philbob57

Sounds like either ignorance or hard sell at the shops. For most of biking's history, riders did not use specialized clothes. How much time did the stores spend setting up their bikes for you (or were you buying 2nd hand from owners who probably don't know much about setup)? How long were the rides? What is the actual discomfort you feel?

I expect some time adjusting the height and angle of the saddles would prevent a lot of pain. If the saddle is much different from your hybrid's, more riding will prevent some pain - you really need to break your butt in to the saddle, not vice versa. If the road bikes' saddles are narrower and less padded than your hybrid's, you're putting pressure on parts of your butt that are unused to the pressure. That's uncomfortable.

Notice how you perch on the hybrid; then notice how you perch on the road bike. Do you lean farther forward on the road bike? If so, you're putting more pressure on your pubic artery and nerve, and that can cause numbness. Not fun.

Finally, have you looked at what the marketplace offers in saddles? My guess is that the ultra-wide variation in saddles is due to ultra-wide variations in butts. If you buy a road bike, you may have to spend time and money searching for a saddle that's comfortable, just as many of the rest of us do.

Of the possible causes and fixes, my bet is that padded shorts is not among the most likely ways to alleviate your problem. If numbness is what you're referring to, padding may exacerbate it.

billridesbikes

Cyclists have always had specialized clothing for cycling since at least the 1890s.

Jrasero

The good news that kind of discomfort is 100% saddle related and can easily be fixed by just swapping your existing saddle or finding another one that matches your sit bone and getting a saddle with a cutout

Fredo76

Selle SMP TRK

When I was a teenager, I just toughed it out on a broken-in Brooks Pro, but saddle discomfort was my limiting factor for training miles. After returning to riding on an upright bike as a geezer, I tried one of these on a recommendation, and now have three. One works well on my '70s racing bike as well. YBMV, as they say...

lmk5

You may want to visit the SQ Lab web site. Their saddles specifically target perineal pressure relief and the specification of each saddle will tell you how much pressure is relieved in percentage terms. I had the same issue you did when I first started riding and switched out the cushy "Tailbones" saddle for the 610 Ergolux Active 2.0, and what a difference it made! I only feel mild pressure in the sit bones and nowhere else as long as I'm positioned correctly on the saddle.

SQ Lab will send you a free kit that lets you measure the distance between your sit bones so you can order the correct size. They also will provide excellent consultation over the phone before you buy. Additionally, the "active" saddles provide some pelvic relief when you ride, the extent of which can be tailored by using one of 3 included inserts.
https://sqlab-usa.com/collections/saddles

For the record, I also use padded liners from REI under regular Dockers shorts.

burnthesheep

Nailed it on the "being bikeforums" part. Then again, most of those folks are freaking trolls and shouldn't be taken seriously.

DMC707

Bike shorts will help -- that is what they are designed for and why they are used almost universally by people trying to engage in cycling for "sporting purposes"

livedarklions

I have two maxims regarding cycling kit:

A. I don't need it.
B. I have no idea if you do or don't need it, Every body is different.

livedarklions

Honestly, people seem to be pretty split on whether the likely solution is the saddle or the shorts. I think OP is going to have to try a few things to get this right.

pdlamb

Bike shorts help keep parts where they need to be when you plop down on the saddle.

But they're not really necessary (though I consistently ride with them). I enjoyed many years' riding in gym shorts and briefs or jock straps before I went the spandex route. I guess the old man at The Bike Shop who upgraded me from a Raleigh 3-speed to a 10-speed knew what he was doing.

lmk5

I would start out with a saddle that has a valley or cutout in the center, and make sure the saddle is adjusted level on the seat post as a first trial. As for biking shorts (or padded liners), I think their main advantage is to keep "things" in place and provide a seamless surface for said stuff to rub against. The padding helps a little, but I feel that the padding in the perineum area actually serves to increase pressure there, as it fills the void in the saddle that is designed to relieve pressure by remaining devoid of material.

ClydeClydeson

The main advantage of bike-specific shorts is, in my opinion, not the padding but the flexible tight fit - for guys at least, it helps up position our junk up out of the way and holds it there. You shouldn't be sitting on your twig or your berries, and you need to adjust yourself if that is where you are getting pain.

If it is not your genitalia but just your general crotchular area (taint, arse, or base of knob) that is experiencing pain then it can likely be alleviated with saddle adjustment or with a saddle of a different shape. If the shape and adjustment are good then there should not be pain immediately upon sitting down - some chafing might happen after time spent riding, but certainly not immediately upon sitting down.

philbob57

The cost of bike clothes has come way down as a percentage of income over the last 130 years. When I started as a COBOL programmer with master's degree (albeit in a foreign language, not in IT) in 1977, bike shorts would have cost me at least 10 hour's of after-tax pay. Now they are available from 'zon for just over 1-3 hours' of minimum wage, depending on minimum wage in your area. Bike clothes didn't become common until economies of scale came in for nylon, polyester, and sewing ... which is probably when bike clothing manufacturing moved to Asia - in the late '80s or early '90s? IIRC, Lycra cost more than wool at first. Even now I often see a guy on a white Raleigh Grand Prix in jeans and a T-shirt passing riders on carbon in Lycra ....

I suspect that virtually all of us who are eligible to post in the over-50 forum have ridden countless miles in street clothes or gym shorts. I was lucky with my first purchase of shorts - wool & chamois by Black Bottoms; they fit great. With Lycra, it was only the 5th pair that didn't bunch up and put even more pressure on my pubic artery and nerve. But I'm not sure perineal pressure is the OP's problem.

'Bike shorts' that fit badly can be worse than jeans with cotton undershorts. Again, if that's the first suggestion from an LBS, they're either lazy or ignorant.

The first question that needs to be answered is: is seat height correct? The 2nd is: would changing the tilt solve the problem?
And if you're gonna buy shorts from your LBS (not a bas idea), you might find it cheaper to start with a different, low-cost saddle....

cyclist2000

Jeepers were a Converse wannabe sold at Sears.