My first thought was ‘wear whatever you want’ and then I read all the comments here and I still think that. Maybe my reaction is coloured by the fact that I am a less than slim girl who used to ride horses and thought nothing of going somewhere after being at the barn, like out for coffee or grocery shopping, in my body-hugging, bulge-revealing breeches.
My retired neighbours have friends who often stop in to visit and spend time in the back yard. Sometimes just the husband rides his bike over for a visit, in gasp his biking shorts. He is an older gentleman, slightly pudgy, and it never occured to me to be shocked or offended or even give a shit that he was wearing bike shorts. Not the most flattering look, but if fashion crime laws were actually enforced by real police, there are way more people I would have arrested first.
Bike shorts are designed to be worn by itself, not as an inner layer. Except the ones sold as “liner shorts”. So of course it’s acceptable to wear bike shorts (and nothing over them) when riding a bike. Stationary bikes included.
Beyond actual riding, I think they’re acceptable any place where shorts and tank tops would be acceptable. I often stop by stores or fast food restaurants wearing bike tights (not even padded, as I ride recumbent bikes). But I wouldn’t wear them to a nice restaurant or at work.
I like the baggy bike shorts, too. Most of them are Mountain Bike shorts, which have a ton of padding, but there are baggy shorts with less padding. More suited to road or stationary use. The MTB specific shorts are a bit over padded for my purpose, which is road use.
During the class, fine. Outside of the class, not fine, put something else on. Nothing to do with age or weight, everything to do with ‘place-appropriate attire’.
I think that’s the bottom line here (heh) - anybody can wear anything they want in public as long as the “illegal in public” bits are covered, but the rest of us would appreciate it if you didn’t in a lot of cases.
Sure, it’s polite to not notice, and if I see a guy wearing just bike shorts I will ‘not notice.’ But it’s also polite to not put people in the position where they have to ‘not notice’ your genitals.
It’s like farting. If somebody farts polite people pretend it never happened but that doesn’t mean you should just let one rip whenever you get the urge.
Or Austin, Texas. Saw that shit everywhere when I lived there; people getting out of cars dressed like they just pedaled a century in Belgium, and patronizing restaurants, stores, coffee houses, and the like.
