Originally Posted by
BROOKLINEBIKER
I want *padding* but not compression or anything tight. What can you recommend?
My suggestion would be actual bike shorts under other shorts to camouflage if you're unwilling to be seen in spandex.
The pad is primarily for your sit bones, to make a nice, uniform interface with the saddle. You don't actually want much padding in the perineum, because that will actually push on those nerves. This is why most saddles these days have troughs or cutouts, to reduce pressure on those areas. Where the snugness of bike shorts comes in is preventing rubbing, like between your saddle and your pants and your underwear and your skin. Plus, they hold your plumbing out of the way so you don't sit on something when you return to the saddle after standing on the pedals a while. If it's never happened to you, consider yourself fortunate. The other thing a good, snug set of shorts will do is not snag the nose of the saddle as you sit back down.