Ride Aquazero bib tights with insert

At £54.99, you'd be forgiven for dismissing the Ride Aquazeros as just another set of standard bibtights but you couldn't be more wrong. These UK designed and Italian made tights are serious performers, and left me scratching my head as to why I'd want to spend any more on other options.

A large part of their success comes from their use of the Aquazero Pro material. This is designed so that water beads up on the surface instead of just soaking in, much like Castelli's Nanoflex material. Add a bit of airflow to the mix and the water just slides off the surface leaving you dry underneath.

To test this out, I placed the tights under a dripping tap and it really does work as advertised. Typical road spray from damp roads poses no problem to the Aquazero's water shedding ability. Crank the tap up though, and the coating does get overwhelmed, especially if you apply a bit of hand pressure. Given that these aren't billed as fully waterproof but, rather, as water repellent, this is fair enough.

A major advantage of Aquazero over a fully waterproof material is that it retains the stretchy feel you associate with conventional Lycra. The inside is a fleecy Roubaix which provides good warmth for its weight. I had no issues using these tights down to 0°C and could probably have gone down further with just some light leg warmers underneath.

Aiding in the warmth stakes is the zipped abdomen section which provides a little extra frontal coverage (or beer gut compression – take your pick). The mesh straps are an interesting choice for such a winter orientated piece of clothing, but I can't say I would have noticed any difference in warmth had they been fleecy too.

The second ace in the Aquazeros' hand is the dialled fit. First, cautionary note; I usually fall somewhere between a medium and large when it comes to bib tights, but found the large size tested to be very snug. When I say snug, what I mean is that they fitted perfectly – not a crease in sight. Ride have used some interestingly shaped panels to achieve this fit which results in a seam passing very close to the front of the knee. On seeing this, I was initially worried about possible chaffing, but no such problems arose in use. All in all, the Ride designers have really got this one right.

The chamois pad comes courtesy of a third party manufacturer – Dr Pad. Their catalogue of models is impressively large and Ride have chosen one of their top-of-the-range models – the Team – for the Aquazero tights. With a maximum thickness of 10mm, the Team pad isn't as thick as some, but it is nicely contoured, and the way it interacts with the overall fit of the garment makes it extremely comfortable in use. It really puts some of the more expensive models from established brands to shame.

So, Ride seem to have gotten the major things right, but surely some corners have been cut on the small details?

Not really. You get a couple of small triangles of reflective material on the calves and some very tacky silicone grippers at the bottom of each leg. Style wise, the plain black colour and lack of any big logos is refreshing during an age in which everything seems to be plastered in branding.

The only oversight, in my opinion, is the lack of ankle zippers. The material is stretchy enough in this area that pulling them on and off isn't a problem, but zips would still have been a useful feature.

Verdict

Ride have really ticked all the boxes with these Aquazero bib tights. Incorporating some clever material tech and a sorted fit, these tights deliver the sort of performance you'd expect from models costing far more that 100 quid.