At Burning Man, everything counts, naked, painted, dressed like an alien, etc. Should be some interesting pics out after Labor Day.

I think I am going to name one of my bikes commando...than I can say I ride commando.

It depends. I have some padded shorts that I wear commando, and I have others that are unpadded, that I wear with Coolmax briefs underneath.

If you mean this guy, the answer is 'no'

Last year on a night ride I was riding behind a rider with worn out shorts. The lycra over his rear end was so threadbare that my head light illuminated the skin beneath the shorts. The visual image remains stuck in my head. Man it's just not right!, check your shorts before they end up like John's.

You sir are true commando! I salute you (with my hand to forehand - military style of course )

RVN - 69-70

Ahh, the joys of jungle rot. Bown Fungus. Here in PI I still don't wear UW on weekends.

Funny when I was younger I was on a ride behind an attractive young lady. She had on cheap thin shorts. The sun shown through her shorts. Same sight as you saw but didn't seem so bad!!

Bill

This is an issue, really? I've been riding for more than 40 years, and I had no idea people wore underwear under their bike shorts. Why would you put a six-buck pair of wrinkly, heavily seamed skivvies under your carefully sewn, smooth $80 bike shorts?

I was driving the tandem on Seattle's Burke-Gilman a couple of weeks ago, and we were passed by a well-built athletic female bent over a nice road bike. The late afternoon sun was at our backs, and you could see right thru her black shorts. The vertical seam hid her crack, but the rest of her butt was quite evident. Naturally, this caused the tandem's tempo to pick up to match this lady's pace. My stoker had no idea why we were moving slightly faster from her disadvantage point.

But what's really commando: Years ago, one of the top female racers in Canada was a young Quebecoise named Genevieve Brunet. She sewed her own shorts, often with semi-transparent black lace trim along the sides. I read one interview where she said she thought the chamois insert was uncomfortable for women, so she just removed them from her shorts and just rode unpadded...

L.

Well I guess if the stoker reads this forum the cat is out of the bag now. My guess is the next time this happens you might be slowing down.... Jusy my thoughts You will give us a report won't you???

Well it was last August when I posted this - yesterday I finally tried it on a long hot ride. It was not for me thanks, I'll stick with my tighty whities or my athletic briefs.

Of course! The quickest way to spot a rookie is by underwear seams...

H.R.

I am 60 and my wife is 58 years old. We had bicycles only when we were younger; me a Huffy and her a Schwinn. Back then our bikes had no speeds, we had no helmets, no bike specific clothes, and we rode on the sidewalks. Several months ago we decided to buy bicycles to enjoy riding together and improve our health. I immersed myself in learning about all the new bicycles, clothing, and rules of the road. Needless to say we were almost overwhelmed with what is now available compared to the 50's. Bottom line, pardon the pun, is when we bought bicycle shorts we didn't know what was the proper way to wear them so I asked a good friend that is very into bicycling and he told us to go sans underwear, or, commando. So that's what we do but to assume everyone should know this just isn't true. There are many of us that only has limited bicycle knowledge and we're trying to learn.

Nothing wrong with wicking poly sports underwear under baggy mountain-style or recumbent shorts but they look funny under traditional lycra cycling shorts. Haven't worn those in a long time.

My question exactly. Thank You.

Of course if I'm not going for a "serious" ride I just hop on a bike.

Hopping on a bike at my age without some gentle but firm support could lead to immediately leaping off the bike. Even a recumbent.

If you know what I mean...

A zombie thread that needs to be shot through the head...

Commando, I see no reason to wear undies with bibs with a chamois.

And here I thought it was both an educational topic for any newbies as well as humorous for the rest of us.
You must be hitting the PEDs a little too hard lately

The depths of summer seem to be as bad as the heights of winter on BF...

The standard wisdom for as long as I can recall... (and that's a long time..) "Let nothing come between you and your chamois."

Have ridden commando since my first pair of lycra shorts in the mid-80's. As for off the bike... yeah, on weekends. Last fall I bought a sport kilt to wear after big rides.

Nope, rarely wear padded shorts.

I think you can get in trouble that way.

My riding buddy goes 'comando', but after trying it, I was not comfortable, so got some wicking briefs. The seams were a problem, so I started trying different briefs to find something that worked. After about four tries, I found that women's 'hip briefs' worked! I got enough pairs to be able to rotate, and wear them every time. Before you flame me, consider this: on most rides with my buddy, I am fine between rest stops, whereas HE has to stop every 20min or so to 'adjust his junk'. That's about three times as often as I need 'adjustment'.

Lycra is made to be 'skintight', not 'brief-tight', so keep briefs and lycra separate.

That said, I haven't pulled on the lycra in a year and a half, been rolling in work clothes or casual shorts -- with the briefs beneath 'em. No commando there, I'd rather not crush the jewelry between the pistons.