I have the ars* of a racing snake, i.e. scrawny. I’m fine on 50-ish mile rides, but 75 – 100 and my bot complains. The best I have is gel ones but I think they’re getting on and getting less effective. I use Brooks saddles on the road bikes. Any suggestions???

Minty arse lard ?

If only made something like Bum butter, but that you could smear on your ars*……

chapeau club shorts

You need to be much more specific about the discomfort. Is it chafing of the nether regions ? Is it numbness up front ? Is it pain in the ‘seat-bones’ ?

There are lots of variables here. If it’s just chafing then as already stated, some sort of cream might do (Assos or Chapeau come recommended). Sometimes too much padding in the shorts causes chafing, as can too much moisture/sweat from wearing winter baggies on top of lycra shorts.

Have you ever had good experiences with your current saddle ? If not, maybe try something else.

Since we are on a theme of not recommending shorts for the OP, i’ll suggest pedalling harder so more weight is taken through the feet and less through the saddle.

Decathlon, B’twin 500, 700 or Aerofit shorts, good value, fit well, sorted.

Disc Jockey, good point; pain in the seat bones only…..I have Brooks saddles on the road and Gravel bikes, but had the same issue at The Gravel Dash after about 80 miles on a Charge Spoon. I ride fixed gear, so am always pedalling…..

Castelli for shorts.
Seat bone pain might be saddle shape, height or position for/aft – which brooks are you on?

Raphe Core bibs and Sportful total comfort have just seen me thru Mayhem solo. I guess I was riding for 21 hours ish. Muc off arse lard works well too. Big pot for the money. I’m a skinny runt too. I’ve definitely found that that more expensive ones are better. ie Endura suit me better than Decathlon ( although the 900 line ones are nice), Rapha , Sportful, Assos suit me better than Endura.

Various Brooks. I seem to get on better with Swifts and Swallows. I also have sprung Brooks on a number of MTB. I’m doing a lot more miles than I was and have noticed 2 sort of flat spots on the bottom of my bottom. I’ve some v long rides lined up for next year, so need to sort this. I’ll start with some new shorts, as my existing ones may be past there best…I may need to look at slightly longer stems

Got DHB Aeron, Rapha Lightweight (and 3/4 winter shorts), Castelli and some Hincapie ones. The hincapie ones are shit. The DHB and Castelli ones are good but the best by a mile are the Rapha ones.

Yes I found myself thinking I may have to try Rapha, I guess you get what you pay for….

Never tried any of the Rapha shorts, but as mentioned somewhere above – the pad that Chapeau uses on their top-end stuff is brilliant, the red one is designed for a racy position on the bike & the green one is aimed at folk who ride a bit more upright. It’s made by Elastic Interface who also do Rapha & tons of others’ pads so there might be something similar out there at a lower price, it’s probably the most comfortable pad i’ve used out of many – looks like this:

Never wear padded shorts for anything under 30 miles.

Never wear padded shorts for anything under 30 miles

Knew someone like this, until the scarring under his perineum resulted in a painful condition of his gentlemanly parts and quite a major operation to remove calloused tissue. Can also cause impotence, but don’t let that stop you….

Never wear padded shorts for anything under 30 miles.

Out of interest, why not? 30 miles is likely a couple of hours on the road or 3 perhaps on the MTB, why would you not make things as comfortable as possible for that duration? Anything over about 30 mins I’ll throw some on.

Road rides I always wear them; why not?

I wear MTB padded pants with baggies over for any off road ride with Charge Spoon saddles, normally OK, but the last 20 miles of this year’s Gravel Dash were interesting. Thank heavens for Harry’s Rocks, out of the saddle yomping….

I’ll look into green padded Chapeau shorts as well, look good….