It seems unlikely that I sweat more than the average cyclist, but I have avoided baggy shorts for the simple reason that I’ve had issues with my skin becoming irritated because the baggies didn’t allow moisture to evaporate. One three-hour ride is enough to give me a fair case of monkey butt. That’s annoying, but the real problem is that a case of monkey butt can take days to clear up and I can’t ride until it’s gone.
Which would be why I have, until recently, done 99 percent of my mountain biking in Lycra.
My girlfriend’s Seattle crew all ride in baggies and in an effort to lower my profile and fit in (conforming is always an effort for me), I’ve begun wearing baggies on some rides. Even after trying some of the newer shorts by bigger brands, I found myself returning to a product I reviewed more than 10 years ago. Why? Because they are still the best baggies I’ve worn, for multiple reasons.
Let’s start with the basics: Dirt Baggies feature a baggie short with two front pockets, a zippered fly and a snap. The inseam runs to the top of my knee and they are cut from a lightweight and breathable polyester that dries faster than any other baggy short I’ve worn. The front pockets are noteworthy due to the way they wrap around the quads. Anything slipped into those pockets is likely to stay put.
What really sets Dirt Baggies apart is the liner. This is a bib short cut with mesh panels that breathe better than any other liner I’ve used, like no contest. And the pad used is one of the best produced by Cytech (Elastic Interface). As it happens, the engineer behind these shorts, Tim Lane, is a friend and when he was designing them, he asked me what the best pad I’d worn was and I pointed him to the one he specs.
These days, Tim is better known for his mountain bike DiGiT which has a wholly original suspension design.
The bibs cover most of the belly, which can be a comfort to riders carrying a few extra pounds. How do you pee, you ask? They feature a fly with an innovative design—a horizontal opening, rather than a vertical one, which interferes with the pad less. And just inside the bib straps there are two small security pockets (one per side) just big enough to hold a gel or a key fob.
Two small straps with snaps—tethers—are sewn into the sides of the bibs and they correspond to five sets of loops in the sides of the shorts. These allow you to attach the baggies to the bibs so that they sit at the perfect height—no more catching the baggies on the nose of your saddle. Being able to separate baggy from bib makes laundry easier in both machine washing and rack drying. And the fact that the tethers are red helps remind me to unsnap them before tossing them in the washing machine.
Both the bibs and the baggies come in five sizes. The bibs go for $179.99 and the baggies run $89.99. That’s considerably more than most baggies with a sewn-in liner, but try as I might, I can’t get behind any of them. Without bibs, the pad doesn’t stay put and most of the pads in liners—whether sewn-in or removable—I wouldn’t put up with in a proper bib short.
Dirt Baggies also offer two thermal liners for winter riding, a knicker and a short. I maintain that the short plus knee warmers is the smarter way to go because of the way knickers stop below the knee and often cause the pad to pull away from the crotch. The thermal knickers and thermal shorts go for $219.99 and $199.99 respectively. When I consider what a good pair of bib shorts (or thermal bibs) go for, these are certainly priced fairly considering the quality of materials and the sophistication of the design.
The combination of breathable materials, superior engineering—as evidenced in the design of the bibs, the tethers, the easy-to-use fly and the pockets—and vastly superior pad make Dirt Baggies my favorite in general, and my go-to for hot days.
Final thought: If a baggy short calls attention to itself for any reason, that’s a problem. Which is why the best thing I can tell you about Dirt Baggies is that I don’t notice I’m wearing them.