Seems like it would help keep the shorts from getting stinky.

Edit: i have learned a lot about friction here. Thanks!

  • Shimitar@downonthestreet.eu
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    2 days ago

    Why would be a problem for “general” hygiene? You wash your bibs every time you use them, it’s like your underwear, really. And while the TOP part of the bibs are made of Lycra or whatever other tissue, the underpart is the padded part, which has a different feeling on the skin anyway. And you wear them for a few hours at most, clearly not for entire days (well, now, those times you go for 180 or 220km… but that’s another story), so not a big deal, again. Blisters are a much serious issue, trust me.

    Also, please, you are going to sweat and drench yourself, stink and be covered in dirt or sooth or smog or whatever. Maybe also catch a rainstorm, then sun. You going to need a shower and clean clothes as soon as you are over anyway. Trust me, underwear is something just not meaningful there.

    Ask other athletes. Do 100m runners wear underwear? Do pole jumpers? No they don’t. And, do swimmers? No they dont, and swimming suits are the same fabric as bicycle bibs.

    For women, you know, they need to wear lampoons, absorbers, or however they are called in English sometimes, and my understanding is that in those conditions, underwear is desirable. Again, i know girls who ride with and without.

    It is subjective, but indeed more common NOT to wear them.

      • RBWells@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        I think he is saying if you wear an outside pad, not a tampon, you need something to stick it to that won’t be moving around.

        I commute on an electric bike, in my work clothes, and seriously hope to never take a ride so long that I need gear. 6 miles or so is my limit.

        • sem@piefed.blahaj.zoneOP
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          1 day ago

          I know that the padded bike shorts are supposed to be form fitting and minimize friction, but I have no personal experience about whether a menstrual pad would move less with or without wearing underwear under the bike shorts.

          But if the extra underwear is for reasons of higyene instead, I am not sure why more men wouldn’t do it too. It sounds like the rich person answer is to just not worry about it and buy new shorts whenever your wear out from direct contact with skin.

          I feel you on the bike commuting. Even when i was commuting short distances, I’d get to work way too sweaty. I’ve started riding an electric scooter to work instead, and now I’m not sweaty at all.

          I would wear padded bike shorts when I plan to be biking for half an hour or longer. Thats when i start having back problems without padding.

          It seems like people don’t typically wear underwear under them so I’ll have to look for tips to cut the skink. I already have some special soap for technical fabrics from amazon but it doesn’t do much.

          • communism@lemmy.ml
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            15 hours ago

            Do you have a vagina? They have discharge. I’ve never had a penis before but they seem drier. If you have a vagina then by the end of the day you’ll likely have visible discharge stains on your underwear, so maybe women bike riders would prefer the underwear, idk. (I cycle but don’t wear bike shorts so idk about that.)

            • sem@piefed.blahaj.zoneOP
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              4 hours ago

              No vagina here. But i do have two holes that both sometimes have discharge. Sometimes visible. For complete disambiguation, this is the urethra and anus. It’s not like a lot, but it is unpredictable, and sometimes enough to leave a smell and sometimes be gross. Usually the anus.

              They wouldn’t stain the outside of the shorts but they very well might stain the inside.

              If women would prefer to wear underwear to protect their expensive bike shorts, I’m not sure why i wouldn’t either, except for the friction issue people mention.