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Longer shorts, why?

Old 06-17-14, 09:37 AM
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Longer shorts, why?

Trying to find a new vendor for kits in '15 for our club/team. It seems that every manufacturer is going to the much longer inseam for the shorts. They nearly reach the knee now.
Not sure why that is.
We had a fit session with one vendor last week. Everyone on the club declared the trend unacceptable, but we're having a hard time finding a manufacturer who isn't pushing this change on their higher end lines.

Anyone else having the same experience?
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Old 06-17-14, 10:21 AM
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at 6'4 I prefer a longer short.
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Old 06-17-14, 10:41 AM
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I hate longer shorts. I'm dating myself but I like to go Sean Yates style!
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Old 06-17-14, 10:54 AM
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I don't like the fact they go past my massive quads and just hang there at my skinny knees.
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Old 06-17-14, 10:55 AM
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Originally Posted by gtrob
at 6'4 I prefer a longer short.
That makes sense. But in regard to fit, do you want them almost touching the knee? Or at a point about 4 or 5" above the knee?

I've had conversations with vendors, and they're trying to convince me that EVERYONE in the world loves them falling 1" above the knee for the compression.
I tried them and I find that my legs overheat. And when I do want the warmth, they bunch up with leg/knee warmers behind the knee.
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Old 06-17-14, 11:11 AM
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I've noticed this in the pro ranks.. Sky seems to have REALLY long shorts for some stupid reason!

Anyway yes I hate long shorts.

Fwiw JL Velo (out of CA) had pretty short shorts, but the quality isn't that great, and they had big delays in getting orders out this year.
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Old 06-17-14, 11:14 AM
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Hincapie sent us really short shorts with a weird rubberized cuff that rode up so far we all looked like triathletes. Everyone complained and they sent back replacements that are superlong to compensate. They're also noticeably tighter, so maybe they've jumped on the compression bandwagon too.
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Old 06-17-14, 11:15 AM
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Our team uses Capo, which I love, but I hate the fact that the shorts seem to be getting a little longer every year (same size). I find myself wearing kits from a few years ago more often than newer kits as I like the bibs with shorter inseam much better. It's an annoying trend and it looks weird:

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Old 06-17-14, 11:16 AM
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I'm not a fan either, long shorts come down so far that the opening is down at the point where my quads narrow considerably at my knees, and it ends up gapping and looking ridiculous and flappy. Not "pro," not aero, not comfortable. Compression is a lame excuse. I don't care about compression from my shorts, it doesn't do any good anyway if the leg opening is so close to my knee that it doesn't fit snugly anyway, and I'd be willing to bet that if you look at the women's shorts produced by these manufacturers that they are mysteriously much shorter than the men's shorts. I guess women hate compression? Fah.
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Old 06-17-14, 11:23 AM
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We use Jakroo and they fall about 4-5 inches above the knee for me in an XL (and I'm 6'3"). They're comfy bibs and the company allows you to order as many or as few as you want and at whatever time frame you want (great if you need a crash replacement or have newcomers to a team) with a 2 week turn around time. The only downer that we all saw last year was that the cuffs around the legs stretched a bit during the year. The 2014's have been good so far, but it is still June.

I have some Louis Garneau bibs that are suprisingly long and I hate them. I don't wear them often, but when I do I can feel the material make contact with the back side of my knee and upper calf with each pedal revolution. Blah.
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Old 06-17-14, 11:51 AM
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Originally Posted by powpow
Our team uses Capo, which I love, but I hate the fact that the shorts seem to be getting a little longer every year (same size). I find myself wearing kits from a few years ago more often than newer kits as I like the bibs with shorter inseam much better. It's an annoying trend and it looks weird:
some much room for advertising!
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Old 06-17-14, 12:20 PM
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I don't really mind. My Hincapie shorts still fall 4-5 inches above my knee. But I have kind of long legs for my height.

My wife, on the other hand, hates how long her shorts have gotten, largely due to the tan lines they cause.
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Old 06-17-14, 12:40 PM
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I like them short. I actually cut the bottom part of the legs off of one set of bibs (Alchemist). Of the various other manufacturers I have bibs from, champ-sys seems like the shortest leg length.
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Old 06-17-14, 12:45 PM
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I have some AGU shorts that I only use on the trainer that hang to right above the knees. I deal with it on the trainer but I would not like to race on them. I also have a set with that rubberized cuff. I hate that much more.
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Old 06-17-14, 12:50 PM
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We have castelli this year on our team. They are shorter than the capo so far, all of the shorter people seem to be happy as well as us tall folk!
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Old 06-17-14, 01:51 PM
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Originally Posted by hyperlitenerd
We have castelli this year on our team. They are shorter than the capo so far, all of the shorter people seem to be happy as well as us tall folk!
Beware of the San Remo speedsuit (which I would never purchase again for other reasons, primarily that it is ridiculously fragile and not suitable for a workaday racer with limited money to spend on kit), which has ridiculously long shorts. I can only assume that the Body Paint shorts also run long, since they are the bottom half of the San Remo. Otherwise, I've been pretty happy with the length of Castelli shorts.
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Old 06-17-14, 04:09 PM
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Originally Posted by topflightpro
My wife, on the other hand, hates how long her shorts have gotten, largely due to the tan lines they cause.
Don't mess with a cyclists's finely curated tan lines!

My team currently has Pissei kit which do not have the super long legs.
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Old 06-17-14, 05:09 PM
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Who really cares?

You get your team kit and then "cut" your tan lines accordingly.

What is up with this drama?
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Old 06-17-14, 07:57 PM
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Originally Posted by mollusk
Who really cares?

You get your team kit and then "cut" your tan lines accordingly.

What is up with this drama?
You want me to cut $87 bibs?

I thought we were friends, Moll.
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Old 06-17-14, 08:06 PM
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Originally Posted by mattm
I've noticed this in the pro ranks.. Sky seems to have REALLY long shorts for some stupid reason!
there's a belief that more coverage on the legs = more aero. UCI limited sock/shoe cover height but has not addressed short length. not saying the aero thing would be true for every rider-short combo, but there are those who believe it.

Originally Posted by grolby
Beware of the San Remo speedsuit (which I would never purchase again for other reasons, primarily that it is ridiculously fragile and not suitable for a workaday racer with limited money to spend on kit), which has ridiculously long shorts. I can only assume that the Body Paint shorts also run long, since they are the bottom half of the San Remo. Otherwise, I've been pretty happy with the length of Castelli shorts.
do you have the team version or the retail one, and if retail do you have the '13 or '14?

i ride in the sanremo (team version) and absolutely love it. if i had one for every day of the week or a soigneur washing my kits, i'd wear it all the time. i find it ridiculously comfortable. i also don't find the shorts to be long, but of course that depends on what size sanremo you're wearing and what size femurs you've got. (i downsize the sanremo, but i could get a pretty good fit even 1 size up.)

Edit to add: @ $225 the sanremo is not cheap, but IMO the price relative to the quality of the sanremo is solid. i've seen much lower quality separates cost more than that. everyone has different preferences. the team members that i've got sanremos for have fallen in love with theirs, so i'm curious as to what you don't like (if other than the price).

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Old 06-18-14, 07:17 AM
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Originally Posted by Tyrell
My team currently has Pissei kit which do not have the super long legs.
My team has Pissei kit and the shorts are long enough on me (size L) that the rubberized no-hem bottoms are curling back up since it's where my quads narrow. They also delivered bibs to us that clearly advertise ass crack for the entire team, and they refused to correct the problem.

I highly recommend that everyone forgets that Pissei exists. We won't be using them again.
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Old 06-18-14, 07:22 AM
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I just wish they'd standardize their sizing. My tan lines are not as crisp as they once have been...
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Old 06-18-14, 07:43 AM
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What is this place, the Batchelorette? For chrissakes.
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Old 06-18-14, 08:11 AM
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Originally Posted by tetonrider
do you have the team version or the retail one, and if retail do you have the '13 or '14?
Team, '13. And I DID have it. Last month I tore a big hole in it just trying to pull it on over slightly sweaty, sticky skin. And I didn't tear that hole at a normal weak point like a seam, it just tore right at the point of the jersey where I was holding it. I get that it's intended to be high-performance and not durable, but if I can't put it on without ruining it, it's probably not for me.
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Old 06-18-14, 01:54 PM
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Originally Posted by waterrockets
They also delivered bibs to us that clearly advertise ass crack for the entire team, and they refused to correct the problem.


There was a women's team around here that had bibs that I had to look twice at. At least I was glad it was a women's team..

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