View Full Version : Leg Warmers: outside shorts or inside shorts?
jsfountain
12-04-06, 09:32 AM
Question:
What is the "proper" way to wear leg warmers? i have a pair of thermal pearl izumi ones. Should they be worn over my bike shorts or should my bike shorts be worn over the leg warmers?
Is there a benefit over one of the other?
thanks.
Good bike shorts have gripper strips around the inside of the leg. Leg warmers work much better and tend not to come off, if placed inside the shorts under the grippers. I fold the legs of the shorts up and put the leg warmers on and roll the shorts legs over them.
Grippers on leg warmers need to grip skin. I'll let you figure the rest out. :)
dekindy
12-05-06, 01:42 AM
They are designed to cover the quadriceps and the knee so don't try to stretch them and cover the whole leg or they will fall down. For temperatures below 45-50F degrees you need to think about tights that will cover the whole leg.
What webist said.
Wear them OUTSIDE!! If you wear them inside your shorts they are much more difficult to pull down when it warms up, and they are incredibly uncomfortable.
dekindy
12-05-06, 12:19 PM
Wear them OUTSIDE!! If you wear them inside your shorts they are much more difficult to pull down when it warms up, and they are incredibly uncomfortable.
I have seen many posts by Machka and she gives good advice.:)
I personally do not try to roll my jacket sleeves, armskins, or kneekers while riding. I prefer to stop and adjust so I will not wreck. It does not take long to do and you usually stop at rest stops or stop to rereform while doing group rides and you can stop anytime while riding alone. Put them under the shorts where they are designed to be worn and will stay up best. If you can keep them up and want to roll them while riding, then wear them on the outside. There are no fashion police enforcing any laws.:rolleyes:
I have seen many posts by Machka and she gives good advice.:)
I personally do not try to roll my jacket sleeves, armskins, or kneekers while riding. I prefer to stop and adjust so I will not wreck. It does not take long to do and you usually stop at rest stops or stop to rereform while doing group rides and you can stop anytime while riding alone. Put them under the shorts where they are designed to be worn and will stay up best. If you can keep them up and want to roll them while riding, then wear them on the outside. There are no fashion police enforcing any laws.:rolleyes:
See ... my legs overheat when I climb. So if I'm on a hilly course ... even if the temps are cool ... I will wear my leg warmers up on the descent, and then push them down (I don't roll them down - I just give them a quick shove and they fall) for the climb, and then tug them back up for the next descent, etc. It's all very quick and easy. :)
Half the time I wear them at "half mast" ... my calves and achilles need to be warm because I have a tendency to injure those areas, but I don't like riding with my knees covered (or at least not too tightly covered), and often my quads get too hot if they are covered.
That's the beautiful thing about leg warmers ... they are so versatile ... they can be worn in many different ways!!
Wear them OUTSIDE!! If you wear them inside your shorts they are much more difficult to pull down when it warms up, and they are incredibly uncomfortable.
Totally the opposite here. They don't grip the skin at all and slide way more on the outside which is a super pain. Its really not that hard to pull them down when they are on the inside. Mine are super comfy too.
chipcom
12-05-06, 01:56 PM
If you wear cargo shorts, like me, you put em on the inside and have no problems pulling them down or off. OMG, but I don't look like a racer...WAAAHHHHHH!!
I have seen many posts by Machka and she gives good advice.:)
She's wrong on this one. They are made to grip your skin so they don't fall down. Putting them on the outside of slick cycling shorts, they have nothing to grip and fall down. And no, they aren't uncomfortable.
jimblairo
12-05-06, 03:29 PM
Wear them OUTSIDE!! If you wear them inside your shorts they are much more difficult to pull down when it warms up, and they are incredibly uncomfortable.
Call the fashion police! They are intended to be worn under the shorts!
She's wrong on this one. They are made to grip your skin so they don't fall down. Putting them on the outside of slick cycling shorts, they have nothing to grip and fall down. And no, they aren't uncomfortable.
1. Mine don't fall down when I wear them on the outside.
2. They may be comfortable to you ... but I suspect that you don't have an allergy to whatever that gripping stuff is made of. It's bad enough with the narrow gripping band on my shorts, but the band on the leg warmers is about twice as wide and seems to have a lot more of whatever that grippy stuff is. Within an hour or two, I become very itchy. Another hour or so later, I start to break out in a rash ... several hours later my legs are all burgundy and splotchy and they ache. But if I wear them over the shorts, it's not so bad.
I used to wear them under the shorts because that's how I was told to wear them, but after a year of the sorts of problems I've mentioned here, someone suggested I wear them over ... and what a difference!! I now find my leg warmers very comfortable. :)
I wear mine under my shorts, but that's my preference. I have the PI warmers that do not have grippers, they stay up fine, but under my shorts, the gripper of the shorts hold the warmers in place.
I'll go against Machka and Machak and wear mine under the shorts. :)
vrkelley
12-05-06, 10:27 PM
Up...down...up...down...With that many adjustments, I'm wondering what onlookers think when seeing that many adjustments! :p
OK, here's one way to wear them ... see photo below.
As I mentioned before, unless it is quite chilly, that's how I wear leg warmers ... in a position to pull them up over my legs if necessary ... or drop them lower if necessary. :)
After all, if you wanted to leave them in one place, you'd wear tights, not leg warmers. Tights are so much more comfortable than leg warmers because they don't have that gripper band, but they are, unfortunately, inconvenient because it is more difficult to remove them and put them on again while riding.
.
After all, if you wanted to leave them in one place, you'd wear tights, not leg warmers. Tights are so much more comfortable than leg warmers because they don't have that gripper band, but they are, unfortunately, inconvenient because it is more difficult to remove them and put them on again while riding.
Not necessarily, for me leg warmers provide an option to changing temperatures. They allow you to remove them should the temperature change or you decide you are warmer than when you started. I can't see myself using them like in your picture because either I need them or I don't. I have tights and seldom wear them (except when I know its cold out) because they do not allow me this choice. We are all different creatures, and there is no right or wrong, rather just the way we do things :) Some girls in the club ride like that.
My Leg warmers do not have grippers and are very comfortable.
flipped4bikes
12-06-06, 06:24 AM
Shorts OVER the leg warmers.
chipcom
12-06-06, 06:29 AM
Machka is right. Why? BECAUSE IT WORKS FOR HER! There is no right way or wrong way, what works for you is the right way. I wore tights all last winter, but on the really cold days I put my knee warmers OVER THE TIGHTS. Putting them under woulda been kinda stupid...because had I decided it was to warm for them, I would have had to pretty much strip to get them off.
So the answer is: WHATEVER WORKS BEST FOR YOU!
Maybe the question should be "how were they designed to work?" It's sorta like shoes. If you want to put the left one on your right foot, than by all means...
caligurl
12-06-06, 10:12 AM
warmers UNDER the shorts
Maybe the question should be "how were they designed to work?" It's sorta like shoes. If you want to put the left one on your right foot, than by all means...
:lol:
Machka is right. Why? BECAUSE IT WORKS FOR HER! There is no right way or wrong way, what works for you is the right way. I wore tights all last winter, but on the really cold days I put my knee warmers OVER THE TIGHTS. Putting them under woulda been kinda stupid...because had I decided it was to warm for them, I would have had to pretty much strip to get them off.
So the answer is: WHATEVER WORKS BEST FOR YOU!
Exactly! :)
After all ... if everyone used products the way they were "supposed to", many discoveries and new inventions may not have happened. You've got to experiment with stuff and find out for yourself what works the best.
chipcom
12-06-06, 01:29 PM
Exactly! :)
After all ... if everyone used products the way they were "supposed to", many discoveries and new inventions may not have happened. You've got to experiment with stuff and find out for yourself what works the best.
Consider this...the purpose of leg warmers and knee warmers are to allow you to quickly adapt to changing conditions...right? Otherwise, why not just wear tights, or not, and be done with it? By designing them so they must be worn under your shorts, haven't they kind of defeated the purpose of the things? So one could say that if they must be worn under the shorts because they were designed that way, the design itself is flawed.
Maybe you don't know how leg warmers work? When worn UNDER the shorts, you simply lift up the hem of the shorts and slide the leg warmers down. Takes all of maybe 2 seconds. What's hard about that? It sounds like you are talking about tights not leg warmers.
Maybe you don't know how leg warmers work? When worn UNDER the shorts, you simply lift up the hem of the shorts and slide the leg warmers down. Takes all of maybe 2 seconds. What's hard about that? It sounds like you are talking about tights not leg warmers.
We're talking about leg warmers (see my photo somewhere above)
Pushing them down isn't a huge deal, but how easy is it to put them back in place again while riding? I had trouble with that part.
Plus there's the whole alergy factor! I have the same reaction to that gripping stuff as I do to metal (nickel, I think). When I wear a watch with a metal back (or necklace, or earrings, or just about any jewelry), my arm starts itchy, then moves into that rash and ache. I can only just barely stand anything spandex or nylon - they give me the same reaction, but it takes longer ... and as I have aged it only seems to happen when it is hot out. Used to be that I'd put on spandex cycling shorts in the LBS change room and have to practically rip them off about 5 minutes later because of the itching, rash, and pain they caused. Now, I can wear them normally, but if the day is above about 30 degrees, then I break out in that itching, rash, and pain wherever (yes, everywhere) the shorts touch.
When you're on a century or something, the last thing you want is for your legs to break out in a massive rash all while itching and aching. It's doesn't make for a very pleasant century. So I've had to do a lot of experimenting with what I wear to find out what doesn't work ... and what does work.
caligurl
12-06-06, 02:26 PM
Pushing them down isn't a huge deal, but how easy is it to put them back in place again while riding? I had trouble with that part.
pulling them back up on the bike is very easy!
i've actually removed them completely (not just pushed down below my knees/to my ankle) while riding....
i've never put them on all the way while riding... but i have pulled them back up and into place with no problems!
i can put on and take off arm warmers while riding!
i can put on and take off arm warmers while riding!
Arm warmers are easy to remove and put on ... and I wear them under my sleeves (usually, although on a few occasions I've worn them over). My old pair was somewhat uncomfortable (itchy, etc. as described above) but my new pair is lovely! They are fleece-lined and have covered the elastic area so there are no alergy problems with them. Very comfortable! :)
BTW - I have actually witnessed someone completely remove a pair of tights while riding (that was an amazing feat!), so I'm sure leg warmers wouldn't be a problem to remove.
vrkelley
12-06-06, 05:05 PM
BTW - I have actually witnessed someone completely remove a pair of tights while riding (that was an amazing feat!), so I'm sure leg warmers wouldn't be a problem to remove.
WOW! If you've got a video of that please post it!
If nobody is right and nobody is wrong, why are we still trying convince each other our way is the only way? :lol:
chipcom
12-06-06, 06:21 PM
Maybe you don't know how leg warmers work? When worn UNDER the shorts, you simply lift up the hem of the shorts and slide the leg warmers down. Takes all of maybe 2 seconds. What's hard about that? It sounds like you are talking about tights not leg warmers.
Don't be thick...what I wrote is in black and white. Some folks might not like to have to futz around worrying about what things 'look' like when climbing a nasty climb. What's easier...hiking up the 'grippy' bottoms of your spandex diaper so you can pull your leggins down, or just pulling them down? How about pulling them back up when it's time to go back down....you wanna futz around with em at 40mph? If they were designed properly, you could wear them over or under with no penalty for not doing it in the proscribed OCP manner.
This is sort of like arguing about how to wipe. I'm out. :rolleyes:
Stormin
12-08-06, 04:47 PM
Today it was 33° I wore shorts legwarmers and knee warmers, ( i still dont have tights ) anyway I did a 25 mile ride that goes up a canyon here in utah. The way up I was sweating on steep climbes and about right on midgrade, and cold in the flats. I knew i was in for it on the way down. I didnt freeze on the way down till I hit the Inversion. I need a baselayer for my legs, that might be the more effective tool. Wear leg warmers over shorts in warmer weather, In freezing conditions like today, youll never peel anything back, so Wear them under shorts.
thebulls
12-12-06, 07:46 PM
Shouldn't we be deciding the BIGGER questions. None of this trivial "out or in" stuff.
Which leg warmer do you put on first, left or right?
I say left, if you're right handed, unless you're in Australia where the water swirls down the drain backwards, so there you'd want to put the right leg warmer on first.
I usually start with the middle one.
Leg warmers seem to have limited use in really cold conditions. But maybe they would be good to use under a loose fitting shell pant because you can take them on or off or move them around to adjust your temperature.
I usually start with the middle one.
They call him Tripod :lol:
domestique
12-12-06, 08:46 PM
Either way is fine... I have seen Euro pros do both (mainly undeer shorts though)
leg warmers over shorts: for warming up before taking them off for a race and podiums placing after a race.
leg warmers under shorts: for long periods of time when you are not likely going to be taking them off
^^^ Best post so far :beer:
zonatandem
12-12-06, 09:28 PM
If the 'grippy' stuff causes itchy/red skin, be smart and roll the grippy part 'up' so it does not touch skin.
Wear my leg warmers under short's leg and over the sox.
Prefer knitted wool or wool/acrylic leg warmers.
Leg warmers are easier to remove than tights, as you do not need to take off your shoes.
Ah yes, we have choices!
zonatandem
12-12-06, 09:35 PM
Have seen the real Dan Henry (of Dan Henry 'arrows' renown) ride the rollers. He removed extra jersey while riding. Then removed a pair of tights! All do-able if you practice enough.
Whenever you think you're good, there always someone better to prove you're not 'that' good!
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