SurlyLaika

So my Bicycle Fixation wool knickers wore out on the left backside/inner thigh area, a square inch area probably. I emailed Rick Risemberg about it and he agreed to replace them but asked me to return the knickers for his examination. [Excellent customer service, btw. Totally recommend this small company] He said they shouldn't have worn out after only a 1000 miles and asked if there's a rough spot on my saddle. I'm using a Brooks Flyer. I thought maybe it's the rivets since it's not the Flyer Special with its fat hand-hammered rivets. Anyways on a 40 mile ride yesterday, I noticed it felt like there was more pressure on my left cheek and my left leg was tingling a bit, not completely asleep, though. I'm thinking I need to somehow adjust the saddle and move it towards the right so that the pressure will fall equally. Would this somehow explain the premature pant wear? Any suggestions on how to get my weight more evenly distributed, if that is even the reason why my leg was falling asleep?

Al Criner

You could try twisting the saddle slightly to try to relieve that pressure. You may have a short leg or some other asymmetry that causes a problem. Having somebody watch you pedal may identify something. Others will post some ideas, I am sure.

SurlyLaika

I think most people's arm and leg lengths are slightly asymmetrical, but I'll adjust it a bit. Unfortunately, I only notice this after 40 miles. I can't just jump on and notice something isn't right.

Rowan

I seriously doubt if the wear on the shorts is from the saddle, although it cannot be ruled out completely.

One of the things that is deadly with lycra, as I have found, is velcro. And indeed, I have one pair of shorts with a worn spot on the inner thigh where the material would catch on a tiny flap of velcro with the hooks that retains the front of a stoker's bag on the tandem.

I've also had shorts catch on a sharper-than-should-be corner of a seatpost, this when I first fitted my Brooks Ti Swallow. I wrapped the offending part of the seatpost with some electical insulation tape.

On further occasions, I have had rub against the seatpost collar, although there was no damage there.

Have a look and feel around that area of your bike and see if there is anything that could be the culprit.

If Bike Fixation coughs up a new pair of knickers when there is unlikely to be a defect in the material, that would be ranked as truly superb customer service.

SurlyLaika

After about 15 minutes of looking at the saddle from every angle with a friend, we decided that the seat post is twisted a hair too far to the right. So I fixed that. Hopefully, that'll fix my problem. It was probably only like half a centimeter too far to the right, such a small thing but small things on a saddle make a difference. I do ride sometimes with a Brooks seat cover, that has a velcro strap on the rear end to secure it to the seat. I doubt my inner thigh got that far back but maybe the coated nylon fabric rubbed up too much against the pants. Anyways, I got my brand new knickers yesterday and I'm completely satisifed. I have to do a long ride to see if I still have problems with my left leg falling asleep.

xizangstan

Your bike and the saddle are probably straight. Your butt is probably crooked.

Could be your legs aren't the same length. My left leg is shorter than my right. And my middle one is just a tiny bit shorter than that.