REVIEWS DEALS BIKESHOPS TRAILS

expected useful life of lycra shorts!?!?!?

1048 Views 9 Replies 8 Participants Last post by SpareTireScott, Aug 2, 2004

ibmkidIII

Discussion Starter · Aug 2, 2004

So assuming one ride per week for a particular pair of shorts, and an associated washing in hot water, drip dry, for a good pair, how long can I expect them to last? One year? More? Less?

I currently use Performance's high end (for them at least) Elite shorts. I seem to be getting about 8 months use out of mine before the threads start to fall apart, or I get too many holes (tree snags, crashes, etc..) in them to be useful anymore.

Just trying to see if there's any justification to go to something nicer/MUCH more expensive. Just got a pair performance's Elite shorts for 35.99 on sale. Not too shabby compared to other brands prices.

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bmateo

· #2 · Aug 2, 2004

You should get longer, I'm using Performance Century Shorts and they seem to last. You can't account for holes due to wrecking, but otherwise they should hold up.

I also machine wash, and hang dry, but i NEVER put my gloves or anything else with velcro in with them, and I don't wash them with jeans or anything abrasive. I basically just wash my cycling cloths in a small load, AS SOON AS I get home. This seems to work for me, and my cloths are not falling apart.

(8 months is probably only 30-35 uses by your description, I've never tracked it, but I would figure 2-3 years or 100-150 "uses")

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TNC

· #3 · Aug 2, 2004

Yeah, the road vs. mtb and lycra.

ibmkidIII said:
So assuming one ride per week for a particular pair of shorts, and an associated washing in hot water, drip dry, for a good pair, how long can I expect them to last? One year? More? Less?

I currently use Performance's high end (for them at least) Elite shorts. I seem to be getting about 8 months use out of mine before the threads start to fall apart, or I get too many holes (tree snags, crashes, etc..) in them to be useful anymore.

Just trying to see if there's any justification to go to something nicer/MUCH more expensive. Just got a pair performance's Elite shorts for 35.99 on sale. Not too shabby compared to other brands prices.

I really like the regular lycra shorts for road riding, but the snagging and tearing, even in very minor get-offs, turned me on to the baggies for off road. The baggies seem to offer a little better "slide" factor for my skin in those same types of get-offs. As to wear, I still have several pair of those cheap 6-panel Bell Weather lycra cycling shorts for my road riding. I also machine wash them (well, my wife does) and then hang dry them. I think the darned things will last forever. These Bell Weathers are at least 6 years old, and each one probably gets used once every 2 weeks as I cycle (ha, ha) through them in the drawer. I think the dryer is the hardest thing on lycra.

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Rollin' On

· #4 · Aug 2, 2004

Making them last

FWIW, I wash my expensive hiking/backpacking and cycling duds in the kitchen sink by hand, using dishwashing detergent. Then I wring them out and spread them on the carpet to dry. I happen to use Ivory, which is relatively unscented.

I wash in lukewarm water. I started doing this when I read that some people who have discovered that "Woolite" is (apparently) just dish detergent have switched to the latter.

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velosapiens

· #5 · Aug 2, 2004

all my shorts are at least 7 yrs old. i mostly use the ones i got from the proflex grass roots 'team'. i ride in them at least once a week, and i wash and dry them with velcro, jeans, motorcycle kneepads, and whatever else i'm washing. i know how to ride a bike, so i don't fall off too much. after 7-8 years of this, they are starting to get a little thin in spots, but still perfectly good.

mw

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bmateo

· #6 · Aug 2, 2004

velosapiens said:
i know how to ride a bike, so i don't fall off too much.

now that you know how to ride a bike, you should try mountainbiking.....

Not trying to argue, just pointing out that to some folks, keeping it challenging is part of the excitement, and therefore some regular falls are inhearantly expected (as are the occasional serious biff).

I second the comment on Baggies, good point.

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TNC

· #7 · Aug 2, 2004

Knowing how to ride?...LMAO!

velosapiens said:
all my shorts are at least 7 yrs old. i mostly use the ones i got from the proflex grass roots 'team'. i ride in them at least once a week, and i wash and dry them with velcro, jeans, motorcycle kneepads, and whatever else i'm washing. i know how to ride a bike, so i don't fall off too much. after 7-8 years of this, they are starting to get a little thin in spots, but still perfectly good.

mw

I have no idea how good a rider you are, and I'm not dissing your riding skills, but that statement was really kinda funny on a mountainbike site. Of course neither you nor I qualified a number of get-offs and crashes, so we really don't know how "good" we are. But let's look at it this way. Lycra tears pretty easily on tree limbs and anything else sticking out into the trail, and lycra definitely doesn't hold up well when you actually hit the ground. If you only fell once or snagged a good trail obstacle every 2 months, you'd go through 6 shorts a year--the wear factor not even considered. A cheap pair of shorts is about $40. That would come to about $240 a year. Now obviously not everyone is going to tear their shorts every time they fall, but I'm trying to be conservative with 1 fall or tear every 2 months. Maybe where one rides contributes or diminishes this number also--lots of rocks and mesquite trees here...the worst of both worlds. This is not a flame at you, but it did make some interesting things come to mind about riding in general and lycra shorts in particular. The nice thing about it, I guess, is that we can wear whatever we want when we ride, and that's a good thing...no matter how much we crash--LOL!

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vermont

· #8 · Aug 2, 2004

i buy a pair of padded shorts a year that i wear under my AXO DH shorts......the pad usually shot after a year of riding. Don't have to worry about em ripping and tearing if you wear em under another pair of shorts....if over 90 degrees i may ditch the AXO's but then i might ride a bit more conservatively...feel unprotected...On a road bike i wear bibs...and as i dont ride the road bike much they seem to last a very long time...LOL

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Brandon

· #9 · Aug 2, 2004

Machine wash cold, Tumble-dry on Low.. If I don't use the dryer they'll never dry during most of the year here. I rotate 3 pairs and get 3-4 years from a pair before they get too thin to comfortably wear. BTW I don't know the Model but the shorts are the $45 Pearl Izumi's at the shop.

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SpareTireScott

· #10 · Aug 2, 2004

strange...

I have 5 pairs of lycra bike shorts. The oldest is an LL Bean pair that is 10 years old this year... crazy... no secret, wash them with tons of soap, toss them in the dryer, and wear them. Each pair gets worn about once a week...

Somehow they've survived crashes, trees, and dogs. Although admittedly, most of my crashes are at low speeds trying to clear technical stuff and not bombing downhill...

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