Nearby gym or swimming pool membership is one option. I used this strategy in university. If you creatively bribe the staff you may even get in free.

I don't do spandex. I like heavy cargo shorts and have several loose fitting pairs in bright red camo for a personal (anti-)fashion statement ... err ... I mean safety and visibility. :)

One thing I do is to leave in the morning before the sun has cleared the trees and houses, so it's still relatively cool except on the absolutely hottest days in Wisconsin. And I slow down, and ride with an upright posture, which may help with air flow.

I wear synthetic hiking pants from REI or similar. They have held up quite well to daily bike commuting, about 4 miles each way on relatively flat terrain.

Winter is another matter. ;-)

What's happening to your pants? Maybe baggy shorts over your regular pants would protect them. Lots of people also wear mountain biking garb, which tends to be somewhat less form-fitting. If you're wearing holes in your butt, maybe your saddle is too high.

At least five of my work colleagues have gotten e-bikes.

In fact I'm going to be ordering 1-2 more pairs so I can have them all in rotation when one gets dirty. One caveat is that there is some pilling happening in the crotch area after repeated use.

Club Ride has men's pants too you could check out.

I don't own the pants myself, but Rhone makes high quality and well-regarded clothes, and I think these are designed for your use case.

This is true, but you can definitely minimize the effect: showering right before I ride makes a huge difference, and ditching the bag/wearing a synthetic wickable shirt (Under Armour's are good, IME) makes 20 miles daily in NYC bearable for me. Deodorant and changing are, of course, essential.

> Does anyone have recommendations for bike pants that aren't cycling pants?

I have a few pairs of Chrome pants and shorts[1]; they're cycling oriented, but are passable as normal casual wear.

[1]: https://www.chromeindustries.com/clothing/pants-and-shorts/

I used to have a 12 mile commute that took nearly an hour - It's almost always cool in the morning, and I'd ride slow for the last mile or so to minimize sweating, then change into my regular clothes at the office. No shower or wipedown required. On the way home I'd typically just wear my regular clothes.

I don't know how you're ruining your pants, but if it's bike grease or getting your pant legs sucked into the chain, a simple ankle strap will let you avoid that. By using a drive wax lube (I use White Lightning, but there are others), that also minimizes the dirt transfer if your pant leg does brush against the chain or chainring.

Sure, it's possible, but highly dependent on your route and time in the saddle.

  simple ankle strap will let you avoid that

They have stuff for the other genders as well.

I wear just normal sports shorts in the summer and in the winter add a long spandex pair of pants (wormth and comfort) with the shorts over it