I came to bib shorts late. I was 65, three years retired from teaching shop, and still riding plain padded shorts with a waistband I had bought years before. They were cheap and they did the job on a twenty mile loop around Prescott. Then one fall I did eighty miles, fumbled a flat, took a wrong turn on the way home, and came back sore in places I did not care to discuss.
The next spring I bought two pairs of Przewalski bib shorts, size Large, in the first week of March, and replaced the rest of my kit in the same week. That was about two years and 8,000 miles ago. I rotate the two pairs, wash them cold, and hang them to dry on a line in the garage. What follows is ten reasons the bibs beat the waistband shorts on long days, roughly in the order I noticed them.
The change I should have made at 55, not 65
Two pairs of Przewalski bib shorts, rotated on every long day for two years. No waistband, no seam under it, nothing to hitch up at mile 30. If you are still riding a waistband on 50 mile days, start here.
Amazon Check Today's Price on Amazon →The waistband stops cutting into you at mile 30
My old shorts had an elastic waist and a seam under it. On a short ride you never know it is there. By mile 30 of a long day it rolls over and presses, and I was stopping every few miles to hitch them up. Bib shorts do not have a waist to press on. The Przewalski pair is a pull-on with a mid rise, so what holds it up is the straps over your shoulders, not a band around your middle. That was the first difference and the biggest one.
The pad stays where you sit instead of where you slid to
With a waistband short, the pad shifts every time I stand for a climb or slide back on the saddle. A bib is anchored at the shoulders, so the short does not rotate underneath you. The Przewalski pair has a 3D padded chamois, and that is the only thing about the pad I will claim, because I have not measured it or cut one open. What I can tell you is that it stayed put through a hundred mile day, and staying put mattered more than any pad shape.
You stop tugging at your shorts thirty times a day
This is the small thing that adds up. On a 60 mile day I used to pull at the waist maybe thirty times. Each pull is a hand off the bar and a half second of attention. With bibs there is nothing to tug. The straps hold and the legs stay down, so I keep both hands on the bar. On the chip seal roads north of Chino Valley, that is worth real money in my book.
Your lower back stays covered when you lean forward
I have a stiff lower back. I do not ride in a deep tuck, but on a long descent or into wind I get low, and waistband shorts leave a gap at the small of the back. In March in Prescott that gap is cold, and cold tightens me up. Bibs come up over the back, so leaning forward does not expose anything. I noticed this on the first cool morning of the second spring and I have counted it as a reason ever since.
One less seam to rub you raw
The waistband short has a seam, a band, and often a drawstring right where you fold forward. That is three chances to rub. Take the waist off and most of the problem goes with it. What is left is the leg gripper and the shoulder straps, and the straps on the Przewalski pair sit flat under a jersey. If something does rub on a hot day, keep the area clean and dry, and see your doctor if it does not clear up.
The utility pocket carries a key and a couple of gels
I did not expect to care about this. The Przewalski bibs have a utility pocket, and I use it for the truck key and two gels on a long day. That is two things out of my jersey and off my back. My old shorts had nothing, so everything went into the jersey and the jersey got heavier as the day went on. Small feature, real use, and I noticed it on the first ride where I did not have to dig around behind me at a stop.
They weigh 4.96 ounces and dry overnight
The listing puts the weight at 4.96 ounces. I put one pair on the kitchen scale out of curiosity and it read close enough. The part that matters is drying. They wash in cold water in the evening and hang dry by morning, so two pairs cover a full week of riding. My old shorts took longer and the pad stayed damp through the next morning. Two pairs is what I own and two pairs has been enough.
Two years and 8,000 miles with nothing gone flat
I am hard on clothes and I expected to replace these. Two years in, the pad has not gone flat, the straps have not stretched out, and the leg grippers still hold. I wash cold and hang them, which is what the label asks, and otherwise I have not been gentle. This is a budget pair and I say so plainly, but budget and disposable are not the same thing, and these have not been disposable.
One pair covers spring, summer and autumn
The listing gives spring, summer and autumn, and that matches how I ride. Prescott sits around 5,400 feet and my season runs from March into November. I wear the same bibs across all of it, with knee warmers at the cold ends and nothing under them in July. Waistband shorts never bothered me in the heat either, so I will not pretend this is a big win. It is one less thing to swap around between April and October.
The honest case: a budget pair that fixed a real problem
I am not going to tell you these are the best bibs made. I have not ridden the expensive ones. My riding partner Ed wears Pearl Izumi Quest bibs and likes them, and I have no argument with that. What I can tell you is that a budget pair of Przewalski bibs, bought in March two years ago and rotated since, fixed the specific problems I had on long days. If you are past 50 and still riding a waistband, that is the whole case.
What I'd Skip
Two things I would skip or at least warn you about. First, the pad is more than I want on a short ride. For a twenty mile loop around town, my old plain shorts were fine and the bibs feel like too much padding under me. I still wear the bibs because I am not going to own three kinds of shorts, but if all you ever do is short loops, this is not the fix you are looking for.
Second, bathroom stops take longer. There is no way around it. The straps come off the shoulders, the jersey comes up, and it becomes a production on the side of the road. On a 60 mile day that is a minute or two extra. I decided that was a fair trade for the waist and the pad. If it is not a fair trade for you, that is honest too, and the waistband shorts you already own will get you around the block.
By mile 30 my old shorts had rolled and I had stopped twice to hitch them up. The bibs have never once needed a tug.
Two pairs, cold wash, hang dry, 8,000 miles
I bought two pairs in March two years ago and I am still rotating the same two. Same size, same routine, no replacements yet. If your long days end with a sore waist and shorts you keep pulling at, this is the cheapest way I know to stop that.
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