Cycling panties, yay or nay?

[Irulan]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cguzman/urbanist-cycling-chamois-panties

I'm on the fence.

[Kernyl]

Could be good for commuting, but I'm not sure I'd want to wear them all day.

[luvmyguys]

I think I'd be afraid of chafing where the fabric ended.

[Catrin]

I think I'd be afraid of chafing where the fabric ended.

This, I think I would be concerned with chafing.

[Skippyak]

The funding of a female TDF equivalent would be increased exponentially if the riders just wore such a product, now just add a little bralet and you might get the success the beach volleyball girls got.
Hilarious useless crap otherwise. The pad on my shorts is pretty damp even after an hours ride. If I was commuting, I wouldn't have a sliver of a saddle.

[lph]

Hmm. In general I'd say that any padding thick enough to be useful is also going to be too thick for me to want to wear it all day. But I still like the idea. If I lived downtown and did a lot of short city rides and wanted to wear regular clothes - especially skirts - I'd probably rather wear these than just regular panties.

Sure, why not. Not all rides are long and you might as well be comfortable.

[nuliajuk]

I don't think they get what a chamois is really for. It's not for padding, it's for chafe prevention. If you're going to put it in regular style underwear, it defeats the purpose as you'll get chafed from the leg openings on the brief itself.
Personally, I find that the thicker the padding, the more I get chafed. I like a thin but fairly stiff chamois in my road shorts. For just tooling around town, I'm not on the bike long enough to feel the need for it.

[OakLeaf]

What nullajuk said. And also not wanting to wear wet chamois all day. Just, ewwwwww. I'm good for 15-20 miles on my commuter in whatever I'm wearing, including jeans. I'm sweaty enough to want to change everything way before then, if I were going to work.

[shootingstar]

I don't need something like this.

I have never worn padded shorts for commuting (and some years I had to commute 32 km. round trip daily, between home and work). But then I don't wear padded shorts for longer distances... meaning touring rides. 65-100 km. per day. I've cycling over last 2 decades...regularily, daily and for winter, 75% of the time for transportation.

I'm on more upright bikes. My saddles are not hard and slim. Medium-slim with some padding. But not padded wide monsters.
Yea, I'm weird. Or maybe hardened.

[antimony]

Eh, for me -- but I wish the kickstarter luck -- more successful cycling clothing manufacturers geared towards women is a good thing. I did see a link in another discussion of these elsewhere to some unpadded underwear that was designed to move the seams further out from the seat interface area (and still be cute, although more "granny panties in cute fabrics" cute), which seemed like a great idea.

I find that any ride long enough to want to avoid seams for me (I don't really need padding, but own padded bike shorts for long rides just to get something seamless through all the relevant regions) I will get sweaty enough that I need to change some clothing (at least my bra), so I might as well carry different shorts along with the sports bra.

Edit: if anyone has any suggestions for fleece-only/triathlon style shorts that have the back of the fleece come up pretty high, I'd love to hear them. My previously-perfect shorts have gotten a little big and are no longer made so I can't buy them smaller, plus when I get up into the 200km+ range on rides the seam at the back of the fleece can start to chafe.

[kris7047th]

Why not just use a removable liner from bike capris with street clothes instead if you don't want to stand out but still want the protection/padding? I certainly wouldn't wear those as stand alone bike *shorts* .. not at my age of 63 .. lol .. Anyways a younger woman wearing those as are could definitely cause an accident with passer byres ogling away.

[Eden]

nay... the undie style negates a lot of the utility of having a chamois - IMHO they'd at least need to be "boy shorts" length and tight enough around the leg hole to stay put to be of any use. Both those pairs look like they might rub in uncomfortable places. She looks like she's been sucked into the "padding" myth of cycling shorts.... it's not about padding anything (in fact as many people find out highly padded shorts can be a major liability for soft tissue pressure and discomfort), but about creating a seamless place for your tender parts to be gliding along on... puts on querulous oldster voice.... I remember when cycling shorts had real chamois leather in them and weren't padded in the slightest (ok, ok... I never had a pair with real chamois, but I did have some with a synthetic, washable, equivalent that were basically unpadded)

[marni]

actually, aside from the vintage aspect of look and fabric, Novarra already makes a panty type brief with a chamois in black and white. They are not extremely thick chamois, but there is enough for commuting on anything other than a really hard saddle. I wore them for several years while commuting for work and to the gym but always took a pair of regular briefs to change into and out of and used them only for the ride. I still wear them at the gym because they are more comfortable than cotton or nylon briefs under my work out shorts and or tights.

[kris7047th]

Found this. REI does have a brief, but the reviews are poor with the padding too far back.

These fare far better .. http://www.rei.com/product/845303/novara-padded-bike-boy-short-underwear-womens

[rebeccaC]

Thinking sexualization is a lazy marketing technique that is already too prevalent and something that just turns me away from a product. This product may work for some and it's their call on the way it's being marketed.

[Grits]

I forget the brand, but I have a padded pair of underwear that I got years ago from REI. It isn't the one linked above. I wear them sometimes to spin class. I've never had a problem with chafing. I think for a ride less than an hour, which I guess most commutes are, they would be fine, if you need padding for a ride that short. As long as the chamois is removable for the day, or you bring an extra pair of undies anyway, they should be fine. They certainly are more attractive than the pair I have, or any of my underwear, for that matter!

[Crankin]

I tend to wear the liner shorts for short errand rides. I cannot sit on a bike without a chamois. Even the liner shorts don't work that well for rides over 5 miles. And, my regular shorts are not super padded (Terry Bellas and Sugoi).
I bought a pair of padded underpants from TE quite a few years ago. They were huge granny panties; there was no x small so I got smalls (my azz is not that petite). They went in the trash after a few attempts at riding in them.
When I commuted (13.8 miles), I wore regular cycling clothes.