Thick or thin chamois?

[East Hill]

The discussion about 'ahems' has me curious. What is your preference for chamois, and why?

I know as I've gone through the years, I have gone to a thinner chamois, if I use a chamois at all. I have a number of pairs of bike shorts, and have ripped the chamois out of some because the chamois felt like a nappy/diaper. I don't have any issues with too much moisture needing to be absorbed, so quite often I will ride with no bike shorts, using simply athletic type garments (so, spandex without a chamois). I've ridden at least 50 miles that way, with no problems at all.

East Hill

[Tuckervill]

Timely, since I was just thinking about this on my ride this morning. I have two pair with nice, thin chamois, but they're in mountain biking baggies. One of them was detachable so I was wearing those on my road bike recently. But then I bought some LG shorts (cheap ones, for our local shop), and the chamois is thick with none of the strategically placed welds or whatever they are.

I think the chamois in this pair is HIDEOUS and I'm not going to wear them anymore. :P It's the first time I've ever had any trouble with my parts, and it was only on a 15 mile ride.

Karen

[KnottedYet]

I like the thicker chamois, but the old-style (not sculpted, not welded, not 3-d) like in the older Terry shorts. Just a pad of perforated foam with ultrasuede edges.

My sit bones are too wide for the average 3-d chamois anyway.

[SadieKate]

Here we go with the it depends jokes again.

Thin chamois for mtbiking or short road rides.

Mid-thick for 25-65 miles.

Thick for anything longer. Thick chamois generally don't feel like diapers once you're riding for long periods.

But none of the above applies if the chamois and the saddle don't work together. I use a different saddle mtbiking and the chamois can feel completely different on it.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Nobody is addressing the issue of how much padding you have on your saddle to begin with. This is very relevant.

I have a Brooks leather saddle. It is molded to my rear and is hard leather with NO padding. If I ride 50 miles with a very thin or no chamois my sitbones get sore. With a nice long distance chamois I can ride 70 miles with no soreness at all.
I need a denser chamois than someone who is on a gel or foam saddle.

Padding on your saddle definitely effects whether you need a thin or thicker chamois.

On the other hand, once I wore a double chamois (shorts over knickers) on a long ride as an experiement, and it was too much padding -my girly bits started feeling too mashed and numb when I rode down in the drops. With one dense chamois I do not have that problem.

[East Hill]

Nobody is addressing the issue of how much padding you have on your saddle to begin with. This is very relevant.


I have more than enough padding on my rear, which makes up for any lack of padding on a saddle :p .

East Hill

[Duck on Wheels]

I like the SheBeest chamois in my new shorts best of all I've tried so far. It's "just right" -- neither so thick nor so thin that it bunches up, welded in just the right places to follow form and keep the padding where I need it. If I ever do a multiday ride, I'll have to buy more of these shorts!

But for my short commute ride, I don't wear bike clothes at all, just my ordinary work clothes (and tote an extra t-shirt to change to) + bike shoes, gloves, and helmet.