La Passione Grace Bib Shorts

La Passione's Grace Bib Shorts are the Italian brand's sole bib short offering for women. These use quality materials and provide comfort for mid-distance rides, as well as breathability for more intense efforts. The leg length is decent, but bear in mind the straps are cut slightly short and aren't particularly stretchy, so these don't suit all body shapes.

The main fabric (59% polyester, 41% elastane) is soft, stretchy and not in any way restrictive – these shorts flow with the body's movement while riding.

The seamless straps are broad at 4cm wide, and round the back they join a central mesh panel. The idea is to improve ventilation as well as stabilising the shorts on the body – it works well on both counts, and the mesh is fast drying too.

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Cut wise, the Grace shorts wont suit everyone – they don't suit riders like me, for instance, with a relatively long torso.

There's a little stretch to the straps, but it's not enough, and they're simply too short for my upper body. The resulting drag on my shoulders feels restrictive and caused discomfort on rides.

If you have an average or relatively short torso, however, the straps are broad and spread pressure evenly, so will likely be completely comfortable for a shorter rider.

Along with this I found the fit to be slightly looser than I like around my thighs. If you're not a fan of the gentle compression found in racier models, you may prefer the feel of this fit – I just get on better with a little more reassuring support.

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The Elastic Interface pad is incredibly soft and contours comfortably. Density-wise it's very decent, although for me it doesn't quite provide enough support for longer endurance rides. I found the chamois comfortable up to three hours on the road – only then did soreness become an issue.

That said, the shorts do keep the pad securely in place, so I didn't have any issues with chafing or rubbing at all.

Although the straps are cut short, there's good length to the legs. The grippers are wide at 6cm, and the elasticity of the band combined with the grippiness of the silicone dots inside mean these shorts do not budge at all, whatever your efforts.

The downside is the dots leave faint marks on the skin post-ride.

The plain black design allows you to easily match these shorts with any jersey, though they're also available in blue.

Value

At £120, these are reasonably priced. Rapha's quality-feeling Women's Pro Team Training Bib Shorts give snug yet breathable coverage too, but are £140. So are the Bioracer Epic Bibshort Women.

You can spend less though: Bioracer's Vesper Bibshort Soft is £99 and Velocio's Foundation Bib Shorts are £101. Both of these are very comfortable for less intense rides, and also have handy easy-pee features – something the La Passione lacks.

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Overall

The La Passione Grace shorts are very good, thanks to the comfortable pad, good construction and effective leg grippers. The short, unstretchy straps may well bother you if you're relatively long in the torso, though.

Verdict

Well-made and comfortable for mid-distance rides, but straps are too tight if you're long in the torso