I have Nalini Geranio Bib shorts and I love them for road biking. However, the material seems thin for mountain biking.

Any good suggestions for bibs that can withstand the rigors of mountain biking (i.e., thorns, etc.).

Thanks in advance.

David
Erie, PA

Forget those spandex road shorts for MTBiking, too flimsy, when you fall or go through briars, they will snag or rip and you'll eventually end up with threads. Buy a pair of MTBiking shorts which are a heavy duty fabric, similar to a pair of regular daytime shorts, walking shorts, hiking shorts. You can get them with or without a removal liner with a chamois.

Just wear shorts and a shirt over your bibs.

Wear a corduroy jumper.

Don't mind the spandex haters. Ride whatcha like. Baggies - yeah, spandex - hells yeah!

Some days I'll ride in spandex, other days I'll ride baggie shorts. Just depends on my mood or whatever is on top of the pile. I have several pair of Voler bibs. They're made of noticeably thicker material than Castelli shorts. They're comfy and great for road or mtbike cycling.

The best advice is from Liquified and I'm sorry I didn't say that because that's what I do. I wear my bib shorts with a pair of tight cotton walking shorts over them. I say tight because if the shorts are loose, the crotch will catch on the saddle nose when getting off, on, unclipping and putting your foot down, in "emergencies". For a shirt, I wear either a short sleeve cotton shirt or a synthetic athletic shirt, if the shirt is long sleeve, I wear a rugby shirt, really durable and a very heavy material.

agree with liquefied. I do the same thing. gets a little hot because of the xtra layers, but you don't look ********.

I wear bibs under cargo shorts. I wear suspenders under my jersey to keep the crotch of the cargo shorts from hanging up on the saddle.

The cargo shorts give me lots of pockets for camera, food, whatever and they are tough so they don't tear or snag, and you can sit on a rock if you want to. Padded absorbent crotch of the bibs is great for riding comfort and the spandex shorts are so slippery they don't have any friction with the outer shorts.

If I know the trail and it doesn't have a bunch of items to snag on you, then I'll run road shorts. If I have never been on the trail before and don't know what to expect, I wear my usual MTB shorts.

Some of the Microsensor and Aerosensor line from Pearl Isumi tends to be on the thicker side. Stay away from anything sublimated- it will almost definitely thinner. FWIW, I wear a MTB short over my shorts or bibs nearly exclusively. Like Underground said though, if it's a wide-open trail with little to snag on (and it's blindingly hot) I'll skip the over-short.

+1 on the Cargo shorts over whatever is comfortable. I like pockets.

https://www.rei.com/outlet/category/22000035 has good pricing and fair selection. REI carries Sugoi, Canari and C-dale clothing. Nice selection and the Outlet has smoking pricing. It might be 2 years old, but its new stuff.

All I ever wear is the team kits (LG) and I don't go easy and I've never had issues. The only times I've ever trashed clothing is crashing during road rides.

Yeah, but you live in Kansas. Where do you ride a Mountain Bike?




PS: KSU Alum, Tuttle Puddle, Gyp Hills

FWIW, I was wearing a pair of Performance bibs (sorry, don't remember which model == Century maybe?) that seemed to be thicker material. Got to test them by hitting hard on bone-dry dirt and sliding down hill just a bit. My hip was bruised and slightly scraped but the shorts showed no sign of wear once the dirt and dust got washed off.

Walter Brennan wore bibs regularly.

^^ wait, that looks like a picture of you!

Well...maybe from a few years ago.