There's often posts on here asking for Bib shorts buying advise. An aspect that I've never seen brought up is the width of the chamois and how it affects comfort.
I recently bought a pair of Van Rysel as I often see them recommend as a budget alternative. Have worn them twice and on both occasions I felt very uncomfortable. The chamois felt like it didn't sit right. Went to back to my old Gobik and the difference was night and day. Brought out the taper measure and the difference in width is around 2cm (almost an inch).
It's something to take into consideration when choosing what brand to buy.
Top: Van Rysel Endurance – €50
Bottom: Gobik Absolute – €125
by anders_gustavsson
6 Comments
[deleted]
You don’t need to take chamois width into account, and shouldn’t.
You noticed the difference between elastic interface and non ea.
Congratulations.
You don’t sit on that part of your arse and if you are, you’re doing it wrong
To really decide if the issue is the width, you would need tthe same shorts with the same pad (density, shape etc.) in different width. As it is, the comparison is pretty useless.
Chamois width plays a role, but it’s actually front part that makes a most difference for people with different pelvic tilt and bone width, so sometimes people lack support up front. There is no way 18cm at the back isn’t enough. And those 2 chamois pads are not the same quality at all. It’s really funny because at the point where your bones actually sit on a saddle van rysel bibs are wider.
Ok do a test, measure your saddle width, is it wider than 20cm or where exactly do you sit with those bibs?
That chamois on the Gobik Absolute bibs, do you know if its the K10 or K12 chamois?