OK, I am getting sick and tired of the pain associated with riding in jeans! 
So I am thinking of getting some padded cycling shorts or tights that I can throw on when I go out to practice on my lunch hour. I am wondering if any of the ladies (or guys) out there have any recommendations.
Thanks,
Cherie
Cherie-
Any padded bicycling shorts will be better than jeans. Try:
http://www.performancebike.com/
for a variety of inexpensive womenâs cycling shorts. (Is the apostrophe in the right place for the possessive plural?) Or look into the stock at sporting goods and bicycle stores which will be not as extensive but more expensive. (Iâve got a good lyric going here, now.)
No.
Lewis
Cherie,
When shopping for cycle shorts for a female friend a while back, quite often when asking for womens shorts we got the reply: âJust use the mens sizes as lycra stretches well.â
Dont believe it. Whoever tells you this is a bloke with no idea. Get proper womens shorts as they will be far more comfortable because they are sized to fit. Also ermember to wear nothing under the shorts to avoid chafing from seams.
Mikey.
Hey Cherie!
My favorite bike shorts are the Elite womenâs Cool Max/lycra shorts from Performance. Theyâre around $50 on sale. They have a lightly padded chamois crotch and are very comfortable, even after 14-mile rides. Of course, having an air seat doesnât hurt either, and you still might need to take a break every so often by standing out of the saddle.
Iâd also tried a pair called the Performance Century Gel Short, but I found that the padding was a too thick and was concentrated too much in the rear. This actually made it awkward to sit on the seat correctly. Too bad no one makes dedicated unicycling shorts with the padding mostly in the center where we need it!
Iâd read a bunch of threads on this newsgroup before buying my shorts and learned that 1) shorts should fit snugly, not too tight or too loose, 2) they should be worn without underwear, and 3) you get what you pay for as far as quality. I took a bad sliding fall a while back and my thigh under the shorts got all banged up, but the shorts showed no signs of abuse. I recently bought some straight legged lycra/fleece bike pants from Nashbar (also around $40-50) to wear over them when itâs cold. This particular pair is great because I can ride to work and wear them all day- they look like normal, well-made stretch pants, not at all like bike tights.
Hope this helps!
man jeans⌠i donât know i just use shorts all the time, including snow, but for regular riding any shorts are ok, but for tricks espically when your sanding up do tight shorts
I really like Performance âCentury Gelâ shorts. You can get them for around $40 on sale.
cherie <forum.member@unicyclist.com> wrote:
> So I am thinking of getting some padded cycling shorts or
> tights that I can throw on when I go out to practice on my lunch hour.
> I am wondering if any of the ladies (or guys) out there have any
> recommendations.
Look for a pad that doesnât have any seems or stiching lines running
front to back. These seem to be common in mens shorts and some of the more
expensive ladies shorts. Not good for girlie unicyclists. Line of
stiching side to side near the front of the pad ( normally to introduce a
toweling section at the front) is fine however.
I have a selection of cheap pairs (20-30ukp each) from Halfords, Millets
and the LBS, branded MY Bike, Bonin and Ron Hill.
British Unicycle Convention #9 April 19-21 2002
Unicycle Hockey, Games, Muni rides, Quidditch and Barn dance
Harry Cheshire High School, Habberley rd, Kidderminster
http://www.unicycle.org.uk/buc9/
Thank you all for the great information!
Anne, where did you buy the Nashbar pants that you mentioned. I could not find anything like you described on the Performance web site. Something I can wear at work is such a great idea.
Thanks,
Cherie
A tangential suggestionâŚ
If anyone is handy and enthusiastic with a sewing machine (and/or on a budget), spandex cycling shorts are apparently easy and economical to make (Note: this is second hand knowledge, as I can just barely reattach a button).
I received a pair of padded lycra cycling shorts as a gift from my mother. She had sewn them in very little time with very little money from a purchased pattern, bringing their cost (labour not included) to around $10CAN or so. The seams are nicely placed and can be altered in future models if they prove to be problematic. A double pad of scrap polar fleece was used as the wicking pad â this was suggested as an alternative to buying an âofficialâ crotch pad. So far, these shorts appear to perform equally to similar shorts I have purchased for upwards of $50CAN.
I canât yet comment on how well the polar fleece pad holds up compared to the manufactured pad (I broke my ankle attempting to telemark, so I wonât be cycling for a few months), but I anticipate that its life will be shorter. But hey, for ~$10 and a mother who is distracted from making me poofy blouses, who cares? And the pad can likely be removed and replaced with a new pad when it wears out. Last advantage: for anyone finds it difficult to find cycling clothes that fit them well, a competant sew-er could customize the shorts to accomodate ânon-typicalâ body shapes for whom cycling clothes are not typically manufactured.
Cycling shortsâŚanother reason that I should have taken eighth grade Home EconomicsâŚ
andrea
yes, the apostrophe is correct
-r.
It is possible to buy padded underwear making any pants cycle pants. Basically above the knee underwear with a chamois sewn in. Wearing these make any shorts/pants bike shorts/pants.
In Canada you can buy them at Mountain Co-op (www.mec.ca).
If you donât want to go the cycle short/pant route you could try warm up pants or tear-aways. No bulky seams.
They donât work. They bunch up where they should not bunch up. They donât stretch like the Lycra/Spandex cycling shorts. The only thing they are good for is making you part with your money. Totally ineffective for their intended purpose.
Shush! Iâm trying to undermind Harperâs confidence. I wanted him to believe the lie. 
Lewis
Most of the time, spandex/cotton shorts are pretty normal for casual wear in the summer, but other times itâs not always great. (like for public wear) I discovered Jazz pants, or dance pants. These are spandex and or lyrca pants that fit tight around the butt and thighs, and then flare out past the knee. (cool style) Iâve always found running pants similar. these are great because all of them have spandex and or lycra (also very nice) and they fit good around the âseatâ area. no zippers like jeans either. any exercise pants are great! I got some cool ones at jockey recently and target always has an exercise clothing area. Then again, I donât ride long distances, but these exercise pants look pretty classy compared to regular bike shorts.
http://www.ultima-bikewear.com/
This brand was the first company making women-cycle-shorts.
They are the best since the shorts excist of many parts (what make them cost more as average).
I use these (well the male-version) for over 10 years now.
Leo.
Well, then, thank you Rebecca. (Refresher: the phrase was âinexpensive
womenâs cycling shortsâ.) I was trying to learn on this important
subjectâŚ
Klaas Bil
On Sat, 9 Feb 2002 17:56:53 +0000 (UTC), Animation
<forum.member@unicyclist.com> wrote:
âTo trigger/fool/saturate/overload Echelon, the following has been picked automagically from a database:â
âSUAEWICS, Fortezza, Viriiâ
Once before I had a comfortable saddle I tried my wifeâs Cannondale shorts
as they had a wider padded insert than menâs shorts - I even tried them back
to front once to protect the area of my thighs that was chafing!
Anyone else cross-dressed on a uni?
Leo White
âleoâ <forum.member@unicyclist.com> wrote in message
news:a445ch$122$2@laurel.tc.umn.eduâŚ
> I use
> these (well the male-version) for over 10 years now.
>
> http://www.ultima-bikewear.com/
>
> This brand was the first company
> making women-cycle-shorts.
>
> Leo.
> They donât work. They bunch up where they should not bunch up.
> They donât stretch like the Lycra/Spandex cycling shorts. The only
> thing they are good for is making you part with your money. Totally
> ineffective for their intended purpose.
Another option is regular cycling shorts under regular street clothes. If
you donât like the spandex you can put up with whatever seams are in the
crotch of your street clothes.
Or do what I do these days, which is buy the mountain bike-type shorts,
which have the padded spandex inner layer and a ânormalâ outer layer. With
pockets!
JF
> They donât work. They bunch up where they should not bunch up.
> They donât stretch like the Lycra/Spandex cycling shorts. The only
> thing they are good for is making you part with your money. Totally
> ineffective for their intended purpose.
Another option is regular cycling shorts under regular street clothes. If
you donât like the spandex you can put up with whatever seams are in the
crotch of your street clothes.
Or do what I do these days, which is buy the mountain bike-type shorts,
which have the padded spandex inner layer and a ânormalâ outer layer. With
pockets!
JF