Very personal, I know, but...

ast tours, I used to save up my old underwear and take it with me, then throw it away (bagged and binned) day after day (only week tours, so not that bulky, and always had the benefit of getting less each day), but last tour I had some discomfort with a couple of pairs that, shall we say, had lost their stretch. It was nothing life threatening, but it mad for a lot of disappearing into bushes to sort out the tangles.
Now, I'm due to go away this Friday, to ride the Rhine/mosel, and I'm thinking of just buying some new, maybe cycling specific underwear.
But I'm not sure which I should get.
I did a bit of searching here, and there seems some advice that cotton is good for absorbing sweat, but I'm a bit worried about only taking a couple of pairs and then finding them not dry the morning after washing. I know there's the "hang off the bike" method of drying, but if it rains, as it could well do...
So then I was thinking about sythetic, or part synthetic, part cotton, but does that mean there's more chance of rashes?

Anyway, I'm basically looking for opinions on underwear, and certainly if anyone has any experience, as I'm sure you must do, of cycling specific underwear.

Many thanks.

While I'm riding on a tour, I usually wear normal padded cycling shorts ... often under a pair of regular shorts.

If I wear underwear rather than my cycling shorts, I try to select a pair that is not 100% cotton. Cotton does indeed absorb the sweat ... and then it becomes very wet, and sits next to your skin all wet and salty ... very uncomfortable, and of course increasing your chance of rashes etc.

If wearing padded cycling shorts isn't your thing, try to find unpadded cycling shorts or something similar. Or at least partially synthetic underwear.

If I'm just commuting to work I wear regular underwear under a pair of pants or knickers (sans any padding). Like Machka said, cotton kills (the skin at least) and so breathible frabrics are best. I like wool. For tours I used to wear regular shorts over padded wool (Ibex) cycling shorts but recently decieded that this was too warm for me and that I no longer cared if someone saw me and was easily frightened by the sight of me in stretchy cycling shorts. So I just wear my Ibex woolies (in winter and summer). That said, I do bring a couple of pair of undies on my tours for comfort wear, when I'm off the bike. I just wash them by hand when needed which isn't often since I don't get to wear them too much

Yes, I should have mentioned that in my post as well. I always bring 2 or 3 pair of comfortable undies for when I'm off the bicycle. It's important to give your body a break from whatever you wore all day cycling, and it's refreshing if you've got a day off to do something other than cycling to wear something other than cycling gear.

I take 2 pairs of Andiamo padded cycling underwear and a pair of regular underwear for off bike on tours. I wash one pair as soon as I finish the day's ride, that way it has the evening and all next day to dry out.

After whittling away at the amount of clothes I take I use baggy shorts with removable liners. The liners can double as underwear in a pinch, however if I am off bike cloths I am usually sans undies. Sorry if that is TMI.

I never wear underwear while on the bike. For off the bike, polyester underwear is (surprisingly) comfortable and dries quickly after washing (if you find the need to wear underwear at all off the bike--ventilation is perhaps more healthy for the skin after a day sweating in bike shorts).

Underwear is overrated, I go commando all the way.

Silk

Here is a useful discussion:

https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/446746-anyone-tour-without-padded-shorts.html

I think this underwear is excellent for on and off bike:

https://www.exofficio.com/product_det...1-d82704f5a219

https://www.icebreaker.com/site/icebr...xer_brief.html

I wear bibshorts on the bike but a pair of these for sleeping and under normal clothes. I'd recommend Merino for everything on tour as it's comfy, wicks sweat and you can get away with FAR less washing!

Thanks for the input, and bwgride, thanks for the links. THe other discussion was very interesting. I'm kind of stuck on the horns of a dillema, in that usually I just round around in normal underwear, no padded shorts, and that's fine, but when I tour, I tend to start with padded cycling shorts. The first three days is usually pretty uncomfortable, but I put that down to my backside getting used to being in the saddle that long each day. By about day four, I start to toughen up, and discard the padded shorts for regular underwear. I'm not sure, though, whether the padded shorts make the discomfort worse, or ease the pain.
Maybe this time, I'll take the padded shorts, but not wear them the first three days, see what that brings. Can always put them on if the discomfort is worse than usual.

I always ride in padded shorts and no underwear, on long rides, short rides and when I commute to work, which is pretty close. For tours, I usually take three pairs of shorts and keep my eyes open for a laundromat. For regular underwear I use thin nylon undies that dry in a couple of hours. Sports stores usually have underwear made for hiking, camping etc. that's thin and dries quickly.

I wear these Ex Officio boxers on tour...too expensive to throw away so I just wash and dry them as needed.

I have a few pairs of underwear made of silk-weight Polartec® Power Dry® fabric and they are easy to wash and dry overnight. Once off the bike, I usually go commando

1 pair of cycling clothes
wash every so often, at the end of the day
in the morning put them on, your body will dry them out
wear a jacket if needed.
use a jacket that can breath

1 pair of "long johns"
i like Patagonia Capiline

I've been wearing Icebreaker merino wool boxers and they are nice and light they dry quickly if you wash them and hang to dry. very comfortable but expensive.

I just saw somebody suggesting Tilley underwear in another thread.
https://www.tilley.com/thumbnail.asp?...ategoryId&id=3

The only underwear I ever took on tour was one pair of under armor boxer briefs for off bike use, but I stopped taking them. I now wear either a pair of zip off leg pants with a built in liner (like swimming trunks) or running shorts also with a built in liner.

Oh actually I take that back, once I did also take a pair of regular boxers to wear as pajamas when staying with hosts, but the running shorts have replaced them too.

BTW: I highly recommend the World Wide Sportsman® Nylon Angler Zip-Off Pants. They are very comfortable, inexpensive and light weight. I generally only wear them off the bike, but they would work OK over bike shorts too.

Ex Oficios. Been wearing 'em for damn near three years now. Same pair.

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!

Wool! Love it! I've been wearing Ibex wool running shorts (unpaddded) on this tour and am loving them. I can't see wearing anything else - even when I get home and am not biking any more. https://www.ibexwear.com/shop/product...e-runner-short

Seconded. Well not on tour (haven't yet), but long rides, MTB rides, and hiking. Hell I am thinking of wearing no other kind for anything. Best drawers ever.

Havent worn underwear in 10 years. If you love something you gotta set it free. Kind of like putting a puppy in a cage, don't you think?

Sure, until "puppy" gets caught in the zipper