Overpants or Main Layer?

Do most of you wear your riding pants as an overpant or as your main layer?

I ordered some riding pants and just got them in. Trying to decide if they're the right size, or to send them back for the next size up. As a main layer, they seem to be the right size, but a bit on the snug side if I wear them as over pants. They are a 4-season, waterproof pant with three layers. So if I take out the thermal and waterproof layer, that will probably free up a lot of room for some street pants if I feel so inclined.

Or, do you guys just get multiple pairs of riding pants to fit different needs?

I tend for chaps, so those go over my regular pants.

I may finally get a pair of dirt riding pants, in which case I'd change and wear those for playing in filth.

I have a pair of joe rocket textile pants that I wear over my clothes. They're good for 4 seasons as well.

I also have two pairs of the kevlar-reinforced denim jeans. Those are obviously base layers.

I choose my pants based on what I'm doing and how warm/cold it is. I'm currently trying to figure out how to manage to wear my nice work pants under the textile pants in the summer. I may just pack them in my bag.

Forehead slapper. After my original post I realized that I still had my leatherman belted to my hip. Removing that makes the fit a whole heck of a lot better. Maybe still a bit bulky to wear my Dickies work pants under the thermal liner, but I should have no problem with a pair of slacks with the thermal liner removed.

I also don't live in the coldest part of the world. I probably won't need that thermal layer too often. So far I've been okay with long underwear under my work pants.

How do you like those kevlar reinforced jeans? What brand and where did you get them? Do they have any kind of padding, or just effective abrasion resistance?

The pants I got are Rev It textile pants. I got a model that is being phased out, so 30% off!

I got a pair of Sliders Kevlar jeans. I think it was when Fox was phasing them out. I like them. No padding just Kevlar in the gnar spots.

I wear them as overs usually, I hate sweating into the overpants I have and having them stick to me, it gets very uncomfortable very quickly. Not sure what to do about the distance that is uncovered between my shorts and the socker socks I wear on long rides, thinking about hot weather cycling tights or something like that. For going to the office or whatever I just wear them over my slacks since it's not a long amount of time that I'm on the bike.

I most often wore my Aerostich AD1 pants, almost always over my work pants or jeans or just shorts depending on where I was headed. They were convenient for commuting because I could easily get out of them and wear whatever underneath, and great for touring because they were comfortable, broken in to my shape, and waterproof.

In the future, I'd like to have a pair of dedicated pants for all-day rides and multi-day trips or rides where I won't want or need a second pair of pants all of the time. I usually left the AD1's on when I went in to a store for example, unless its really really warm out and I needed to air myself out, so they might as well have been dedicated pants.

pres589 wrote: I wear them as overs usually, I hate sweating into the overpants I have and having them stick to me, it gets very uncomfortable very quickly. Not sure what to do about the distance that is uncovered between my shorts and the socker socks I wear on long rides, thinking about hot weather cycling tights or something like that. For going to the office or whatever I just wear them over my slacks since it's not a long amount of time that I'm on the bike.

I can still wear long underwear under them or something if I want a base layer. I've also got a nice pair of rock climbing pants that would be good for summer weather. They're cut like regular cargo pants, but are made from nylon.

I started out with chaps but the..boys got cold. Went to Carhart insulated zip up pants next (zip on legs like chaps) great for fall winter but to warm for summer. Now we both have Tourmaster pants i have venture, she has caliber model. We wear them as over pants close too year round.

In reply to Beer Baron:

I went on a long ride last summer at the end of May and encountered two pretty hot days, one of them touching 100 (which was also super windy, it was a pretty bad time to be on the bike, out in western Kansas) and with soccer socks on basically up to my knees, and then bare from there to bicycle shorts. My lower legs never really felt hot; they weren't cool or anything, but the soccer socks are awesome at getting sweat away and the pants never stuck to me. So long underwear or something like Under Armor might be a great solution.

The lining in the overpants I have is kind of like a cheap sleeping bag, some kind of nylon stuff, so if you sweat at all it just glues to skin. That gets uncomfortable really fast. I like the pants overall but find this to be extremely non-great.

tourmaster overpants for the most part with some draggin jeans for when it's hot out.

I used to wear draggin jean liners under regular cargo pants/jeans. They work but I often wished for something a little less cumbersome on a hot day. You end up at work with sweaty nads before the day even starts.

Beer Baron wrote: How do you like those kevlar reinforced jeans? What brand and where did you get them? Do they have any kind of padding, or just effective abrasion resistance? The pants I got are Rev It textile pants. I got a model that is being phased out, so 30% off!

I like the jeans. I find they make life a little more convenient and manageable than the full textile pants. I can't remember the brand right now but I got them from www.Motorcycle-Superstore.com

They don't have any padding. I wear knee/shin armor under the jeans when I'm riding.