Salt Lake City’s Black Bottoms claims to have over 31 years of cycling industry experience. While the company name is not one you frequently hear when cyclists talk gear, you may have seen the products at your local bike shop.

Before going into this brief review, you have to remember that the brand takes pride in providing “…top-notch affordable cycling shorts at prices that can’t be beat!” It is not fair to gauge the short against a high end Pearl Izumi or Descente short. Lets take a look at the Black Bottom 8-panel short. We found the short at Bingham Cyclery in Sunset for around $50. Just so you know the web site also has an 8-panel Tour short which is different pad. This is not the short we are reviewing.

Black Bottoms describes the basic 8-panel short on its web site as:

The classic performance expected with our 8 Panel contour cut
- 8.5 ounce Nylon Lycra
- 8 Panel Contour
- Flatlocked seams
- Elastic Leg Gripper
- Amara Sham (Synthetic Leather)

The 80% Nylon, 20% Lycra short has a nice feel to them. It’s a thick material that has smooth or dare I say, silky feel to them. Each panel appears to be seamed together quite well. In no way do I consider myself to be a seamstress so you have to take my “seam” comments with a grain of salt. I can say from experience that they do not fall apart. A five-year old pair of Black Bottoms sits in my gear bin. Never have I had a seam fall apart or had the material rip.

Black Bottoms brought in a pad like none I have ever seen in a cycling short. The pad included in the basic 8-panel short feels very similar to a chamois. Yes, the special cloth you may use to dry off your car, soaking in every speck of water. It feels like that. When I first started triathlons 5 years ago I didn’t know there were tri specific shorts so I wore my Black Bottoms for the first few races. The reason I mention this is because you would think it would soak up water like the chamois I describe. It was far from being a sponge but did soak in plenty of water. I wasn’t completely uncomfortable “triathloning” in the short but wouldn’t go back after having my Desoto Power Tri Shorts.

You can feel the layers of the mystery padding as you pinch the top section. It’s adequately padded and ready for riding.

I’ve ridden countless century bike rides with the Black Bottoms. All rides have gone without any odd chafing or unusual saddle sores. If your one of the many financially challenged cyclists looking for a solid short, you may want to check out the Black Bottom. We’d recommend them.

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