HELP: Cycling Shorts issue

[brownm68]

Hello All,

I need your help. My cycling shorts are wearing prematurely(upper inner thigh area). It's causing me an arm and a leg with replacing shorts every few months. The wear areas are always in the same place. I'm 5'11 and weigh 165 lbs(31-32 waist). I don't know what to do. Any suggestions you guys can offer will be greatly appreciated. If I can get this issue resolved, you can be assured a nice donation will be made to this awesome Forum. Thank you advance.:)

[christian]

What kind of saddle do you use? How much of a skirt does it have? What kind of post do you have?

[FlashUNC]

What's your care regimen for the shorts?

And all of what Christian asked as well.

[Dired]

Probably worth mentioning the brand/type of shorts you're using.

[leooooo]

Do you strap anything to the seat post?

I personally swapped to tube strapped beneath the saddle due to occasional scraping by the straps of a saddle bag.

[Richard]

If it is not from something like a seat bag or post clamp, rotate your saddle about 3 to 5 degrees away from the rub side. Won't affect your position, but will take care of the problem.

[lemondvictoire]

Can be the style and stitching on some saddles.....How about setup fit of your bike? Have someone watch you pedal seated and when you are standing on the pedals. Maybe there are some fit issues that are preventing smooth pedaling and hips are moving around to compensate. Good Luck......

[RonW87]

Can you post pics with you on the bike?

[Pierre]

I had the same issue (and am same body height/weight fyi). It came down to my inner thighs rubbing against the strap of the pouch which I had attached to the underside of my saddle. Thinking that this was being caused only by the strap that mounted to the seat post I took that off and left the bag hanging by the rail straps. Even that didn't do it as the shorts rubbed against the sides of the pouch itself. So, no more saddle pouches for me! I think it may also have something to do with the fact that my riding position has my knees coming in quite close to the top bar (i.e. my legs are pretty close together). It should also be noted that I've got my saddle pushed right to the back of the post also so even with no pouch installed, I still get some rubbing against the seatpost mount. Luckily it's a very smooth surface so while it does cause some wear on the shorts, it's not much.

[BenCalvert]

Ive messed up bibs in this location before because of rubbing on a tool roll that I use as a saddle bag.

[brownm68]

Thank you all for your help. The shorts I use are tyoically, Assos, Pearl Izumi and sometimes Castelli. I hand handwash them all(washer wreaks havoc on them). They all seem to wear prematurely in the area. I use Selle Italia Max Gel Flow saddle(s) - 150mm x 290mm length. The post of choice is Ritchey Carbon WCS. My saddle bag doesn't attached to seatpost(attaches to saddle rails). My seat bag is made by Arundel. I will try some of the suggestions you guys offered. Hopefully, I can resolve this, it's geeting pretty expensive. Thank you all again:)

[shovelhd]

The Arundel bags use Velcro as a closure. Be sure and wrap the end cleanly once it's fastened or this may be doing it. I also used to use a 3T setback seat post where the clamp rubbed on my shorts. Check that too.

[zap]

Same happened to me…previous model Assos bibs and an older Castelli. My problem is due to the fact that I ride a carbon saddle.

Sugoi RS bibs…..not a problem.

[makoti]

If you have a bag under the seat, and it attaches with a velcro loop, check that the "hook" side is completely covered by the "loop" side. I've ruined a pair or two on long rides where the strap came a bit loose & every time my leg went down it caught the strap. Very slowly tore a hole in the inner thigh. :mad:

[tiretrax]

Where are your shorts fraying - where you're on the saddle or on the inside of your thigh. I've had problems on the thigh from the velcro that wraps around the seatpost to hold my underseat (rail mounted) bag steady.

[ojingoh]

If the wear is in the same place, it might make sense to have somebody observe you pedal to see if you're sitting on the saddle squarely. Have someone follow you, especially when you put the hammer down, even if it's on a trainer. Ideally it's on your normal routes, maybe you do something going uphill that you don't do anywhere else.

FWIW most of us have some asymmetry and it can often show up in the highest friction area on the bike/person interface -- the inter thigh.

[Richard]

What Ojingoh said. The reason to put the saddle off center by a couple of degrees is to compensate for body misalignment (Hip tilt, leg discrepancy, etc.). A bike is fixed and presumably straight. Our bodies are not. Back when shorts were looser (mostly wool) your man parts could slip down there and this also made a bit of room for them (I kid you not).

[Bstone]

Move your kajanga to the other side