Perhaps this is more about me trying to get past the sunk cost fallacy, but what do you do with your old bib shorts?
These are the original bib shorts that I bought in the years following when I started riding. They weren't cheap, and they've carried me through a lot of special and memorable moments. Well cared for and not stinky, but they are probably 15+ years old.
The pads are getting thin, the elastic is a becoming stretched, and they really don't have much utility outside of liners under baggies when mountain biking, but even with that they aren't comfortable for much more than an hour.
I tend to buy one nice set of bib shorts per year, so I've got plenty and don't really have a need for these. But mentally it's hard to throw away something that's not complete trash?
Maybe it's just time to say thank you to them for all the great rides and let them go with the rest of the trash, but before I do… What do you do with old, pretty-much-worn-out cycling stuff?
by c0nsumer
35 Comments
Keep them for a rainy day. You never know when your old new ones may be in the wash or maybe you fall and rip them or maybe a friend wants to pick up cycling and you can lend them some old kit.
Use them for the trainer
🚮
I use my older kit for indoor training until they start falling apart.
Outdoor riding -> indoor riding -> trash.
Sounds like you get your money’s worth out of your bibs. It’s ok to throw them out when they are as blown out as you described.
Also good under tights in the winter.
Trash bin.
Send them off to the textile recycling.
I tend to use mine under ‘normal’ clothes when touring, shopping, or anything where I don’t want to turn up looking like the cyclist.
Trainer or under shorts when doing shorts based rides.
Grease rag.
I hold them close and fondly remember the great rides we had together.
Sell them to a pervert
I had same problems and feelings about old bibs. Some have sold or given away online FB club groups and the like. Another time one of our club members did a drive and we all donated to a
Group of cyclists in his home country,
So kind of pay it forward to under funded new riders.
I have yet to find $100+ bib shorts that out perform my $35-$50 ones LOL I’m convinced there’s no such thing.
The fit, the pockets, the padding- find a good amazon/ali express vendor and stick with them- most of these come out of the same factories.
Wear em until they rip
Well if they get holes in them and are 15 years old, it’s not worth repairing anymore. They served well, throw them in the trash.
Keep them for very short rides, so you can minimise the number of wash cycles of your still nice bibs. When they stretch too much or are not even good enough for a 60min ride -> trash
Landfill. If you ride enough to wear them out, you are doing your part for the environment.
I used to put them on the free table at work…. They always went away in minutes…. (I, personally, would never wear used bib shorts.)
Turn them into foppish hats
Garbage
15 years is WELL in to bin territory. I maybe keep mine for 5-10 years at most. The ones I like and wear most often tend to be more on the shorter side.
Sell them on OnlyFans ðŸ¤ðŸ¤«
Alter it for a Borat outfit.
Slingshots
As much as I crash, mine gets torn before they wear out.
Japan. Vending machine. Questions.
That’s not what the sunk cost fallacy is.
Wear them in the Opera?!?!
Contact the company – maybe they can recraft and recycle
Trash can.
I’ve found they make a fairly decent base layer for winter hiking. Warm but a little bulky. However you can tuck a shirt into them so it really completes the first layer. Plus extra butt pad for sitting.
However I imagine they could be made to be pants for a large dog. Perhaps a diaper or pad for a large dog.
if they work, use them. if they don`t bin them.