My Solution to Anatomic's Laziness

I love Anatomic's mountain bike shorts. Introduced in 2000, I've worn them for almost every ride ever since. I actually had two of these, but I lost one in one of our trips to Puerto Galera.

After its introduction to the market, there was no follow through from Anatomic for almost a decade. Every now and then, you will hear rumors about the new mountain bike shorts, but that's it. None made it to the bike shop shelves.

Enter 2010. Anatomic finally introduced their mountain bike shorts. Compared to its predecessor, it was lighter and less baggy. The next generation shorts also didn't have an integrated liner. Instead, it gave the user the option to choose what to wear underneath.

That's not bad, I thought. The rider can always pair it up with the Anatomic cycling underwear, which is like a regular cycling short complete with chamois but using a more ventilated type of fabric. Remember the butas-butas na sando that you wear under your polo in grade school? It's similar to that.

What surprised me was the use of velcro straps over other more logical solutions (i.e., buttons, hook and strap, strings) to attach the waist. In my opinion, that was just plain lazy. I knew right there that I would have a problem when the velcro loses its bite.

Fast forward to today. My prediction came true. After three years of use, the velcro can no longer attach itself securely. At first I thought it must be the fat, but I'm not the only one who experienced this predicament. A lot of my biker friends have the same complaint.

Tired of praying for the velcro not to lose its final grip during a ride, I brought my three pairs of shorts to the alteration shop at the nearby mall and had it fixed once and for all.

Check it out:




I had four buttons installed to securely fasten it. Admittedly, it's a bit overkill (and hard to operate), but it's more secure than two lousy pairs of velcro.