OK, new to cycling. I did grit my teeth and get padded shorts. My question is, underwear or not....

The spandex is bad enough, but going commnado too?? Say it's not so.....

Thanks for your comments.

Newbie

I would estimate that at least 9 out of 10 riders go commando. I avoided it for a long time but it really is best. Less chafing.

Oh Underwear Nazi ... someone needs some advice.

LOL

That'll be bad if u pass some nude cyclist. IT's gonna show.

Yeah,
you can never find an Underwear Nazi when you need one.....

As long as you aren't too stout, wearing some light nylon or coolmax shorts avoids all the problems of chafing, as well as those annoying skidmarks.

Commando is the only way to go... You decide on left, right, up or down if your male and whether or not your aiming for comfort or a 'bicycle smile' if you're female.

NO UNDERWEAR!

Commando here! MUCH more comfortable.

I don't even bother with boxers under my Dockers anymore. Just say NO to underwear!

I am a recent convert to usig bibs with no underwear. It is amazingly more comfortable, and this from someone who didn't mind fifty mile rides in dungarees when he was younger (although it was a real pita to remove the blue stains from the underwear).

Underwear defeats the purpose of the chamois in the shorts and the wicking ability of the fabric.

If people want to wear underwear when they ride, let 'em. But I'll never understand why they'd wear it under lycra cycling shorts. If you're going to wear underwear, the cycling shorts do you no good.

RichC

padding still helps, though with all the buildup of heat/sweat it's gunna be uncomfortable.

Commando here! Always have always will. Underwear just plain hurt!

Wait for it... waaaait for it...

Ok- sometimes I still chafe when I wear my shorts, even though I don't wear the underwear under my shorts.

To be fair, it only happens when I do long rides (+60 miles), and only every so often.

Koffee

where's underwear nazi!!?? come save a confused soul!!!

I never even thought of wearing underwear under bike shorts, especially since I use the kind that have a standard lycra skintight short sewn into an outer shell that looks like a regular pair of shorts. In this case, the lycra part IS the underwear.