531colin wrote:How far are you riding?
I can still tour (eg. 60 miles a day for a week) wearing cotton boxers under M&S shorts.
This "need" for special clothing is modern, and in my opinion, manufactured.
I'm still using leather saddles, which would suffer cosmetic damage with commuting, but I wouldn't be surprised if modern plastic saddles got torn and wrecked with the same use.
Tend to agree, I'm well into a 400 mile trip in France without padded shorts. Have seen lots of cyclists but very little Lycra. I think it's a British thing. With a leather saddle I don't need padding but heat and damp is still an issue as they encourage bacteria. Outdoors shorts are usually made in easy dry material which I think is better than cotton. I use Rohan but most polyamide fabrics will do.
I do wear ronhill tracksters for the commute as it's useful to have something that dries during the day and saves washing work clothes.