i feel like i have nice high quality kits. i also feel like theyre wearing down. 400 hours last year. 4 kits. 80-120 hours on some of the kits. maybe more on my favorite colored one. is that reasonable life? anyone keep track? htfu?
I have a pair of super cheap Specialized shorts from when I first jumped on a road bike 5 or so years ago. Stitching coming away, colour faded, material gone a bit saggy and see-thru - absolutely no idea how many hours/days/weeks they have done. Still better than a brand new DHB set from Wiggle and can’t say if they any worse than when first bought in terms of comfort, still seem to do the job.
I say run them until fall apart or no longer comfy, forget the hours. If you find something that works stick with it.
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I don’t track the time but I ride enough that I typically buy 3-4 new kits per season.
For all the money and time we all sink into this hobby it is silly to ride old worn out kit just to save money - if it isn’t comfortable replace it - if it is comfortable keep on keeping on
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My kits start to feel tired around the 100 hour mark.
kind of what i was starting to suspect. thats $2/hr though. ouch. maybe this year ill get that brand ambassador deal with pactimo. love their stuff.
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I find that the elastic/lycra tends to wear out before the chamois itself does. Once my bibs get a little too stretchy then the chamois slides around a bit more and it doesn’t sit exactly where it should. That’s when I start to get more saddle sores, etc.
Saddle sores is a common issue that can have many different triggers. Bike fit, saddle height, saddle shape, not planting sit bone placement, hygiene, etc. Once you get irritation there seems to be an endless list of things to experiment with. Something that I started to do a few months ago was more intentionally put my bib shorts on. I know that sounds weird, but it helped things overnight.
I put one leg in and pull the shorts up to the height it should be from the bottom of the leg, then I do the other leg. Then pull up the shorts over my waist, but with the straps still hanging down loose. Then I’ll grab the shorts at the back at the small of my back and squat down as I gently pull the shorts up. I want to get rid of any loose fabric at the rear and make sure the chamois is closely fitting against me. Then put the straps over my shoulders and done. Exactly the point made above about loose fabric causing rubbing, I’ve found this process helps a lot in getting rid of that.
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I still wear the original sets of bibs I bought when getting back into biking over 10 years ago. Ok for an hour on the trainer. Longer and I start to get sore. Not even thread bare yet.
Wear until they are no longer comfortable. Then get rid of them.
I signed up for that as well 
last year i think they picked 100 out of 2500. tough competition. maybe im off on numbers though. i still buy their stuff exclusively. i dont like to mix brands. not even different arm warmers. they do have frequent sales that i always try to wait for. and pactimo rewards adds up.
It’s kind of crazy some of the “less than rational” decisions we make:
I used to use Giro Trans shoes ~$225. Tons of use; they were great. I bought a new pair to replace them and it turned out Giro cheapened the sole substantially to push their higher end line. I had purchased them online for $175 and hated them (3 uses; ~$60/use).
So I bit the bullet and bought $400 Specialized S-Works 7s. Fantastic since the first use! I’m estimating that I will get 15,000 miles out of them (like my original Giro’s). That’s $0.02/mil. What was I thinking trying to save? Even if I bought new ones at 5,000 miles, that $0.06/mile.
bottom line: I completely agree with your post.
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I’ve been cycling for a few years and I’ve had to purchase new kits each year due to the weight loss. I bought a kit (Sugoi) from my local shop last year. My weight loss and 279 hours in the saddle have torn them apart. Granted, I split the time between my Assos bibs (also new last year) and LG (old) bibs it’s time to pick more up. I picked up a kit from another shop that carries Jakroo, however, I’d rather keep that kit for riding outdoors. As mentioned above, upgrading every year isn’t that bad especially if you’re putting in the hours. As long as you feel good in them, then wear them out until it’s no longer comfortable.
I’ve got about 14000 km on my current specialized rbx bibs. But they are endurance shorts 
I’m getting ~100 hours per bib out of Specialized bibs. I think the SL Pro maybe lasted ~20% longer than the SL Expert bibs. They are still fine for road use, but are starting to get too uncomfortable for 1.5-2 hour trainer efforts.
Giving some Rapha bibs a chance to see how they compare. So far I’m a little mixed on them.
Not weird. I’ve somewhat routinely had to turn around and walked back into the closet to rearrange things, if it was too early in morning and I wasn’t careful putting on the first time.
I just bought the S-works two. Would going to buy either the $200 or $300 pair but the guy at my LBS said that I’d probably get closer to 10 years out of the S-Works compared to 2-3 out of the others. It was a no brained for the extra $100. (Plus I had a gift card haha). The difference is amazing, I am coming off of the base specialized shoes from a few years ago.
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Yeh, they are amazing! I shake my head at how many years I went refusing to buy a premium product for something I use so much particularly given how hard I like to ride outdoors.
10 years seems like a very long time for someone as serious as a TR user. I think how long they will last will depend on your riding style - flats vs. climbs (harder); endurance vs threshold/anaerobic efforts, # miles, etc.
I’m sorry to others on this thread appearing to move the conversation from chamois to shoes. I just thought it would be useful to expand the key message for all of us to think about where we spend our money on our cycling passion - where it’s worth to invest; and where it is worth to save.
Which ones are you trying?
I bought two pairs of cheap shorts. Pro bike kit if I recall correctly.
I am still using them on the trainer after maybe 7 years No issues whatsoever.
Hand wash and hang dry and they will last much longer.