Pants when cycling
I've moved, and now I cycle 2km per direction to work.
I like my pants, and I'm scared cycling will wear them out.
What do?
Ive thought of cycling with athletic pants, then changing at work. I'd gladly take other suggestions too.
30 Replies
I have a lot of friends and they all cycle to work in bib shorts and change when they get there/before leaving
I wore through a lot of pants biking in them. Now I change when I get to work and before I head home.
If you want to prevent all possible wear I think changing is the only option. Anecdotally I've biked everywhere all my life in all my pants (dutch) and I've never noticed it impacting wear that much. At least on a saddle that's made for commuting. It may be different if you have a mountain or racing bike but idk
Hmm thanks guys
I'll also look into what a commuting saddle is i guess
It’s not an industry term or anything, sorry I’m no bike gear expert. But what I mean is the kind of more substantial saddle that is intended for sitting upright on a city bike. As opposed to athletic saddles om racing bikes that are made for a more aerodynamic position. I have no clue if it affects pants wear at all because I have no significant experience with how the more athletic type correlates to pants wear
Paging @mattw2
I've also lived in the netherlands and the main wear one gets on clothing is getting the pants stuck in the chain or dirt kicked up by the wheels on wet days. Most of that can be mitigated with a chain guard and mud guard.
Dutch bikes have a couple more little improvements like that. Step-through frames are common. Wide seats. Wide handlebars with upright posture. Fun to think about.
Imo the biggest issue is maybe sweating.
Yeah ive been dealing with that by rolling my pants past my calves lol
I guess im most concerned with wear around the inner thighs and ass, since thats where its rubbing the saddle
and my bike is a road bike
hm, I've only ever had city bikes and never considered that issue.
If it were me I'd just mount a wider saddle and some guards.
I know it's not aero.
idk i see my colleagues pants have that ass shine and they say its from cycling
4km a day is probably not going to accelerate wear that much. You can brush your pants with a stiff brush to help though. I can't see how a different saddle will make much difference. Easiest solution is just to have some commuting pants tbh. Especially as the likeliest thing is one day your leg roll will fail and it'll get caught in the chain by accident. Or you'll ride through something on the road and get a stain.
I can see shine becoming an issue eventually but in all likelihood biking in your nice pants is going to ruin them another way before that becomes an issue.
Oooh what’s this brushing?
As in clothes brush?
Do you commute via cycling as well @mattw2
I spent about 10 years commuting 10km a day on a roadbike and I never had any issues with shine, only chain oil getting on them.
I can maybe see it if you are cycling in like wool suit trousers or something
Yes.
Yes.
Cool thanks
Did you have much luck getting rid of chain oil
Yeah tbh I feel like those colleagues of mine were wearing cotton blend stretch chinos, hence the shine
But I think I can see denim getting ass friction fade?
I've worn raw denim while cycling for years and never got noticeable ass friction fade
Yeah just either dishwasher soap or oxiclean for tougher stains. Its not perfect, but if you get there quickly then dishsoap is generally fine
Hmm
Looks like my concerns are probably overblown then
But I can just wear cycling pants to be safe
Thanks guys
You can also switch to using a wax based (Vs oil based) chain lube to help minimise risk of stains.
2km seems very short distance - and if you're just casual riding and not spirited riding it shouldn't put undue wear on your pants
I had a longer bike commute than that for years and it didn't wear out any of my pants
maximum you can do is get jeans with a little bit of stretch and a bike with a carbon belt drive rather than a chain (or use a chain guard, which is also overkill), but I doubt any of those things are necessary,
Hmm yeah good call on going slow
I enjoy the feeling of going wheowwwww and actually push abit 😅
even so you might at that point want to check your positioning and form etc
that's a lot of friction
again I have zero specialized equipment for going to the office
I biked fast as I can to work on a 3d-printed synthetic material saddle with normal clothes, and over both road and dirt for funsies, and with a road position
and I never had a problem :<
Hmm so you mean like sitting upright like the other commenters have mentioned?
yeah
I actually have no clue on form and stuff
And I know is leg go paddle
That’s reassuring to know
Thank you
oh is this just theoretical? you're not having specific problems?
So far i haven’t had any problems
But I’ve heard my colleagues discuss this before
And I’ve had a pair of jeans rip at the crotch seams, which could’ve been from cycling?
Fwiw those were fairly slim jeans and it was a different bike, but still
I had multiple pairs of pants rip at the crotch that I partially attribute to biking. But those pants were also (in retrospect) too tight which meant biking put a lot of strain on the crotch fabrics. Looser pants would probably be better.
I'm pretty sure you'll be fine 🙏
you can circle back with all this info once you've tried it a bit, if there are any points of failure then the advice can be tailored to them
Yeah for sure
I’m happy I made this thread before any of my pants ripped though, rather than after