48 Comments

1. Comment by bradk | 12.15.2006 | 8:14 am

   no shammy for me. i cut them all out of my baggy mountain bike shorts and feel much more comfortable on the bike. commando is where its at. as a bonus you can wear the same pair of bike shorts for days without having to wash them. it must be the extra air flow. i havent found a good pair of lycra shorts that come without a shammy and havent bothered to pick all the stitching out.

2. Comment by fodder | 12.15.2006 | 8:19 am

   Uh, you’re nuts! Pun intended.

   Do you ever wonder why your chamois extends up over your package in the front when there is almost surely no need for padding there? I know I don’t put a lot of weight there.

   You think the camel toe is bad with a chamois. Have you considered the view without that chamois there? A nice thin pair of tights is going to show…ugh, please don’t make me finish that thought. In fact I feel I shoud report you to someone for putting that thought in my head. Bad Fatty!

3. Comment by Tim D | 12.15.2006 | 8:30 am

   The plural of chamois is Aaarggghhh! Especially when you come round a corner at speed and they’re all in the road.

   I’m a chammy man through and through. I’m also a Brooks man, so maybe that explains it. Over the years a good Brooks leather saddle will carefully mould your bum to its shape, for the perfect fitting saddle.

4. Comment by Lowrydr | 12.15.2006 | 8:31 am

   As I now ride a recumbent there is no need for a chamois in the first place. And when I rode Mt. and road bikes it was with a swimsuit with the net nut bag. Kept you up out of the way and dry at the same time. Love the site, keep up the good work it’s always entertaining.

5. Comment by dug | 12.15.2006 | 8:46 am

   i’m with you, that’s who’s with you. cept, i’m not gonna go pick the stitching out of my lycra road shorts.

   wait, on second thought, i’m not with you.

   yes i am.

   i can’t decide. doh.

6. Comment by Stan | 12.15.2006 | 8:51 am

   Heh. Back in the Old Days when I started riding, the chamois was real chamois. As in leather. Animal skin. That was nice the first time you wore it, but after that it smelled bad. And it got stiff and rough like sandpaper. Then it would crack and break apart. The modern synthetic chamois is far superior and it’s actually pretty comfy.

7. Comment by bikemike | 12.15.2006 | 8:53 am

   how many chamois’ouses does it take to make just one pair of shorts. i mean, c’mon, this stuff doesn’t just grow on trees. (does it?)
   if triathletesess can wear those (gay) speedos, do we really need padding? my guess is, heck yes we surely do.
   all you people doing leadville next year, do it without the chamois and get back to me when you’re done.

8. Comment by Jessica | 12.15.2006 | 9:05 am

   Well I’m a female roadie and in my humble opinion it’s just more comfortable. Period. That is if you have a pair of female specific ones, otherwise that’s way too much padding.
   But it is true, when I ride my commuter bike, it’s just plain lycra shorts for me.

9. Comment by lizbizycle | 12.15.2006 | 9:13 am

   As a female, I’m sans the sack issue, kudos to all you gents who put in the long rides and don’t grimace the whole way. I’m wondering what the opinions are on not just the chamois, but how about when you bring in butt butter or sportscreme? You can’t even wait 10 minutes after the ride and not feel that you’ve got a bad experiment happening in your drawers; especially on a cold day. By the way, I resorted to the butt butter after my cheeks fell asleep (yeah,yeah, yeah, I know, try getting out of the saddle) and the chamois rubbed off nice patches of flesh off of my cheekies that left sweet little scars for several months. I know…I’m hot, don’t all call at once.

   Recumbent is sounding pretty good right now though, minus the nut bag visual.

10. Comment by tayfuryagci | 12.15.2006 | 9:30 am

    hiney-calluses? I think calluses on your ischial tuberosities (sit bones) would be pretty uncomfortable when off the bike. And I hear you on everything you mention about chamoises. Let’s break the bonds of the slave drivers! Let’s break the shackles imposed upon us by the evil men of Cannondale and other massive bike corporations! Let’s go… Commando!

    and again, hiney calluses?

11. Comment by Terri | 12.15.2006 | 10:02 am

    I for one like my chamois. I would be even happier if it were the thickness of a plump, down pillow. It is gross after a ride, but I am willing to endure the grossness in order to avoid the pain and numbness of direct contact with the saddle.

12. Comment by sans auto | 12.15.2006 | 10:34 am

    I don’t know if I could go without chamois or not, my problem is seems, and shorts with chamois don’t have seems in that area which is why I wear them.

    Any ride over 10 minutes with civilian clothes will give me in-grown hairs in those areas that come in contact with the saddle. My 40 minute commute includes chamois… every day, no exceptions.

13. Comment by regina | 12.15.2006 | 11:13 am

    sans auto, testify brother, it IS the seems, for the ladies a nice lycra short would be volley ball shorts, they too seem to be without seems in bad places. I do not think they make them for men.

14. Comment by Ben | 12.15.2006 | 11:38 am

    I wear shorts with chamois most of the time. The exception being in triathlons (and some training rides) where I’ll wear shorts or a trisuit with what is known as a “tri pad”. Said item consists of a bit of fluff sewn into the garment to a thickness of approximately 11 microns. I don’t tend to find these items any better than no chamois at all. it should be noted that on a tri bike you are putting much of your weight on an area that is not designed for sitting on and is somewhat further forward than one’s sit bones so forward padding is appreciated (on the days it doesn’t rub).
    Back when I was a poor student I used to ride 50 miles a day in regular sports shorts. The first couple of miles would be agony until the adrenaline kicked in but otherwise all was fine. I can’t conceive of that these days.

15. Comment by Lmouse | 12.15.2006 | 11:49 am

    Chamois technology is woefully out of date. It would seem to me that some clever graduate student could really make a name for him/herself by coming up with something better. As my Dad used to say, “If they can put a man on the moon…”

16. Comment by Sandie R. | 12.15.2006 | 11:58 am

    I could go either way but most of the time I wear them with padding cos it is harder to find shorts without but my winter tights are sans pad. I find padding most helpful on the trainer which I am now banished to because I have a broken ankle.

17. Comment by Jill | 12.15.2006 | 12:15 pm

    After layering up nylon leggings, polyester long johns, thick polar fleece pants and a windproof/waterproof outer shell, I’ve pretty much found Shammy to be a mute point.

18. Comment by Lins - Australia | 12.15.2006 | 12:30 pm

    My view on whether chamois is a good thing?

    After fiddling with the bikes I test ride them along the patio (length of house) and around to the apron behind the garage and back again. 2 laps in normal shorts is more than enough both on the sit bones and the girly parts.

19. Comment by Al Maviva | 12.15.2006 | 12:49 pm

    Hey, that’s a great idea. No chamois. Then we can do what the TdF riders did, way back in the day. Buy a 2 pound hunk of steak at the start of the day, wrap it in brown paper, and sit on it all day. At the end of the day, your @ss is as good as can be expected, the steak is tender, and you can sit down to a delicious steak dinner.

    Of course the odor of stale Spalm is overwhelmingly turbulent, to use the medical terminology provided by a physician who is well known to your readers, but only the people around us will notice the foul stench because the searing pain from our bleeding butts will pretty much shut down all of our senses, except for that perceptive bundle of nerves that takes notice of searing @ss pain.

    Yeah, I know some people who ride without chamoises. But then I know some people who ride in cotton briefs under their shorts too. That doesn’t make it a good idea.

20. Comment by BotchedExperiment | 12.15.2006 | 12:55 pm

    Tinker Juarez doesn’t ever use shorts with pads in them, except after about 3 days during the RAAM.

    I tried Brad’s suggestion of cutting the pad out of a pair of bike shorts earlier this summer. I got rubbed. Bad. And not on a place where I’d like to build up resistance, if you know what I mean. So, for me, the pad is not about the butt.

    In support of no-chamoisessess, I’ve found that wearing two pair of bike shorts is sure to give me bad saddle sores, and that my shorts with the thinnest pads are the ones that give me the fewest sores if I’m doing long rides.

21. Comment by Tom | 12.15.2006 | 12:59 pm

    I’m a chamois guy with one huge condition: it must be a good chamois. Anyone else remember the days of having budget restraints lead to buying shorts that looked “good enough?” First ride, ok. Second ride, like nothing. Third ride, another fine abrasive from the people at 3M.

22. Comment by sans auto | 12.15.2006 | 1:13 pm

    Underwear with cycling shorts? I vaguely remember trying that once when I was 13 or so. I haven’t done it since, but I occasionally hear arguments on the subject. Do people really think that’s an OK thing to do?

23. Comment by Dawn M. | 12.15.2006 | 1:19 pm

    I’m a triathlete. I truly appreciate the chamois because on race days I wear a pair of shorts with a tri “pad”. As the poster before me mentioned, I wouldn’t really call it a pad. About halfway through the bike portion of a race, I’m always wondering if it would really be so bad to swim in cycling shorts with a real chamois, how long would it really take for the chamois to dry, and couldn’t I run in bike shorts with a chamois? I wonder how much chafing you’d get from a 13 mike run in bike shorts with a real chamois…

24. Comment by barry1021 | 12.15.2006 | 1:19 pm

    I am with Fodder on this one, I already get enuf snickers and comments in my gear.

    Hey Lizbizycle, that sounds like a fascinating medical condition. There are many people on the Board, like Botched (who is actively saving the entire world) and Al Maviva (ESPECIALLY Al M.) with sophisticated knowledge of bike-related medicine. Please post pictures. Hey! I am trying to help…..
    b21

25. Comment by chutneyboy | 12.15.2006 | 1:53 pm

    Well I like a good chamois, but I think there has been a move away from good chamois. I distinctly remember riding about 70 miles of the White Rim about 14 years ago on a fully rigid bike with a cheap pair of Performance or some such shorts and I could barely sit in the saddle the next day. A year later I rode the same ride with a nice pair of Pearl Izumis and was much happier the next day. No I didn’t have a different saddle or more exposure to it, it was just the shorts. I became a Pearl Izumi convert after that, but recently I bought some Pearl Izumi shorts and they have so much padding and stuff that I feel like I’m wearing a full diaper. They are definitely designed for the tender butts.

    To answer your specific questions, yes I wear a chamois, no I didn’t as a kid. What’s changed? Probably the big difference is income. There was no way I (or my folks) were going to pay $60++ for a pair of shorts fergodssake. Of course, I also ride more now, but I do remember some mighty uncomfortable chafing situations on my early bike tours in the 80s.

    So, yes a good chamois helps, but it shouldn’t have excessive padding and you need to get out of the shorts into a nice pair of cotton boxers almost immediately after dismount.

    -m.

26. Comment by brett | 12.15.2006 | 1:58 pm

    hey, if you want to take chances, go for it… it’s not a toughness issue. it’s a “maintain feeling in delicate places” issue. i simply NEED blood flow through the taint. i don’t think i really want to toughen that up!

    let me know how it works out for you… i think you’re going to crack on your first 3 hour training ride. and if you don’t crack, you will most likely not be “performing well” afterwards!

27. Comment by beakasaurus | 12.15.2006 | 3:21 pm

    I wear cheapo bike shorts for rides 2 hours or longer, not for commuting. I’m curious…are Xpensive shorts worth it?

28. Comment by Scott R | 12.15.2006 | 6:34 pm

    When I was a youth I had a Schwinn Stingray with a banana seat and after market, but not really optional for 10 year old boys in my neighborhood, playing card and clothes pin attachment for simulated motorcycle sound effects. The chamois would have been overkill since the banana seats were at least an inch and a half thick. Mine looked similar to this ( http://www.bikeicons.com/1970s%20Schwinn%20Sting%20Ray%20Fastback%20Boys.html ) but it was purple.

    My take on the chamois/commando debate is this this. The pros use them so there’s got to be a reason. Think about it. Those guys are such weight wienies that they’ll do anything and pay any price to shave 50 grams off the weight they have to haul up Mount Ventoux. Yet they still wear chamois. Why? I’ll tell you why. Because even though they look ridiculous when they step off the bike they know that they will be able to ride the next day because they don’t have saddle sores. The same holds true for us as well. With a sore butt we’ll ride less often. And for me when it comes to the ride less/look like a dork dichotomy I stand with the dorks. Ask my wife, she’ll vouch for my dorkiosity.

29. Comment by Al Maviva | 12.15.2006 | 6:44 pm

    Tinker Juarez doesn’t ever use shorts with pads in them

    Tru dat. And Superman stops trains by stepping in front of them, holding up his left arm and bracing his foot against the ties. I would recommend trying either.
    I’m noticing a couple cracks in the range of opinion here, so to speak. They are no chamois, cheap thin chamois, fat chamois, and nice chamois commenters.

    No chamois people seem to have some freaky-deaky thing going on. “So when I passed Jeremy Bishop at Nationals and was freestylin’ in my ragin’ baggies, my sac felt great.” Or, “you know, at Kona last year – and you have a lot of time to think at the IronMan, but not as much time when you’re as fast as I am – at Kona, I was thinking, man, I have no problem knocking out 110 miles in my Speedo, but those last two miles…” Or, “my vintage Brooks Model 1500 BC, which is made out of petrified pterydactyl leather, has beaten my ass into a pan shape, which oddly enough exactly the shape of the sadle, and while the first 61 years were tough, well, it’s doing a lot better now. You’ll find that the human butt can adapt nicely to the Brooks saddle, once you’ve taken time to break the butt in with turpentine, and ride on it a lot. Why, my saddle is nearly as comfortable as cheese burnt onto the bottom of a frying pan.” For you folks… stop it. You are freaks. What works for you, doesn’t necessarily work for humans.

    The cheap chamois folks all have the same story. “Man, my ass hurts, but hey, think of the money I saved buying the low end shorts at Performance. Man, I was bummed when they bought Nashbar, Nash used to have these $9 shorts I swore by… By the way, do you know of a good HMO? My co-pays are okay, but specialist visits are $50, and these proctologist and dermatologist visits are killing me.” And, “after the Lotoja 200, I took the chamois out and used it to sand down this lovely butternut armoire, which Norm featured on New Yankee Workshop.” For you people… YES! A NICE CHAMOIS MAKES THAT MUCH DIFFERENCE! DROP THE $100! Some basic Castellis with the KISS chamois might do the trick, or maybe the Etxe Ondo’s or the Sugois with the crazy material…get the bibs though, it always keeps the chamois in just the right place, and maximizes the value of the nice chamois. If you had to, the Elite and Ultra bibs at Performance are actually pretty good and they seem to be made by the same folks that make Voler, which is a pretty decent brand. The nicer shorts material is also worth it on longer rides, feels better on the legs. Find out what thickness you like though, most high end manufacturers make 2 or 3 weights of chamois, and the most expensive and thickest isn’t always the best. Yes, really, it makes an enormous difference, primarily if you are logging big seat time, over 8 hours a week, or doing at least one 3+ hour ride each week. A little chamois butter or body glide on the ‘t’ain’t, and you’ll be ready to roll. The difference isn’t major for shorter rides of 90 minutes or less, pretty obvious for 2-3 hour rides, and if you’re doing some 5 or 8 hour days in the saddle, it may make all the difference.

    As for the fat chamois people… I’ve tried fat chamoises. Even when they are dry, it feels like sitting on a bag of jello. It’s squishy, oocky, and nasty. When a fat chamois is soaking wet, it’s like sitting on a hunk of something too disgusting to contemplate, like a 10 gallon garbage bag of snail snot. You know what? You people who like sitting on that are total perverts. Completely warped. You people sicken me.

30. Comment by Jsun | 12.15.2006 | 7:15 pm

    ya, what he said

31. Comment by Teamfubar | 12.15.2006 | 8:31 pm

    I didn’t see TWO chamois in anyones post. A few years back at the good ol’ 24 Hours of Moab, after one of my teammates had his @$$hole pounded up to his esophogus and couldn’t take it anymore, he put on TWO pairs of lycra shorts. His taint felt great but his “boys” couldn’t breathe because of all the lycra compression going on, so it was a wash. Yea to chamois, nay to no chamois!

32. Comment by BotchedExperiment | 12.15.2006 | 8:56 pm

    Call me old fashioned. Call me prudish. I just don’t like women talking about tri-pads. I mean isn’t that why we have women-doctors?

    Tammy Thomas is back in the news. Look at this image:
    http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/11333.0.html

    You know, the bottom line on chamoisi is that when you put in the mega mega mega miles and your super thin and fit like me, you really need a little cusion down there.

33. Comment by The Weak Link | 12.16.2006 | 5:51 am

    Until Lance Armstrong stops wearing it, you can take my shammy when you can pry it out of my cold dead buns.

34. Comment by Nathan | 12.16.2006 | 7:57 am

    Chamois and chamois creme (preferably the Assos version) are a must on anything more than a ride across campus. I also agree that spending the money on a good chamois and bibs makes a huge difference. I originally bought some of those crappy cheap chamois shorts and now they just never get worn because everything else is so much more comfortable.

35. Comment by barry1021 | 12.16.2006 | 3:57 pm

    Al said: And, “after the Lotoja 200, I took the chamois out and used it to sand down this lovely butternut armoire, which Norm featured on New Yankee Workshop.”

    I think I just peed myself laughing so hard……time to change into a clean chamois. YES THAT”S RIGHT!! I LIKE THEM SO MUCH I WEAR THEM 24/7!! Whaddya going to do about it??!??! I can now buy a car without the premium seating option, I laugh at them at work when they give me the 20 year old chair that was built at a time when people thought ‘ergonomic’ had to do with the Russian space program, and you, Father, go ahead and sermonize all you want cuz I am A-OK right here on this beautiful faux oak plywood bench, yes sirree! And finally, to tie the last two FC posts together, I have found that chamois creme is an excellent mayonaise substitute in a pinch.
    b21

36. Comment by Born4Lycra | 12.16.2006 | 10:08 pm

    Let’s see
    1. Your saddle has gotten smaller – yep
    2. You’ve gotten bigger -yep
    3. You ride longer – much yep
    4. You’ve gotten older – much much yep
    and then there is the other 4th reason
    4. We’re suckers – nope.
    I rode for a long time with just Nike tri shorts and eventually got over the nappy look thing and went to Santini Bib Shorts with varying style of chammies (plural – I can verify this I have a french name) and would never go back. Apparently the nappy look suits me and then there is the all round comfort it affords front, back and the bit imbetween.
    Chammies Rule OK!

37. Comment by BIg Mike In Oz | 12.17.2006 | 1:11 am

    b21… “I have found that chamois creme is an excellent mayonaise [sic] substitute in a pinch.”

    Well that’s nothing compared to this… I have found that mayonnaise is an excellent chamois butt’r substitute in a pinch. Especially if you have to ride your bike home from the BBQ.

38. Comment by BIg Mike In Oz | 12.17.2006 | 1:12 am

    I would sooner let the hair grow back on my legs than go without a chamois. But it’s gotta be a good one. There is a correct thickness, a correct texture and a correct pliability. And every arse on the planet has a different set of “correct” criteria.

    Therefore everyone who has posted saying their opinion is best, is right. Except the recumbent rider and the no-chamois freaks. They will never be right as long as my chamois points to the ground.

    … and the plural of chamois (sham-ee) is chamoi (sham-wa).

39. Comment by KatieA978 | 12.17.2006 | 2:24 pm

    *raises hand tentatively*

    I fully expect to be majorly heckled for the following question, so please feel free.

    As a newbie to “proper” cycling (i.e. not playing around in my street or riding to a friend’s house, but actually cycling an event), what the hell is a chamois? And the word “pad” sounds like you have an incontinence problem… please tell me that’s not a side effect of too much cycling??!!

    *let the ridiculing begin*

40. Comment by walter | 12.17.2006 | 5:06 pm

    what Al M said. I couldn’t say it any better.

    Fatty, please, PLEASE tell me your next post won’t be about the wonders of Brooks saddles, or why toeclips are really superior to clipless… Just because you like to torture yourself doesn’t mean the rest of us need to suffer… does it?

41. Comment by Born4Lycra | 12.17.2006 | 5:59 pm

    Katie unfortunately you have posted a request for information that actually needs an informed sensible and technically correct response which I fear none of us are confident enough to have a crack at. I could say the chamois is the liner in the crotch region of the bike pants design to fit between us and the bike saddle as an aid in comfort but it seems woefully inadequate a description. Originally as others have said it was leather but has now been superseded by various synthetic forms with gel inserts and antibacterial layers etc. I believe the shape varies between mens and ladies knix but the girl riders I know here in Oz argue the mens shape is more comfortable for them. I’m not touching the incontinence bit because that is just scary. Cheers and hoping others will hop in with more technical help.

42. Comment by DP Cowboy | 12.18.2006 | 12:59 pm

    this is a late reply, because I have weekend responsibilities with the holidays, visitors, family, and all…sorry.

    Chamois is deerskin, isn’t it..the real leather stuff, like that stuff used in old wool shorts and even the later lycra versions back in the 60’s through 80’s. Then ‘pad inserts’ were developed and are getting better every couple of years…as in NO PAIN AT ALL better. I simply can’t believe how much easier shorts and their care are now, as opposed to in yesteryear. I just wash them and dry them and wear them, and keep the ‘ahem’ ‘area’ clean…a little powder once a week…no problem. In the old days we washed the shorts, air dried them, wiped the chamois down on EVERY ride with Desitin, or some cream, or A & D (don’t ask), or something. Whenever we did some event that was two stages in a day, it was difficult. Having 10 pairs of shorts was like, required, because of all the washing and treatment and nonsense. Now, it is easier.

    That said, finding the shorts with the pad insert that fits YOU is the most important thing. When that happens, but thre or four pairs of those shorts or knickers, and stay with that good thing. Same goes with seats.

    Is Al Maviva going to do the B5 weight contest again this year…huh Al?
    Cowboy

43. Comment by Lisa B | 12.19.2006 | 1:25 pm

    Tammy Thomas? Contraception used by someone with a 5 o’clock shadow should not cause testing problems, I’m just saying.

44. Comment by ScruffySpokes | 12.28.2006 | 1:43 pm

    Fatty, your very right about the bacteria alien race issue that crops up when we sweat for more than 5 minutes into our shorts, my padded shorts are probably the one item of laundry I’m commited to washing even when it doesn’t look dirty.
    I think a cammy with the “thickness of a plump, down pillow” that is also sweat proof should be the next on a bike inventors list. Yes I look like I’m wearing Depends, but it really does beat the otherwise all inclusive overly detailed view that tight lycra creates.

45. Comment by roni, israel | 01.4.2007 | 12:47 pm

    i’m a girl. 18.5 half ironman.

    and i have too training “thingis” for down there. my only pair of cycling pants that i use for a year and a half, and my triathlon suit. so i guess you can say i’m riding “free”. and it hurts, really hurts.

    don’t do that. really, don’t.

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47. Comment by cyclegoddess | 01.31.2009 | 6:42 am

    I only have two words to say why us chix wear em ‘ bruised bits.’ Lord love ya,You men folk have no idea of what sort of wierd ,bad and unspeakable things that compression does to mucous membranes.
    Considering the sorts of trail you guys ride, Im not surprised you deny chamois.By the time you get out of traction you’ll have forgotten those saddle sores!
    Also, dislocating your shoulder( fatty) and having it pulled back into shape and going ON WITH THE RIDE( later blog) pretty much overules a sore bottom!!
    But stii, chamois make me feel less likely to be impaled on my seat post, a la Vlad tempes Dracul style.

48. Comment by Rid of Sores | 03.15.2009 | 12:05 am

    Appreciate the info guys, thanks

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