Troy Lee Designs BP7605 (Padded) Shorts Review

Troy Lee Designs BP7605 Shorts

I really wanted a good pair of protective shorts, mostly to protect my rear from those awful tailbone falls when they happen. I also wanted to find some small to medium amount of armor for my hips and thighs. The other thing I required was a form of chamois.

Protection Level:
Great for medium-level protection shorts. The pads are made from semi-firm flexible foam. The larger pieces are reinforced with a harder foam outer skeleton. The pads cover a very large portion of your thighs and hips. The tailbone protection could be a little bit bigger, but it’s nice. The inner thigh pads are very soft, pillow-like, and I often forget they are even there. I took a hard forward fall the first day with these, landed on my thigh and hip and somersaulted. I was very glad I had the thigh and hip pads.

Comfort:
Very comfortable! I can’t even feel the padding. It’s all so flexible, well shaped, and spaced so that it really goes unnoticed when moving around. I was worried the tailbone pad might cause annoyance with saddle but it isn’t close enough to make contact with the seat. Chamois is so soft and conforming, I don’t feel it bunch up in or around the saddle at all. The inner thigh pads are perfect for me to avoid inner-thigh chafing from pumping up steep hills out of saddle. I imagine if you liked to do a lot of SIF tricks you would enjoy these pads as well.

Customization:
The only portion that can be removed are the pads along the outer thighs (but not the hips). Chamois, tailbone, hip, and inner thigh are all sewn into the design and cannot be removed.

Fit:
I am a size 33 waist, 6’ tall, with a 35" inseam with shoes on, I bought a Mens - Large. They fit amazingly. But for some reason, the lower leg openings have about 2.5 inches of extra fabric. This is strange because right where the padding starts it fits like a glove… I will probably fold it over onto itself and sew it up nice so it fits to me flush. I thought this would cause it to slip but I have had no real issue with these dropping down. The waistband is elastic, but there is no drawstring, or flesh-gripping material. I’m sort of amazed they don’t slide down at all.

Breathability:
It’s a standard cycle short material, and not any thicker than most riding shorts. It does have a lot of padding on your thighs and hip though, so you will get sweaty there. Although the pads are spaced out, it does not breath the best in that area. This could also be caused by my outer-shorts not allowing enough air to reach the shorts though. Also the chamois pad is fairly cushioned, so it can get soaked with sweat quite easily (all my riding shorts do this, and I don’t mind some air-conditioning down there…) I’ve considered NOT fixing the lower leg openings, so it vents a bit better.

Chamois:
Yes, a decent sized one, soft and cushy, feels good and padded. Good padding for crotch, and rear saddle. Go commando in these babies!

Durability:
These are not shorts I would wear without some kind of protection over them to keep the fabric from getting caught on something, or shredding when you slide across dirt and debris. I also believe that the shorts help hold up the BP7605s a bit.

I bought a pair of inexpensive DAKINE Pace Bike Shorts to go over them. These shorts have no liner, they are just an outer shell to keep from damaging your nice padded BP7605 shorts. The material of the Dakine shorts is almost like a swimsuit, but it is stretchy, feels pretty thin and breathes ok. If I could find an outer shell type short that was more porous, I would choose that. With that said, I’ve had 3 bad crashes in these on dirt and gravel, and all the stitching is fine, no tears or abrasions. I’m considering getting a belt with plastic buckle for the Dakine shorts, just so I can really cinch these up nicely.

Overall Opinions:
I really like the BP7605s. In hot weather 70+ degrees, they are a bit warm, but nothing terrible. I wore these today after a ride, without anything over them, and when a breeze kicked up my legs got super-cooled. So a more porous outer-short might be required for hotter climates.

Padding and chamois are all very comfortable and I don’t feel them when riding, or standing around.

The legs might need some minor adjustment on the lower openings, easily solved with a needle and some decent strength thread.

Waistband might need some adjustment to allow a draw-string or some way of attaching to your shorts. An easy solution would be buttons linking the 2 together, making the BP7605s like a liner for your outer shorts.

I give these a 9 out of 10. Which is pretty good considering how picky I am.