Baggy Mountain Bike Shorts, Buying a Cat in the Bag?

Baggy shorts or Baggies are what differentiate mountain bikers from road riders but like riders they come in all shapes and sizes. Do you need all the bells and whistles or should you keep things simple?

There are basically three types of shorts available – with loose or clip-in liners, with them built in, and without. The least versatile is the built type because you have to wash the short between rides. Unlined shorts on the other hand allow you to wear your preferred inner, be it a liner or a regular bicycle pants, and they're often cheaper because of this.

Baggy shorts with clip-in or loose liners are the most popular and some guys we know swear by them, but others have nothing good to say about them.

The reason is that baggy mountain bike shorts with clip-in or loose liners are often poor quality or badly fitting to hit a sales point. It's your choice to buy a baggy mountain bike short with a liner but we often prefer a large baggy short with a tighter fitting liner and this combo just isn't available.

So while it may seem like you're getting both a tight-fitting bicycling pants and a baggy short for the price of one, most baggy mountain bike short don't have advantage. Therefore be careful what you buy.