Chamois considerations
 

I have some excellent cold-weather climbing gear--several really nice base layers. However, the bottom layers all have the seams in very irritating places for riding, not to put too fine a point on it.

I'd still like to use them for cycling, and someone suggested that I just get a chamois. Any recommendations on real vs. synthetic chamois? Does anyplace even sell chamois that aren't already sewn into tights?

Use bike shorts or padded underwear as base layer.
Real chamois is obscelete in cycling circles and is best used as packaging material for a small deer.

Thank you. However, I don't want to necessarily add another base layer in the form of padded cycling shorts. I already have several base layers (some silk, some wool) which are quite servicable. I'd like to be able to find a few chamois, even if they are synthetic.

The idea is that at the end of a day of touring, if I'm camping at a place without facilities and its cold, I can simply remove and clean the chamois without having to remove the base layer to take off cyling shorts or padded briefs underneath (I detest sleeping in spandex.) That way I can keep my warm base layer on for sleeping.

Okay, I seem to have found a solution, just in case anyone wants to know.

After an extensive search, it turns out that Kucharik, from whom I buy wool stuff anyway, is willing to sell their synthetic or real chamois seperately if you don't want them sewn into your shorts or tights.

For what it's worth, I've been using a synthetic chamois, sold for drying one's car, and wraping it around the unbearably hard B17 saddle, to take the sharp edges off. Don't know why you can't cut it to whatever shape and sew into pants. I would think just stuffing into your pants would eventually lead to bunching.