I'll wear two. Any reasonably long rides I use butt butter as well. I'm 54 and my butt doesn't have the same padding that it did when I was 30, doubling up on the shorts makes up for that.


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## bradkay

harryman said:


> #1 and #3 are for sure, it takes a while for your butt to get used to sitting on a bike saddle, even the right one. I go through it to a degree every season as I start doing longer rides in the spring.
> 
> Here's my breakdown: a ride under an hour, normal clothes are fine. One hour to 4-5, one pair of padded shorts. A long day on the bike and I'll wear two. Any reasonably long rides I use butt butter as well. I'm 54 and my butt doesn't have the same padding that it did when I was 30, doubling up on the shorts makes up for that.


You are using the wrong method to fix the problem. Jay has it correct, the best pad fits snugly in the right place. Using two pair of shorts means that the outer pad can slip out of position. Instead of using two pair at once, try buying another pair that has a better pad. I find that for longer rides I like the perforated pads that Endura has in the FS 260 Pro shorts. On shorter rides I will use shorts with a thinner pad.


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## harryman

bradkay said:


> You are using the wrong method to fix the problem. Jay has it correct, the best pad fits snugly in the right place. Using two pair of shorts means that the outer pad can slip out of position. Instead of using two pair at once, try buying another pair that has a better pad. I find that for longer rides I like the perforated pads that Endura has in the FS 260 Pro shorts. On shorter rides I will use shorts with a thinner pad.


I've been riding in padded shorts since the true Chamois days, and I have plenty of high quality shorts, it's not the shorts, it's me and my lack of fat and muscle on my sit bones. It's not chafing, it's not a bad seat, it's simple pressure. I don't have any issue with the second pad moving around at all, good shorts keep everything in place.

I have less of an issue on a mtb since you're up and moving around so much more. You do what works for you, and I'll do what works for me.


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## bradkay

If it works for you, but it is not good advice to give to someone else. I also have been riding since the days of wool shorts and real chamois, and know that some shorts have a better or thicker pad than others. I know that some folks don't like a thicker pad, but since you have been saying that you are wearing two pair of shorts to create a thicker pad it seems that you might be a candidate for ones with a high quality thick pad. Check out the ones I mentioned and you might find that you don't need to wear two pair.


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## ROAD&DIRT

What the heck.. two and even three pairs of shorts, my god man that's crazy and not to mention I would think uncomfortable :cryin:

You need to ride more, build up the endurance and trade-up to a good quality pair of shorts/Bibs. I have no fat on rear, in fact I'm really more on the slim side of things and have no issues wearing a single pair of bibs unless they a cheap in material and quality


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## D&MsDad

I've never heard of wearing multiple pairs of padded cycling shorts, so I can't help you there. As for downsides to wearing padded cycling shorts, the only one I've experienced is the perception by the non-cycling public that cyclists wearing cycling shorts are Lance-wannabees and are, therefore, sub-human.

As others have said, a sore butt is normal when you're starting out. Sometimes even pretty bad pain if you ramp up the miles quickly. It sounds like you already know the difference between sit-bone pain and chafing, so I won't get in to that. If wearing multiple pairs of shorts helps, go for it.

In general, adjusting the saddle position, bar position and/or stem length to take weight off your butt and transfer it to your hands is not a good idea. You're butt will adjust, eventually. Sorry there is not a better answer. If you're butt cannot adjust, you could consider a recumbent if you want to keep cycling. 


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## Migen21

As someone who had similar problems with seat pain when I first re-started riding a few years ago, I would suggest that more than one pair of shorts isn't really going to make much difference. One good pair at a time is all you need. Too much padding, either on your or on your seat, can cause bruising of the tissue around your sit bones (because you sink into it). A seat and your shorts should have minimal padding to be ideal. 

You do need to give your body (not just sit bones - arms, hands, neck, shoulders, back, knees, etc..) a chance to get used to the cycling position, and the different stresses it puts on your anatomy.

I would suggest riding as frequently as possible, but limit your time/distance to whatever is comfortable. Once the discomfort turns into pain, park the bike and come back to it later. Even if that means going for two or three 5 mile rides a day. The down time in between rides will give your body time to adjust and heal until the next ride session.

You will find over time your weight will go down, and ride times/distances will go up.


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## MisterMike

I guess I never really though of the chamois as a "pad" in the sense of providing true "padding". Every time I hear someone saying they want a "thicker pad" I think "hmmm. I bet it's something else at root" To me the best ones aren't necessarily thick but rather act more like a second skin. So, in some cases, thinner is actually better. I'm not saying that a well fitting chamois with strategically placed areas of varying density foam aren't a good thing. They are! I'm just saying more is not necessarily better. As the other pointed out bike fit and saddle width all should be addressed as primary. 

You say "I'm overweight" but don't really give us any details. That's fine, you don't have to, but it does let us be much more helpful sometimes. One place you might look for decent quality shorts is Cycling Apparel, Bike Shorts, Bike Jerseys by Aero Tech Designs. They have many quality levels of shorts from sizes S all the way up through 5XL. And those are "realistic American" sizes too.


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## Jay Strongbow

harryman said:


> I've been riding in padded shorts since the true Chamois days, and I have plenty of high quality shorts, it's not the shorts, *it's me and my lack of fat and muscle on my sit bones.* It's not chafing, it's not a bad seat, it's simple pressure. I don't have any issue with the second pad moving around at all, good shorts keep everything in place.


Hey whatever works for you. But if lack of arse fat and muscle was a good reason to wear two pair we'd see guys in the TDF with like 4 pair. Does Froome even have an arse?
There's definitely something other than simple pressure going on with you I would have to guess.


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## Oxtox

Jay Strongbow said:


> But if lack of arse fat and muscle was a good reason to wear two pair we'd see guys in the TDF with like 4 pair. Does Froome even have an arse? There's definitely something other than simple pressure going on with you I would have to guess.


agree...

Froome's ass is Kardashian compared to mine, my carbon saddle is a brick, and my shorts have relatively thin pads...no butt-hurt issues ever.

wonder if people wear 3 pairs of gloves for hand pain...?


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## duriel

Oxtox said:


> agree...
> 
> Froome's ass is Kardashian compared to mine, my carbon saddle is a brick, and my shorts have relatively thin pads...no butt-hurt issues ever.
> 
> wonder if people wear 3 pairs of gloves for hand pain...?


And how much do u weigh?


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## Lombard

divisionibanez said:


> Last time I rode, I worse 3 pair of padded shorts to try to stave off the pain of sitting on a seat for so long.


Only in America, if a little is good, too much is better.  

As others have said, multiple chamois are a bad idea and will achieve nothing in return. Sore sit bones are a rite of passage for infrequent riders. As you ride more, that will become less and less. Types of pain to be alarmed by are saddle rashes and numbness. Your best bet is ONE (1) good quality pair of bike shorts with a good quality chamois - preferably a chamois that is stitched in the front and back only, not the sides. This will allow the chamois to stay in one place with your skin when the shorts move around.


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## David Loving

Not for me. Padded Shorts are OK. Butt issues are all in the saddle.


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## 9W9W

I am sick and tired of having my posts moderated out of existence. Neither their content nor my rating deserve this kind of treatment. 

IIRC, I told the guy it's not his shorts but his fit. 

This is not the first time this has happened.

This is bullcrap.


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## Lombard

9W9W said:


> I am sick and tired of having my posts moderated out of existence. Neither their content nor my rating deserve this kind of treatment.
> 
> IIRC, I told the guy it's not his shorts but his fit.
> 
> This is not the first time this has happened.
> 
> This is bullcrap.


Wow. Don't know what happened here. I didn't find anything you posted to be offensive. I've seen way worse things on here that were ignored by moderators.


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## ROAD&DIRT

Try riding for a couple hours with padded shorts and with out padded short, then came back to post your thoughts


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## TDFbound

I can't imagine hopping on my bike wearing close to $600 of shorts/bibs.


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