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Sick of Spandex shorts? Why not try some more attractive women’s specific cycling pants?

Kickstarter campaign to fund manufacturing of vintage inspired cycling underwear with chamois built in

Love riding to work but hate walking into the office in full Lycra? If you’re looking for a more comfortable way to wear civilian clothes on a longer commute, these cycling chamois pants from Urbanist might be right up your street.

The ‘vintage inspired’ women’s underpants come in two styles, a hispter-short named Brigitte, and a sexier Brazilian style mesh number called Bettie.

Both are equipped with a sewn-in chamois, which looks to be decent quality, and the underwear is cut high at the back to avoid builders’ crack when bent over the bars.

Handy for Boris bikers too, these pants wouldn’t look out of place under your workwear, and might just make your ride that bit easier.

They’re currently just prototypes, but their creator, Christiana Guxman from Austin, Texas, has set up a Kickstarter page requesting the $25,000 dollar that it’ll take to go into production. At the time of writing, she’s only $4,000 short of her target.

She writes: “Unlike traditional riding shorts with a chamois, these panties will fit discreetly under your clothing. You can wear them under any pants, shorts, skirts, denim cutoffs, and even non-cycling specific work out clothes you already own.

“The foam insert alleviates the discomforts of riding while remaining discreet, allowing you to flaunt your own unique style.”

The underpants are $50 a pair, or $90 for two.

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12 comments

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hairyairey | 10 years ago
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Sarah Barth - the groin is the area where your leg rubs against your abdomen. It contains your femoral artery too which supplies blood to your leg.

Unless you've lost a leg you have two groins.

I think you are mistaking groin for crotch.

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Matt eaton | 10 years ago
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Not sure what prevents you from using a conventional cycle short under your 'normal' clothes. This seems like pure novalty.

Also, if your journey is long enough to justify the extra padding (at least 10 miles surely) I'd imagine that proper kit and a change of clothes would be best anyway.

@jimm, what do you do if you have a longer journey to make, say a 10-15mile commute? Would you still tackle this in your suit or would the bike typically be left at home? (I know this sounds a bit sarcastic but its not intended; I'm genuinely interested).

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robert_obrien | 10 years ago
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You don't need cycling-specific kit for a Cyclehire bikes. Journies are typically short and, specifically, the saddles are enormous and soft.

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KiwiMike | 10 years ago
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{HughGrantVoice} Hello Mummy {/HughGrantVoice}

But seriously, trust an American to come up with such a dumb idea. No doubt they'll sell like hot pants in countries where 'cycling' is a thing only to be done as a 'sport' or 'recreation', and requires 'special clothes'.

First question for anything concerning 'fashion/normal' cycling apparel: Would it sell in the Netherlands or Denmark.

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jimm replied to KiwiMike | 10 years ago
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KiwiMike wrote:

First question for anything concerning 'fashion/normal' cycling apparel: Would it sell in the Netherlands or Denmark.

Speaking as someone who lives in Copenhagen, Denmark, and cycles regularly through Denmark, Germany, and Netherlands: no.

We tend to ride with whatever clothing we need for the day, whether it's a suit, shorts, skirts, jeans, or whatever. The spandex-wearing crowd is a very small minority, except for the weekend wedgie warriors.

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Al__S | 10 years ago
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As was raised in the reddit/r/bicycling these are not wholly original, but do seem to be unusual in combining "sexy" sesigns with actual decent pads- existing ones appear to be either "granny pant" style with a decent chamois or "sexy" with a bit of non-specialist foam.

The tri-pad in the skimpier ones should be pretty discreet.

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PJ McNally | 10 years ago
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2 groins, not 1, look it up. You've a left one, and a right one.

Just because football commentators get it wrong doesn't mean we have to!

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Alan Tullett | 10 years ago
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Given the amount they've raised there must be some kind of market for them. But Aldi had casual cycling shorts with detachable pants with a thin chamois that could be used for this purpose and we also both have some separate padded pants for those times you want to go on a bit of a ride on a racing bike but not in full cycle clothing e.g. trip to country pub, friends who live a little far away but not too much etc.

Not so trendy but a darn sight cheaper and no lace!

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ridein | 10 years ago
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The demographics market for this is a woman taking short casual rides. Wouldn't they just get a better/thicker saddle instead of searching for "cycling" pants/panties? But who am I to understand women's logic?

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Nick T | 10 years ago
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How do they avoid the undesirable massive-arse-due-to-chamois that is normally associated with padded shorts? At least with a pair of shorts it's obviously down to the clothing, I bet with these you'll just look like you've got a bad case of Chalfonts.

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Sarah Barth | 10 years ago
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Both groins?! Last time I checked I only had the one... maybe it's a man thing.

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PJ McNally | 10 years ago
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Mmm chafing - lace edging in both groins, anyone? There's a reason cycling shorts continue down onto the legs.

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