What is the point in mountain bike shorts? Whats wrong with other types of non specific shorts?

Are any mountain bike shorts available that don’t make the wearer look like some tit out of Waynes World? I’ve yet to see any.

no seams on the crotch.

?

Lack of seams, lots of pockets some of them zipped.

I’ve a pair of Endura Humvee and some old Gore shorts both of which are pretty plain and entirely suitable for a 47 year old

Morvelo RAD, look like other shorts just have all the right features for biking. Is this another badly aimed thread?

The rants on here are getting really poor. Not even a mention of how lycra is soooooo much better.

Gore Alp-X 2-in-1 – no performance compromises, worn them for 24 hours straight

no seams on the crotch.

why is that then? so they don’t rip?

Depends on the shorts really.
Typically MTB shorts are made of a much more robust material than normal shorts so they don’t rip the first time we fall off, and last a while with wet gritty mud grinding away between them and the saddle.

It’s to preven chafing in a sensitive area

I wear padded Lycra shorts under mine too

Got two old pairs of Gore ones, very subtle

It’s what they are made out of, and how they are cut. My casual shorts are cotton which a) wouldn’t last long being ground into a gritty saddle and b) would be really soggy and clingy in the wet. Also they are made to slide up the leg when pedalling, which SOME of my casual shorts do and some don’t.

You can get plain one’s and you don’t have to have 3/4 length.

I’ve not had chafing problems with lose combat regular shorts, but find the seems split, guess they just aren’t designed for constant pedaling movement.

My cycle shorts (humvees) seem to hold up a lot better.