You might want to read this...

A Gentlemen's Guide to Fitting Trousers

:)

"Stand in from of a mirror and bend sideways. You should see a noticeable bend between your hips and the bottom of your rib cage; normally this is just above your navel. This is your waist. Stand straight, and using a cloth tape measure, measure your waist just above your navel."

According to your guide, Nick, my waist ("noticeable bend between your hips and the bottom of your rib cage") is located considerably below my navel rather than above it. It's an obvious indentation between the bottom margin of the external oblique muscles and the top of the iliac crest. The waist of my pants "hang" on top of my iliac crest. And if I pull them up higher, they will just fall back down to the iliac crest where it seems that they were just meant to rest.

I'm sure some do wear their pants up higher than their navel, but I'm 42 years old and don't recall ever having a friend that pulled their pants up that high. I can think of some older folks who did that, but they were around when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.:) If I did that with the scrubs that I wear every day or my Levis, my friends would laugh at my "testicular cameltoe" in the front and wedgie in the back, because the rise on those pants simply are not made to be pulled up that high without riding up into my crack. Just to appease my curiosity, I went into Google Images and did 3 searches. I typed in "shirtless runner," "shirtless hikers," and "shirtless men." There were hundreds of photos, and at least at a cursory glance, I couldn't find a single one with their pants worn above the navel. Most, in fact, seemed to be at least an inch or more below their navel, which is about the level that I wear mine.



"Properly fitted trousers will allow you to sit, stand, and walk without the material falling down, shifting, or becoming uncomfortable."

The RR pants definitely don't meet your above definition of "properly fitted trousers," at least on me, because if I pull them up higher so that the crotch no longer rides low and causes discomfort, they will stay there for all of about 10 steps before falling back down and resting on the top of my iliac crest. And at that point, the crotch is hanging so low that the rubbing on my inner thighs drives me crazy.

I guess the bottom line is that RR pants won't work for me, because pants simply will NOT stay at a level above my navel. I'd need to staple them to my skin or something. All pants, regardless of how high I pull them up, will naturally and quickly find their way back down to the top of my iliac crest, and not a bit below it. They comfortably and securely hang on top of that bony ridge…the place that I call my waist. :) But that's just me. As I mentioned previously, I really wish I could make the RR pants work for me because of some of the awesome features, but it's not happening because of the comfort issue. I've never experienced inner thigh chaffing in my life, but those pants I'm sure would cause it.

Although I know that many on this list may not like this idea of pants with a low crotch, but the low crotch is the norm in many hot climates in the world.
People in places like North Africa and South Asia don't usually wear snug running shorts.

I do find the RR Ecomesh much cooler/ventilated in the crotch area and I belive that is why they went this way. It does allow for a drier more ventilated crotch area and I belive that should reduce any chance of the rash that people get from persperation.

I just received a few pair of RailRiders pants in the mail today (Eco Mesh and Weatherpants) and the first thing that I noticed was the low crotch on both pairs of paints. It was more pronounced on the Weatherpants than the Eco Mesh, but both were very noticable. I'm sad to say that I may have to return them because of this issue. I tried on each pair of pants and walked around the house a bit to test them out. Both pairs were really annoying when doing any kind of stretching or walking up stairs. I had to pull them up in the thighs or they would bind quite a bit. Rolling over the waist helps, but it's irritating to have to do this with a new pair of pants to get them to fit better, and I wouldn't want to have to do that every time I wore them.

If I do end up returning them, does anyone have any suggestions on similarly featured hiking pants?

The only hiking pants I've worn in years are the North Face convertible pants. They don't have the low crotch problem at all. They also dry very fast and seem indestructible. I've yet to have them show any kind of wear, so I just haven't needed to try any other pants. Good luck in your search.

"If I do end up returning them, does anyone have any suggestions on similarly featured hiking pants?"

I've become a big fan of Arcteryx Perimeter pants. Like a lighter version of the Gamma LT pants material with a little less stretch.

If you like the vented features of the RR, check out exofficio's version. I have a pair of RR bone flats pants and felt that exofficio did a better job at a similar style pant. I forget the model name - maybe the air strip line?

+1 on the RailRiders low crotch. I have the EcoMesh and the Adventure Pant.

I still like the North Face convertible pants the best. I finally got my second pair after 10 years of abuse on rescues.
I mostly bought the second pair for better DWR. Still wear the the first pair with a bit of mending on the rear.