Women's Shorts?

[Moveitfred]

My wife asks me this morning to "find me a new pair of modestly-priced shorts" and wants to know if women-specific shorts are any good. I think by "any good" she is looking for a comfortable pad for her weekend rides of about 20-40 miles. Anyone have any thoughts/recommendations about these women-specific shorts I see in catalogs? Marketing hype? Or is there something about the design that suits women better?

[Bill Bove]

I sell womens shorts by Nike and Primal and so far I haven't had to take any back for any reason. The Primals are moderatly priced and have their unique designs, the Nikes have three price points, I sell them at 39.99 for entry level and 79.99 for their best ones. Nikes should be available at most TREK dealers.

[SManning]

I have personally found that women's specific cycling shorts are worth the money and are very different from guy's shorts. The Chamois is designed a little differently with more padding in different areas. I ride for a team that has a bunch of guys on it, so I get to wear men's shorts for some of my races. They are not the most comfortable thing out there for me but the guys seem to do o'kay with them.

I like Pearl Izumi Ultrasensor, they have a nice amount of padding on them. Another company to look at is Terry, they make cycling clothes and components specifically for women. They have many shorts in different pricepoints. Their clothing is a little more feminine as well, depending on your wife's tastes. Lots of cute floral skorts to wrap around cycling shorts and other neat jerseys. If I didn't race for a team and needed to wear their apparel, I think I'd buy some of my Jerseys from them.

Good Luck.

[M_A_Martin]

I've found that to get decent, women's specific shorts I have to spend $50 or more. I've also found that quite a few companies overpad women's shorts and cover the padding with some really awful material. But then, I don't ride an overpadded saddle either.
Another thing to consider is inseam length. Quite a few companies seem to give their women's shorts a shorter inseam regardless of the research on muscle compression...I like my shorts longer.


Here's my impressions of the shorts I have in the closet:
Terry - I have a pair of their baggy shorts for casual rides and they work well
Voler - (www.velowear.com) Decent shorts for the money, comfortable
Pearl Izumi - A step up from Voler but you either love that padding or hate it...one pair I have is very comfortable, the other doesn't work for me, one of the padding "contours" just hits me in the wrong place. They do have some of the nicest padding covering material that I've come accross.
Louis Garneu - overpadded + coarse material = chaffing...go figure.
Sugoi - minimal padding, but comfortable. Short inseam

[davep]

My wife has tried a couple different brands and likes the Peral Izumi best.