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BUYER'S GUIDE
Bibshorts People choiceBest cycling bib shorts: The road.cc People's Choice verdict is in!
Last week we asked you to tell us your favourite bib shorts. We've counted the votes and the results are in. Here's the top ten.
Note: we don't claim any great scientific accuracy for this, especially as write-in polls are awkward things to count. But it's pleasing to see many of our favourites are there, and we're looking forward to getting our hands on a set from a very successful newcomer to see if they're really that good.
10) Endura FS260
10 votes
Stofish says: "Expensive but not stupidly so, comfort is as good as any other and to my experience harder wearing."
8) Sportful Bodyfit Pro
13 votes
GustyBH says: "Classy look & real all day comfort."
8) DHB Aeron Pro
13 votes
dches1 says: "The most my budget stretch to is DHB Aeron Pro. I think for their price they're excellent, no cause to complain! Lovely and comfortable over all distances (for me, anyway)."
7) Lusso ProGel
14 votes
Curly says: I'm a big fan of the Lusso Pro Gel, the only one where the pad hasn't gone flat after 5 years and hasn't started to fall to bits like other makes. I have had Castelli and similar and their Lycra doesn't hold together like the Lusso ones and its great to buy a brand make in Britain
5) Rapha Pro Team
15 votes
paulrattew says: "For me it is the Rapha Pro Team bib shorts. They are supremely comfortable for riding super hard or for long days in the saddle. The chamois is lovely - slightly different from the one in the Rapha Classic shorts and an improvement. The lycra is really supportive, the grippers deep and comfortable. Plus they look great. If you damage them crashing Rapha will do their best to repair them. They are horrifically expensive, but this is the one area where I don't want to skimp."
5) Castelli Free Aero Race
15 votes
Castelli fans are men and women of few words, it seems, but the X2 pad is what people like about these shorts.
4) Castelli Velocissimo Due
18 votes
markfireblade says: "No question even at normal retail prices."
3) Howies Men's
24 votes
Al__S says: "Mainly seamless construction; lovely "classic" matt black finish; no bright colours; subtle; comfortable; good value. What's not to like?"
2) Rapha Classic
28 votes
VeloVert says: "Classy as hell, with the matt finish being a little less showy than the Pro Team shorts. Pad is epic; I did five hours on Sunday having never done more than two before and the one part of me that didn't hurt was my backside. Expensive, but you truly do get what you pay for."
1) RedWhite The Bibs
41 votes
rosscompton says: "I recently got a set of 'The Bibs' from Red White. They're far better than everything else I have. A great pad that is perfect for a long ride and really comfortable grippers. Can't recommend them enough!"
About road.cc Buyer's Guides
The aim of road.cc buyer's guides is to give you the most, authoritative, objective and up-to-date buying advice. We continuously update and republish our guides, checking prices, availability and looking for the best deals.
Our guides include links to websites where you can buy the featured products. Like most sites we make a small amount of money if you buy something after clicking on one of those links. We want you to be happy with what you buy, so we only include a product if we think it's one of the best of its kind.
As far as possible that means recommending equipment that we have actually reviewed, but we also include products that are popular, highly-regarded benchmarks in their categories.
Here's some more information on how road.cc makes money.
You can also find further guides on our sister sites off.road.cc and ebiketips.
road.cc buyer's guides are maintained by the road.cc tech team. Email us with comments, corrections or queries.
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
Latest Comments
- IanMK 1 hour 29 min ago
I do wonder if Highway Planners and Councils understand all the implications of putting in traffic calming measures. They certainly take no...
- Oldfatgit 1 hour 45 min ago
Well done to Paddy....
- Oldfatgit 1 hour 48 min ago
How long before some waste of DNA complains about them on the footpath ... or for Grimsby [and the other shit-tips] to ban them ...
- mattw 2 hours 37 min ago
I've only just spotted this....
- Another_MAMIL 3 hours 1 min ago
I also liked Polartec NeoShell and was disappointed it was discontinued. Polartec RPM looks similar, but it's unclear how NeoShell and RPM compare....
- pockstone 3 hours 12 min ago
"Due to the increasing speed of bicycles..., we have to expect that such accidents will happen more often.”...
- mdavidford 4 hours 38 min ago
Seems probably even more appropriate than what I originally intended.
- slc 5 hours 51 min ago
Credit to the author for attending the opposition meetings and trying to understand their concerns, but I agree with hp. There has been significant...
- RoubaixCube 6 hours 51 min ago
I like how youre using a Mojito X to advertise an Mojito 3
- Basemetal 7 hours 12 min ago
The PU dip on the palm and fingers is over the knitted nylon so not chilly in use, and the material is thick enough to provide some cushioning. It...
Add new comment
42 comments
If you haven't heard of RedWhite you need to get about more
http://www.sportive.com/redwhite-bib-shorts/518046/review-long-distance-...
Assos for racing and Galibier's team shorts for endurance training.
Think the polls should be black and white, not red and ......
Assos.
Whilst I don't have a Cervelo, I do absolutely love my Rapha Classics. There's nothing to touch them in terms of quality and fit at any price in my experience. They exude a kind of lushness normally only reserved for... well... how can I put this... fancy lingerie. Which is good because you really want nothing but the smoothest and softest materials when it comes to linishing your undercarriage and nipples for 5 hours
Admittedly I am assuming you're a fella at this point, so...
...how often do you wear fancy lingerie?!
I've never heard of RedWhite either. However, their website is nice! Might give these a go in all fairness.
Bit confused. I count 3 votes for the Rapha classic on site. I assume the rest were on Facebook or something?
There you go, prices, both at the site linked and full RRP. And additional charges. Everywhere does free shipping options.
10: Endura FS260 £66.49 (full price £69.99)
8: Sportful Bodyfit Pro £93.00 (full price £125)
8: dhb Aeron Pro £57.19 (full price £64.99)
7: Lusso ProGel £49.99 (full price £70)
5: Rapha Pro Team £150
5: Castelli Free Aero Race £113.98 (full price £140)
4: Castelli Velocissimo Due £71.22 (full price £100)
3: Howies Men's £59.99
2: Rapha Classic £160
1: RedWhite The Bibs $150 - £95.39 plus 20% VAT plus £8 Royal Mail handling fee - £122.47
RedWhite is £ 90 @ alwaysriding, not sure if there's any postage to pay but that's a list price not a discounted one. Always is the designated outlet for the UK.
http://www.alwaysriding.co.uk/brands/redwhite.html
If you add a value weighting, that brings Howie's out some way clear of everyone else.
Exactly why I proposed them in the first place! I've got 3 pairs of their shorts (one a 3/4 length) and was fortunate enough to pay less than £30 each for 2 of them... Agree that clearly Howies are the moral victor.
The RedWhites are suspended after eating imported steak so its rapha 1st and howies 2nd. seems about right.
I hope RedWhite have at least sent in a pair for an impartial review.
How perverse - a bunch of moaning minnies who couldn't be bothered to say what bibs they like in, lets face it a fairly relaxed 'poll', suddenly find the energy to react to the result with streams of whiny petulance and tin-foil delusions.
Do take a deep breath and think about where this stands in the great scheme of things, please, or get active and set up the Peoples Popular Front Against Denigrating My Bibshorts ... or whatever.
Just calm down, it's really not important.
I'm not having that! I've already set up the Popular Peoples Front Against Denigrating Bibshorts, and that's our policy! Get out of it you!
Splitter !
Sportful asked on their twitter to vote also: https://twitter.com/sportful/status/613352135699337216
and
https://twitter.com/sportful/status/611575189378351104
but it seems their twitter fan base is not as responsive as RedWhite's
Didn't see any "gaming" by Howies and my nomination/vote was pure I assure you. It does seem suspicious that an unknown brand won...
Clearly a lot of people don't think highly enough of their bib shorts to bother voting, fair play to Red White, at the end of the day, logically the winners of any vote are the ones who people bother to vote for, if they managed to 'campaign' and drum up support then well done to them, all the other brands had the same opportunities.
I must say the PEdAL ED bibs I have are perfect. Very tight and stretchy. They feel very strange but when I ride I forget all about them. Thats why I think they are perfect. If what I am wearing is unnoticeable then I can enjoy the ride to the full.
I have shorts from so many brand but they red company. This poll is totally fixed. Impossible when most of us hear them for the first time.
Road.cc should have done it properly and used proper polling software. I didn't bother voting because the whole thing looked amatuerish but if a new company has mobilised it's customers and won, good on them.
If you visit RedWhite's web site they collect your email within the first 30 seconds. Its not difficult to imagine that they asked their existing customers to vote on the poll. Quite simple, and if 41 of their customers took their time to vote well good on them. Its called marketing, its just more personal and a little more effective than sponsorship and building brand....
Would love to try some of the Rapha gear but I don't have a Pinarello so....
Just joking I'd give it a try only I can't afford at the minute. Very impressed with any of the Sportful gear I have so might try the body fit pro shorts soon.
Maybe I'm thick, but if people had liked an alternative enough surely they would simply vote for them rather than wait and be a miserable keyboard warrior...
This is a dumb article. The sample size means the results are statistically insignificant. As for wotsit getting 41 votes and no Assos!
dumb dumb dumb.
Bank busting Assos not on the list, shame!
Rapha are pretty cheap are they? NOT
Wot no Assos?
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