Undergarments for comfort

I'm looking around the web for some shorts or something to wear underneath my protective gear during our (exceedingly brief) hot British summer, and I was thinking about extra padding, like the pedal-cyclists use, to make weekends away a but more comfortable.

Has anyone got any experience of good unders/shorts to use?


p.s. sorry if there is already a thread on this, but my searching suggested there wasn't

I like Ex Offico stuff - very cool and dry. I've got buns of steel so don't need extra padding

Exofficio makes some fine non-padded wicking undergarments. If found on sale (easily 50% off) they are very reasonable. For long trips you'd only need the two pair, easy to wash in the sink/shower and dry quickly. Moving away from cotton for these as they are very comfortable.

For padding some biking shorts could help. I use RockGardn MX shorts to add padding to hips and legs as well as the seat.

Like most clothing/footwear/gear, comfort is very subjective so YMMV a lot.

PS Guess I am a slow typist :)

Mouse:

I would just go to a specialist bicycle store, and get their recommendation. There are all kinds of good brands.

Or, you might be able to save some money by buying a generic brand at an outdoor gear co-operative that carries bicycle clothing.

They sure beat cotton shorts in hot weather.

Greetings,
The BEST undergarments for hot weather riding, bar none, come from http://www.ldcomfort.com/. Many, many Goldwing riders use them, and who should know better than those who probably put on the most miles in the saddle...

I have several sets, and while the buy-in is steep, would not travel without them.

ktm950se

ExOfficio Briefs under McDavid Freeride Protective Shorts


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You wont go far wrong with a pair of cycle shorts

http://www.awcycles.co.uk/category/cycle_clothing/Cycling_Shorts/Road_Shorts/252/p_1/index.aspx

covered many, many times here........ http://www.ldcomfort.com/ ......check vendors

I see a lot of threads on this and a lot of opinions - many of them very good and based on experience. But the thing I noticed was that I had to determine whether I wanted additional padding, or if I was more concerned with moisture wicking. I think that really depends on your, um, anatomy.
For me, I'm looking for padding, so I'm going to try some padded bike shorts from my bicycling days and see how that goes.
However, I did try the LDComfort shorts and thought they were nice. My dad swears by the LDComfort gear. But again, the moisture issue isn't what I was trying to address. If that's your goal then the LD products are well worth the money,

For me, it's more of a moisture issue. Moist skin is more easily irritated and chaffed. I've ridden with padded bicycle shorts (only two different brands, however) and find the padding holds too much moisture. Wicking underwear and plenty of powder works best for me. I've been too cheap to buy the gear from ldcomfort, though I may cave-in very soon.

What ive found with padded bicycle shorts is that the padding is really too low to be effective on my GS (YRMV) - a racing bicycle seat fits anatomically different than a GS seat (at least for me) and the padding just gets in the way. I have found shorts designed for off road biking (bicycle) are much better but not perfect. Some of the ones I have are a removable insert in a pair of baggy shorts - that way I can take off my moto pants and still walk around and not look like White Goodman in Dodgeball

I found that the nylon stuff doesn't work at all for me. The things that regular cotton underware absorbs still need to be absorbed by whatever you wear. If the wicking stuff (nylon at least) is worn all the funky stuff still gets absorbed but it's by your jeans/riding pants/whatever else you wear. Doesn't take long to get funky while camping or roughing it for a couple of days between showers. Just sayin. WHO STINKS! OOPS, it's me!

LD Shorts work the best for me. Good wicking and they have a fly!!! Have tried several brands of bike gear and while they work ok, not having a fly was a deal breaker for me.

Funny you mention that. I think that is the reason that a sheepskin seat cover has worked so well for me during my desert rides on the 950 (with lots of long section sitting in the saddle). It allows more ventilation compared to a standard vinyl seat cover.

Ditto. I've got numerous pairs of top quality cycling shorts and have tried them all. Work great for shorter rides, but when its long days in the saddle and it's warm, the chamois gets saturated and causes far more problems than it eliminates. This isn't a problem cycling, as the air is constantly flowing over the very thin material keeping it dry. They'd probably work great if that was all you wore (no riding pants over them).

I have a couple of pairs of the "Wickers" brand Aerostich sells and they are quite good and have held up well. I'd like to try the LD's though.

I've been trying different cheaper brands of "performance" or wicking under wear - all seamless as that's one ofthe key elements to long distance comfort along with moisture control.

Some are OK for up to about maybe 8 hours worth or a little more. But unpadded cycling shorts seem to work better for those 12+ hour days. As mentioned, having a fly in underwear is a big plus over the cycling shorts, especially when you have to GO and the pants layers and shirt/jacket layers are in collusion to keep you fumbling around.

One thing I learned back in the 80s when I was doing serious workouts on road bicycles was that padded cycling shorts, while slightly more comfy, have to be kept almost surgically clean to prevent bacteria from breeding in the padding and causing rashes, inflamations or outright infections. Things may be better now with antimicrobial fibers used in much active wear, and granted a bicycle seat impinges a smaller area of the anatomy with more friction, but on road trips I stick with unpadded shorts just to ensure I can get them clean and sanitary by hand washing when needed. This may be a non-issue for some folks, but something to consider unless the new wonder fabrics have eliminated the problems with padding in shorts.

Whatever material the ExOfficio is made out of seems to keep from getting funky for far longer than anything else I have tried. And the wicking keeps the junk and bits nice and dry which also keeps funk from happening.

I believe I have the credentials for recommending LD Comfort as your source of true, motorcycle-specific under clothing. These will be something you will be pleased with during the summer as well as cooler weather. I prefer the long tights and long sleeve top because of the manner in which you can keep yourself cool. They do have shorts. I am not affiliated with the company but I can tell you, the owner is also a long distance rider and rallyist. The LD Comfort is made here in the good ol' U S of A. Check them out - http://www.ldcomfort.com/

EVS makes a variety of compression bike style stuff....some vented......I wear the stuff under leathers all the time and have worn these and similar since the 80's while dirtbiking ( woods) huge difference

running tights and "UA" type long sleeve shirt works for me.

when you have a hard seat like the superduke R you don't want to sit on any seams or elastic band.