The Pedla SuperFit Bib Shorts have a great compressive race fit, an excellent pad and good breathability. They are equally well suited to race efforts or long summer days on the bike. They're pretty pricey and the legs are a touch shorter than average, but if that suits you, these are right up there with those in our best cycling bib shorts buyer's guide.
> Buy now: Pedla SuperFit Bib Shorts for £90.50 from Pedla
If, like me, you're new to the Pedla brand... well, it's an Australian company that focuses on performance and sustainability.
Its SuperFit shorts are designed for warm days and their Italian fabric is both light and breathable. Pedla suggests temperatures from about 15°C upwards for these, though with my my testing largely done in autumn I only had the opportunity to test these when it was around 10-20℃, by necessity often paired with knee warmers.
Pad
The pad is from chamois specialist Elastic Interface, and is rated comfortable for rides over seven hours long – which I'm guessing covers most situations for the great majority of us. The pad is quite thick around the sit bones but thinner elsewhere. My longest rides weren't quite up to seven hours but I found them comfortable throughout and would be confident wearing these on day-long rides.
I also wore them for shorter but more intensive rides on the turbo and they were as comfortable as you could hope to find for hard riding in a static position.
Fit and sizing
I'm in the middle of Pedla's size guide for medium and I found our medium-size test shorts true to size, so I'd recommend sticking with your normal size.
While the shorts come in seven sizes from 2XS to 2XL, the upper end of the size guide isn't the most generous, so if you are on the larger side then you may struggle to find a good fit. The flip side is that if you're a 50kg climber, the lower end of the size guide looks more accommodating than most!
The legs come to a good few centimetres above the knee. I'm 178cm tall and I found them fine, but if you're a tall but lean medium you might find them a tad short. They are a touch longer than the Assos Millie GT C2 shorts that I know some of my taller club mates do find a little short.
The grippers are very effective, so much so that they can get caught on your leg hairs when you put them on.
Their race fit provides effective compressive support to your legs, which I found very welcome during some hard Zwift racing sessions.
The mesh straps are breathable, comfortable and nice and wide on your shoulders. They are joined to a mesh upper back area that helps spread the load and to keep you cool.
The front of the shorts comes up a reasonable way to offer you some abdominal support, though there's still enough stretch in the material for a comfort break.
I have to say that the quality of the shorts is excellent – all the stitching looks perfect and the shorts look as good as new even after plenty of hours on the bike and a fair few times going through the wash.
You have a choice of four different colours: in addition to the 'stormy' I tested, which I think looks good, they also come in black, navy and olive. Each has reflective dots on the right leg, and reflective details and logo on the backside and left leg.
One extra that Pedla offers is a 40% discount on a crash replacement pair if you're unlucky enough to crash in the 12 months after you buy these.
Value
At £181 these are towards the upper end of what you might expect to pay for a pair of bib shorts, but there's still plenty of competition around this price.
Vecchiojo gave the £180 Kostume Men's bib shorts a very rare maximum mark, praising them for their exceptional comfort and luxurious lycra.
The Assos Equipe R Bib Shorts S9 received an excellent review from Tom and come in a fraction cheaper at £175.
You can spend more, though. The Velocio Men's Luxe Bib Shorts may have made Iwein feel like a cycling god – but they will cost you a wallet-worrying £213.
If you're on a tighter budget but still want quality shorts, the Castelli Entrata Bib Shorts received a positive review from Bryn and are priced at a more bank account-friendly £99.
Overall
I really liked Pedla's SuperFit bib shorts that I think are up there with the very best you can buy. They have a compressive race fit, they have an excellent pad and I found them extremely comfortable on both long, hard road rides and sessions on the turbo. They are fairly expensive but if you buy these you won't be disappointed.
Verdict
Excellent race fit shorts with a comfortable pad and great breathability
Make and model: Pedla SuperFit Bib Shorts Stormy
Tell us what the product is for
Pedla says:
"Designed from the ground up for comfort like no other. Our SuperFIT Bib Shorts have been a crowd favourite since launch, and feature a seamless, non-stitched cuff with the gripper embedded into the fabric.
Constructed from the highest quality Italian fabric, engineered for stability, delivering optimal muscle support and aerodynamics.
Finished with a chamois from market leaders Elastic Interface®, you'll find exceptional performance and all-round comfort in your new favourite bib short."
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
Pedla lists these details:
Race fit
High quality Elastic Interface pad®
Highly breathable
Compressive fabric
SuperFIT Firm anatomical compressive fit
Base Fabric: Italian Miti / Matte finish
Bib Brace: PowerMESH 180GSM
SuperGRIP seamless, non-stitched cuff with imbedded gripper
Carbonium Road Performance anatomic chamois
Finished with Pedla team branding
Excellent moisture wicking treatment
Engineered panel construction for optimal fit
Chamois Performance – rated 7+ hrs
Rate the product for quality of construction:
9/10
Rate the product for performance:
9/10
Rate the product for durability:
8/10
Rate the product for fit:
9/10
Rate the product for sizing:
9/10
Rate the product for weight:
8/10
Rate the product for comfort:
9/10
Rate the product for value:
5/10
At £181 these are towards the top end for bib shorts, but they are very good quality – and that price is in line with similar quality shorts from other high-end brands.
How easy is the product to care for? How did it respond to being washed?
Pedla recommends hand washing but I washed them at 30°C with the rest of my cycling kit without any issues – which I suspect is what most of us would do.
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
Very well – the race fit provided a great compressive feel, and I found them very comfortable.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
The race fit and the pad.
How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?
They're around the same price as other top-end bib shorts. The Kostume Men's Bib Shorts are £180 and the Assos Equipe R Bib Shorts S9 £175, while MAAP's Training Bib Shorts are a little cheaper at £155.
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes
Would you consider buying the product? Yes
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes
Use this box to explain your overall score
These are an excellent pair of shorts – I love the race fit, the pad is very comfortable and the material feels luxurious.
Age: 35 Height: 178cm Weight: 73kg
I usually ride: Specialized Roubaix My best bike is: Cervelo S3
I've been riding for: 10-20 years I ride: Most days I would class myself as: Expert
I regularly do the following types of riding: road racing, touring, club rides, general fitness riding, Indoor
Thank you. Thats a lovely picture.
I think the problem with this figure is two-fold....
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22884376/
When I got my Mavic wheels I got them on the understanding that I wasn't going to replace anything upon failure. And I will enjoy them until they die.
I'll take a Reilly, in a 56, though
But plundering the wrong budget is the central issue....
It doesn't have to be very loud or frequent for the police and legal process to accept pro-offender propaganda, especially where annoying cyclists...
I'm glad Rendel has looked into this, and I await a reply from the Anti-Eddy camp.
Or if they snatch your bike from under you, will you be able to rescue the phone before your bike disappears?
Try here: https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/15927/1/20241014_Hearne_and_Yerushalmi...