Training bottoms - padded or not?

andy69

ok, so....seeing as it's coming near to THAT time of year again , and my trusty old training bottoms I've had for the last umpteen years now finally need replacing, I was on the hunt for a new pair.

I noticed in the shop this evening that all of the ones on the racks had a 'seat pad' like we'd see with a chamois in a pair of shorts.
Confused me a little, so I looked online then when I got home, and they all talk about how amazing and comfortable their seat pads are etc etc blah blah....

So, is it the case now that people wear just their training bottoms, and no shorts under them, or do people 'double-pad' now, with their shorts under their super-duper new padded training bottoms? Seems like it'd be like sitting on a cushion then?

See....being old school....I always wore shorts under my training bottoms (TB's which had no padding). This way, when I'm getting my usual 4 spins a week, I just wash each pair of shorts after each spin (as I've loads of them), and then wash the training bottoms every so often as they aren't 'touching skin' as such

With these new ones in the shops now, it seems like it's not the done thing to wear shorts under them, meaning my training bottoms would be washed 4 times a week then and would probably only last pi$$ing time really?

I asked the guy in the shop but got the answer as: 'depends on the thickness of the padding'. But sure they all felt around the same (as I was walking up the aisle looking like a weirdo squeezing each pair of training bottoms on the racks)

Are yee all double-padding these days?

Darkglasses

I would just wear padded tights on their own personally, nothing underneath. Don't think wearing two articles with pads is a good idea.

andy69

Darkglasses wrote: »

I would just wear padded tights on their own personally, nothing underneath. Don't think wearing two articles with pads is a good idea.

yeah was thinking that might be what people were doing - with my (very) old ones in use for the last good-few-years, I hadn't even given it a thought until today when I saw the rain, and then saw the forecast and they mentioned north winds and 'cooler' temps, so I dug out the TB's, and only then remembered last March when I said I must pick up a new pair over the summer and of course completely forgot until now doh!

Was looking at a deadly pair this evening online (http://www.wiggle.co.uk/castelli-sorpasso-bib-tights/) but my jaysus they are expensive, and to be washed 4 times a week would probably see them fecked by next spring!

There were other options of course, so might be better to go for these except they seem to be designed from 6 degrees upwards which is hard to reach here in the midlands during those awful months
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/castelli-velocissimo-bib-tights-1/

FWP I suppose! Rule Nr.5 comes to mind but still....it gets really cold here!!

onthebikenow

Stick to what you have been doing. Training bottoms without padding over your shorts is a practical way to get a few wears without washing everytime. Wearing shorts and training bottoms, both with padding actually affects your saddle height. Even though it is only a few mm it is noticeable.

triggermortis

For my commuting I wear padded shorts and if I need more warmth I have unpadded tights to go over them. If I'm going out on a spin and its cold, I'll wear padded tights. I wouldn't wear two padded pairs together