Merino knickers?

I’m not getting on with Lycra undershorts any more.

I think I need wicking, natural fibre stuff. Can you get merino pants?

yep.
howies (pretty good)
chocolate fish merino (best I’ve tried)
ice breaker (too lightweight/flimsy)
finisterre (not tried, other stuff good)

none of the above are padded – they are just boxers.

I’ve got a pair of Ibex 3/4 padded merino shorts from Always Riding – brilliant.

Sod the padding, my ass will just have to HTFU.

Best prices for the above?

Ground Effect do a Merino Lycra 3/4 with pad. Prices work out ok and they deliver suprsingly quickly. Didn’t get any customs charges last time i ordered either 😀

montezumas

When you said knickers you meant pants rather than 3/4s didn’t you…

ibex do some, as do de marchi

In what way are you not getting on with lycra?

Im sure Howies do or did merino avec pad.

Big **** off spots appear after I’ve been wearing it. It could be the time taken to drive home after a ride and get a shower, but it could be that they’re not letting the skin breathe and trapping moisture and bacteria. I don’t have any problems normally after running or gym sessions but a day or two after a ride, boom.

Yeah I meant pants.

hang on, you drive home in your rank sweaty lycra?

Sounds like you need to take a pack of baby wipes with you to a ride and get out of your lycra asap and have a quick ‘shower’.

Maybe wash you kit at 40 too – if you follow the manufacturers instructions and usually do it at 30…

😳 Yeah, I do. Although saying that if it’s a ride out of the door I get the same issues

Smartwool is about to do a merino cycling short. The main fabric is a mix of merino, nylon and lycra while the pad is a decent quality one covered with merino. That might sound great, but merino wool tends to hold water rather than wicking it, which means on longer rides, the pad tends to get soggy, which is bad news. The main fabric’s nice though in a thick, tough feeling sort of way.

you should probably change out of your lycra as soon as possible, clean your under carriage better and wash your lycra more often and better than you are currently. you filthy, dirty little boy

Well I’ll join in this thread, as I’m still after something I can wear all day under normal clothes, but has a proper pad to keep my bits out of the way when hopping on and off the uni. A small pad as you get in triathlon shorts would also be ideal – not doing huge mileages in them, and I’d rather the pad was less noticeable when walking around than in the Endura undershorts I have. I often wear my tri-shorts, but they’re not the most comfortable thing to wear all day – something similar in merino would be perfect, actually cotton would probably be fine.

Ultimate riding performance really isn’t that important for such an application – if I’m after that I’ll just wear normal lycra. Why do makers of undershorts prioritise riding performance over loafing comfort for something not really intended for serious riding?

Woah woah woah! You could eat your dinner off my bollocks, they are squeaky clean! Under carriage and shorts get a wash after every ride, asap! They do go in at 30 so I will try at 40 as suggested above. Shorts, that is.

Sometimes it’s not practical or possible to get changed as soon as you stop. End of ride pub stops for example. Although I suppose I could take a change in the camelbak and whip em off in the bogs

Found some which appear to be exactly what I’m looking for – though you should be able to guess the pricing from the URL (actually to be fair they were cheaper than I expected!)

http://www.rapha.cc/merino-boxers

That’s comparable with any of the others really

That’s comparable with any of the others really

You’re right – significantly cheaper than the Ibex offerings. I was just comparing with synthetic undershorts, though you’d expect merino to be more.

But here’s some cheaper ones

http://www.uk.lab-gear.com/cycling-clothing/biposto-merino-cycling-boxer-shorts

…until you see how much the shipping is 🙁

Ouch! Where are they coming from?

From Australia. Quite tempted to try and put a group buy together – sending on in the UK can only be a couple of quid.

If you don’t need the pad, just private bits-control and moisture management, then this might be an option: Falke Underwear

And half the price of the padded merino Raphas.

embers do a nice looking pair. I’ve only got some of their tops, but I really like them.

I use Some HH merino boxer shorts and they’re fantastic… never been a fan of padded under shorts.

Hey ‘aracer’ we can sort you out with better shipping costs on one item like the BiPosto, or can help with better costings on a group order. Drop me a line on ‘theworkshop at lab-gear dot com’ and we can sort something out.

Cheers!

Gerard

These are the Ibex one’s from Always Riding, gone up a bit! I have had mine a few years and they were only about £65 back then:

El Fito

merino wool tends to hold water rather than wicking it, which means on longer rides, the pad tends to get soggy, which is bad news.

That’s what I’d have expected.

Anyone who wears merino tops already knows what it gets like behind their pack and in the small of their back.

I wouldn’t want to be sitting in that.

I got some Rapha (dont hate me) merino boxxers with pad, they are ace!

I took them and a pair of generic padded shorts (not sure of model) on a 2 week tour in the US, it was hot so sweating a lot and the Rapha were spot on. They are quite thin so really do wick away the moisture, i ended up using them every day for a week with only occasional hand washing with no ill effects at all (unlike the other shorts, which chaffed like buggery as they seemed to stay wet).

http://www.rapha.cc/merino-boxers/

OP – I would really suggest being fussier about not overheating on rides where possible, changing out of shorts asap, maybe a change to a different ‘cleaner’ for post ride shower etc, rather than hoping that the ‘magic’ of merino would sort the issue…

I will try and minimise the situation as much as possible, there’s a couple of good tips here. I do think that synthetic fibres can’t be helping though