I’m looking for baggy outer shorts. I have padded spandex inner shorts, but I don’t like to expose the world to my (ahem) bulges, so I usually cover up with baggy shorts. The problem is I’m kind of round (hence the bulge) - my belly is a bit bigger than my waist, and shorts will often slide down to my waist (and then potentially to my ankles) unless they’re cinched up good and tight.
What happened to a good ol’ draw string? Almost all the shorts I’ve seen local shops carry are expensive shorts with fancy securing systems that don’t work for me. The ones that have tapes at the back I can’t seem to get tight enough. Snaps at the front pop when I bend over. I’m currently using Fox Rangers, which at least have a belt that I can snug, but the fastener for the belt is a hook that I’ve snapped.
I bought my Endura bike shorts off Chain Reaction. They come with a liner and they’re baggy! They also come with a snap on belt in case you need them and the material of the shorts is fairly sturdy (far thicker than the fox shorts in Sportchek). It also has a bunch of pockets and water repellant material
I wear cut off jeans as shorts at times, specially when it’s wet. Nothing tougher than denim. I also just wear a sport short with a draw sting. Think soccer shorts and such. There is no rule that says you most use a cycling specific outer layer.
The zipper broke in my shorts once, so I removed the zipper and replaced it with a long strip of velcro. I sewed it right over the top snaps, so no more popping of snaps (had the same problem) either. I use a cheap belt I bought at Old Navy to tighten the shorts to my comfort level - had the same problem not getting the back velcro tight enough. They’re Dakine Dropout shorts BTW.
some of the new short/liner combos come with leashes to attach the short to the liner. I find these help, my liners stay up and help hold my shorts up.
I used to have a short/liner combo from sugoi until the button decided to quit. I’ve since switched to a bibshort with a pair of woods stretchy trail short. Great combo IMO.
A lot of my older riding shorts have the liner sewn in all the way around. The Fox Rangers had little strips marked with scissors attaching the liner to the outer short. I left them uncut for a while, but did find the liner would sometimes get twisted around. I did cut them to separate the liner from the outer. I guess I should have left them attached.
A while ago I used MEC Rad shorts as an outer short over spandex riding shorts, but the Rad shorts started to wear from chafing on the saddle and I liked them too much to destroy them too soon, and stopped riding with them.
