Nicthong, maybe heswimwears split shorts are an alternative, if you choose white or some light colour? If you buy them without liner they are quite transparent.

http://www.heswimwear.com/swimwear/splitshorts.asp

Try Lifestyles Direct.  I just got there catalog, and they have several pairs of shorts.

www.lifestylesdirect.com

The above suggestions all approch this from the bottom up, so to speak. You have to put shorts on and pull them up.

My approach is a little different. I wear a long running singlet (tank top) when biking to the beach.  It hangs down and looks natural.  Just a long shirt.  While it is obvious that I don't have standard shorts you don't know if I have a short Speedo or a thong on under neath, unless I reach up or bend over, or it is a mesh singlet. (Often is a blue mesh singlet).  Hangs down to just about crotch high. When I am standing up an onlooker can see that I don't have shorts on but what I do have on is mystery. This only works when I am standing up stright. After a photo appeared of me on the bike, I relize I am flashing a full bum when biking to the beach.  Nobody who passes me on the road while I am going to be beach is unaware I'm wearing a thogn or g-string. 

I've used tank tops and longer mesh shirts before, as JM said, but if I don't want to wear a top, my favorite is a mesh sarong.  They're super easy to get on and off; no bending or one footing on the beach or wherever as with shorts.  The mesh still allows a tan, and the thong can still be seen relatively easily, but it's enough to keep the cops from being called.  When circumstances allow, you can use it as a headwrap and let your thong be out in the open.  I love 'em, and first started wearing them when rollerblading, because shorts are too hard to get on and off over the blades.  It may be considered a feminine article of clothing by many but I've honestly never heard a negative comment while wearing one, like I have in just a thong.

iowan

For a short while in the late 1970s men could wear perrios at resorts like Club Med. You could tie them in many interesting ways, and they were very cool and comfortable. Then the macho fashion police decided that was too femine now it seems that only women wear them. When I've worn them on U.S. beaches you get the stupid comments.

Undergear makes shorts that are lined which are quite short. You will never fall out of them. You can wear unlined shorts by pulling them low on your hips, which can also expose your thong or g-string strap on your hips if you like.

I've never cared for long t-shirts because I find that I get hot when I walk down the beach in them. Bare chested in a lot more comfortable.

How about tight white lycra shorts and a dark coloured thong underneath, or even white as that should show up against the skin.

You can get Viga brand lycra shorts online in the UK.

Would look good at the gym!  (Wish I was brave enough!).

I agree with sebastianspencer. Lifestyles Direct (tan through suits) have mesh shorts that are very comfortable and lightweight. I have two pair that have patterns, Safari blue and Leopard paisley. I wear them at the beach and to go to mailbox around house in the summer. The prints add some cover at a distance but the solids you can see through easily. Their new catalogue just arrived or www.lifestylesdirect.com

I know many of you seem to be casting around for some type of apparel that is revealing, see-through, etc.  On my thonging vacations, I?e taken exactly the opposite route:  a baggy pair of cotton cargo shorts, similar in profile to dork-shorts.  (I can already hear the Bronx cheers & hissing!)  When walking between the hotel and the beach, I don? necessarily want everyone to know what type of swimwear I? wearing, because I want to fit in more easily in a non-beach/pool setting and also because I wish to avoid undesirable attention.  As I see it, swimwear is for the beach, swimming, etc. 

You can have some fun with this, though.  Imagine: you walk around the beach/pool dressed like all the other guys out there, but after you set up your towel and ditch your flip-flops and shirt, you go one step further and strip down to a piece of swimwear that is smaller than anyone else?, male or female.  Just when everyone thinks you?e some average dork-short type of guy, "Gotcha!"

Yerasimos is right on with this one.  Usually, I just wear some sort of regular shorts to the beach and ditch the shorts once I get there.  The effect to someone noticing is: "Gee, he was just wearing ordinary shorts a minute ago, so maybe he is normal!"  Right on!

When I walk to the pool, I either wear:

1) Just a bikini

2) A set of loose, baggy sweatshorts

3) A bikini, along with an over-sized t-shirt

Usually I prefer #1 or #3.  #3 is usually my preferred choice.

Well, I said I'd keep you posted as to my findings/decisions so here goes: I'm really looking for a 'bottom half' cover up so t-shirts etc are out of the equation for me (just a personal preference). I think I'm gonna try to find some 'regular' board shorts (not too long, not too baggy I hope!) that, as Dennis and Yerasimos say, I can then remove to reveal the thong. However, I'm still considering my options for a briefer alternative... I have a natural preference for smaller, tighter clothing anyway. The HE Swimwear shorts look like they might look a little big on me (I'm 5'11" and toned but very 'slight' so I need clothing that has a narrower fit)... plus they're quite expensive. LifestylesDirect's shorts look as though I'd have the same problem with the fit...

I'd probably consider a sarong if (a) I could find a sufficiently 'masculine' print and (b) I was with the right company and in the right place... otherwise it wouldn't just seem like the right style for me. Still open to that one though... And finally, some other options I came across: Open cut joggers and Flake shorts. Does anyone have any experience of these or anything similar? Does anyone have any comments on Onionskins? Any other suggestions for cover-up options are also very much welcome! Thanks again - Nic

p.s. Does anyone know any good online stores that sell linen or light-weight cotton pants/trousers? Thx!

I use a running top.  Made of polyester, coolmax or what ever it's called.  It covers my chest and back. I have looked out for the skinny long ones that will, depending on the top in question, reach some where near the bottom of my but. 

I wear it when bicycling the mile from home to the beach, and back.  I put it on when I come off the sand, and always wear it if I go to the beach front coffee shop.

With a casual glance or from a distance it may look like I am wearing speedos under the top, but close observation from the rear, or when bending, would edify the observer.  They mostly cover the front and most of the rear, and in doing that, remove the in your face aspect of wearing a thong in public.

Some of the white ones are a little bit on the mesh side and the outline of the thong some times shows through.  One or two of the tops have mesh panels set into the sides for better cooling.  They are, after all, running singlets.  (Singlet may be a misunderstood word.  I have no idea why running singlets are loose and stop below the waist but wrestling singlets are tight spandex and include built in shorts. 

In the past I did use cotton singlets of the T shirt type, but prefer the polyester mesh - coolmax type because:

• They are cooler on hot days.
• They are light and dry fast when I get wet or wash them in the shower when I return home.
• I don't seem to get hard suntan edges.  Maybe because they move around or maybe part of the sun shines through the mesh.
• They are generally a long slim cut.  The problem with most stock T-shirt type cotton singlets seems to be that they are made by the same people who believe that Americans over 5' 6" tall must be 40" round the middle.  If they are long enough they are two wide.

I sometimes revert to the warmer cotton tops on cold days.  Speedo makes a good one that's sort of waffled and warm.

In the past you could purchase singlet that had a small split on the bottom of the side seams and that had a longer tail than the front.   They were excellent cover-ups, but alas, the style has vanished.

I almost always wear a running cap too.  Because it's mesh and cool, because it has a rakish cut, and because it keeps the sun out of my eyes so I end ups smiling at people instead of squinting.

Skinz has a really nice split shots that can cover you at least your butt. I got a black one and I use ti with all my thongs and rios.

Lately, when going to my favorite beach on the Rhode Island shore, I strip to my g-string at the car and wrap a white bath size towel around my waist, one I won in a triathlon which has some race writing in blue on one end, a nice decorative touch.  A couple of minutes down the beach, away from the crowds, I can whip it off, roll it up, carry it in my hand and start tanning well before reaching my spot on the beach for the day.  Reverse operation at the end of the day.

When my wife is with me, or in conservative Bermuda, I'll generally wear longish FILA gym shorts 'til reaching our beach spot, then strip to the g-string or thong.  This is especially convenient in Bermuda, as the shorts are long enough to meet local standards when riding about on a motor scooter, yet I don't mind tossing them on the sand or getting them a bit salt water wet, unlike a nice pair of bermuda shorts.  It all comes back to what is appropriate for the occasion.

I tend to prefer a regular t-shirt over my thong.  That way I can pick the length (i.e. oversize or only long enough to cover part of the buns) to suit the situation.  I like the short t shirts best because, as Traci noted, most people don't notice the thong, but some always do.  Of course they are the ones who are staring, and anybody who looks that closely will always have a positive reaction.  This is a great outfit when you don't want to offend, but also want to be noticed.

Last year on vacation I had another reason to wear a coverup; it was just too dang cold in the morning to lie out in just a thong, and even walking the beach without a coverup was dicey staying warm, unless you did a real power-walk.  So there was no reason to wear shorts.  By late morning and all afternoon, the coverup was unnecessary.