How to Choose Padded Shorts

Padded shorts are a great choice for everybody, from inexperienced beginners to hard core riders. Padded shorts are designed to prevent injury to the sitz bone, tailbone, coccyx, hips and thighs, and act as cushion when you fall.

Padded shorts are constructed and designed for that tailored fit, be it Men's, Women's or Youth sizes. Each body type and skill set needs a specific design, that's why we are here - to HELP!

Padded shorts come in a variety of protective materials ranging from hard shell padding and standard EVA foam to more modern and high-tech designs with d3o protective material.

Padded Shorts: Padding, Coverage, Material & Construction and Extra Protection

Padded Shorts Thickness of Pads:
Padded shorts have padding ranging from 1/4in. to 1/2in. in thickness. Thicker pads offer more cushion in a fall but come with added weight and bulkiness.

<-Thick Pads VS. Low-Profile->

Padded Shorts Padding Coverage:
Padded shorts are usually more general then specific in their designs, covering hips, thighs and tailbone. Higher end pairs or sport specific designed padded shorts will have the extra padding you need for the sitz bones, hips, thighs or added padded protection in the crotchal region.

Crotch pads, or chamois, are often found in cycling shorts. AllSportProtection has a wide selection of BMX and mountain bike padded shorts that include chamois, check out the Fox Racing Titan padded shorts or the Troy Lee Designs padded shorts. Be it some of our padded shorts are sports specific, snowboarding, skiing or BMX/MTB, they can be used for both. However, the chamois in a skiing or snowboard specific designed padded short will not hold up as well as a BMX/MTB padded short when cycling long distances.

Padded Shorts Material & Construction:
The size of the pads isn't always an indicator of amount of protection. Even with our huge selection of top-rated BMX padded shorts the variations are so unique that it's up to the individual to decide. But AllSportProtection wants you to have the best information available to choose your protective gear padded shorts. Other then thick and low-profile EVA foam padding there are hard shell padded shorts, high density foam, TPR rubber and d3o protective material.

Hardshell Padded Shorts Factors:

• Low-Profile.
• Hardshell protection on thighs and tailbone.
• Soft EVA foam padding between shell and shorts.
• e.g. the Demon Shield Hardtail Padded Shorts

Thermal Plastic Rubber (TPR) Injected molded plastic, flexible, tough and light weight.

• Low-profile and light weight, when compared to hardshell padded shorts.
• Form fitting without loosing protective qualities.
• Soft cushion EVA foam underneath and soft TPR for added give during impacts.
• An alternative to the higher priced d3o protective material.
• Check out the Demon Shield Padded Shorts for a close up example.

Padded Shorts Featuring D3O Protective Material

• Lightweight, low-profile, thin pliable impact resistant material - intelligent molecular design.
• Hard-ish foam feel, designed to harden on impact, distributing force of impact throughout material .
• High density EVA foam underneath d3o padded areas, you would not want just d3o as protection, its hard but pliable, and gets harder, not as hard as a hard shell but harder than TPR, upon impact.
• More expensive than just EVA foam padding and hard shell padded shorts, next generation tech.

D3O is featured in the SixSixOne Evo d3o Bomber Padded Shorts and the Red d3o Total Impact Padded Shorts

What is D3O and Why do I need it?

D3O is a protective material that is specially designed to be lightweight and withstand high impacts. The construction of the d3o material is flexible and pliable when left alone but at the point of force in the area of an impact the material stiffens to form a hard shell, thus distributing the force of the impact throughout the rest of the material. After the impact force reverberates through the d3o material it again returns to its original flexible form. Since the d3o material is so light and durable it is ideal for body armor and pads, forming to the movements you make when you ride or skate, d3o is an ideal material for any piece of protective gear.

Need more info on D3O Protective Material?

Extra Protection
Other than padded shorts AllSportProtection features the:

• Demon Shield Protective Belt, a sinch tight belt with hip and tailbone guards.
• POC Coccyx Tailbone Protector - Compatible with the POC Spine VPD Tee, POC Spine VPD Vest, POC Spine Ergo, POC Spine Ergo Bug, and POC Pocito VPD Spine. This is an add on which extends POC's selection of spine protectors to include protection for your coccyx.
• Both of these additional pieces lower body armor are constructed of injected molded plastic foam for a stiff and comfortable fit.

Are Padded Shorts Machine Washable?

Even though some padded shorts are machine washable, we do not recommend doing so. Hand wash and hang dry your padded shorts. Simply put, Never put Lycra based material in the dryer, it melts.

Need help with AllSportProtection's top-rated selection of padded shorts and protective gear?

Call and chat with one of our service pros at 800-766-7269. They can help you figure out which piece of BMX protective gear will suit you best.

Learn more by taking a look at our Protection Blog.

AllSportProtection carries helmets, protective gear and pads for your elbows, knees and shins. We carry cross sport protection for wakeboard, mountain bike, BMX, ski, snowboard, skateboard, roller derby, snowmobiling, inline skate, and longboard.