Originally Posted by
Racing Dan
Thanks!
"Because padded saddled cause you to sink down into them which causes unnecessary friction and makes them uncomfortable. Unpadded saddles are more comfortable."
"Get a decent pair of cycling shorts with enough padding to cover your sitbones but not too much so that it bunches and causes friction."
This exactly is what Im talking about. Why is it you sink into the saddle and get unnecessary friction when the padding is in the saddle but not if its in the pants? That is the essence of the question. Is it not just old dogma?
I have personally had trouble with sweat, chafing and soreness riding in padded pants. Lots of other riders have too. Thats why Im trying to rethink it a little bit.
the best explanation I've read (might have been in one of Grant Petersen's books) went something like this:
sit on a hard surface for a few minutes until you become aware of your sitbones.
slide a pillow under your backside and notice while the pressure goes away on your sitbones, the remaining pillow squishes up between and around your legs.
same goes for padded shorts and saddles. the extra padding, displaced by your body weight, is the culprit causing more problems than it solves. all that padding is for folks that ride for 20 minutes or so at a time when it probably doesn't matter what they're wearing anyway.