Santini Tono Puro bib shorts

The Santini Tono Puro bib shorts offer a level of quality, comfort, performance and appearance that justifies the relatively high price. The combination of lightweight, breathable fabric, a low-cut front and mesh rear also makes them as good for indoor training as they are for sunny outdoor rides. It's just a pity the logo is peeling prematurely.

The compressive fabric, low-cut front and long, stretchy, seamless straps are similar to – and also what I like best about – the Assos T Equipe Evos, which have been my favourite bib shorts for the last year or so. But the Santini Tono Puro is more than just a me-too product: the leg grippers outgrip any I've ever worn – zero risk of accidental Sean Yates – and the front, although still low, flatters the waistline rather than mercilessly pushing any stomach muscles that may have become slightly more 'relaxed' during the lockdown upwards and outwards, the way the Assos shorts tend to.

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With their raw-cut cuffs and smooth fabric the Tonos are going after a sleek, minimalist look, so it's a pity the Santini logo on the right leg is peeling after a month of use, despite care instructions being duly followed. They now look decidedly scruffy. Thankfully the lettering is black, like the fabric, so it's not as obvious as it could be, but it's disappointing nevertheless. It looks as though the lettering will lift off completely after another few washes and I've pulled the edge of one of the letters off a bit further to check whether it would leave a mark – it didn't. However, by comparison the black lettering on the Assos shorts has only suffered a small amount of fine cracking in a year and a half.

In terms of performance, the Santinis have kept me in total comfort on everything from a well-shaped but unpadded leather Cycles Berthoud saddle to a slightly unforgiving ultra-modern Selle Italia SLR Boost Superflow via an ageing San Marco Rolls (on my turbo bike) – surely there's no sterner test of a pair of shorts.

The chamois is Santini's GITevo, which it says is its most versatile gel core pad. I found it neither too mattress-like nor too Spartan – even with the stiff leather saddle it supplied adequate shock absorption. It simply got on with its job with minimum fuss and I can't say I particularly noticed it, which is how a good chamois should behave. As with many shorts, especially ones designed for performance cycling like these, the pad is positioned so that more of it is at the front. There's more cushioning when you're in an aggressive position than there is for sitting on the back of the saddle taking it easy and chatting.

The most important job of a pair of bib shorts is to keep the chamois in the right place, and it's surprising how many fail here. The Santinis do such a great job of it by simultaneously stopping the legs riding up and by letting the straps stretch.

The insides of the raw cuffs have a 5.5cm band of silicone made up of thousands of tiny tessellating hexagons and they are incredibly sticky from the get-go. So sticky that they don't even move once you sit on the saddle – it was important to 'set' the chamois and cuff ride height before riding, because they won't move. Although the logo is perishing (pre-perishing pic below), the cuffs haven't lost any of their stickiness in the wash.

Additionally, leg length is good. Italian shorts – and Swiss ones too – can err towards the shorter leg, which doesn't always go down so well outside the Continent.

Meanwhile, the bib straps, which are made of single strips of 5cm-wide ribbed elastic, have loads of stretch so that they don't pull the chamois upwards when you lean forward into the drops or pedal out of the saddle, and they don't dig into your shoulders either. It's surprising that more shorts aren't made like this. It's common to find bib shorts whose polyester straps have considerably less stretch than the fabric of the shorts. It doesn't make any sense to me.

My only criticism of the straps is that after washing, the wide elastic bunches more easily, folding on the longitudinal ribs. Maybe a non-ribbed elastic – as used by Assos – would solve this.

Santini seems to have toned down its go-faster colour schemes to suit a more chic, black shorts-wearing crowd. But if you did want to add a splash of colour, they are also available in 'Vineyard' (burgundy), VM (olive) and Blu Nautica (navy blue).

Value and conclusion

The Santinis are priced lower than the £155 Assos T Equipe Evos although the excellent Assos T.MilleShorts_S7 are cheaper at £115, now £80 via Assos directly. Compared with other premium-priced shorts they're pretty good value: the Rapha Classic Bib Shorts II are now £170 and Le Col's Pro Bib Shorts are £150 (I have the updated version of these on test at the moment – watch out for a new review).

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I would say the Santini Tono Puros can hold own against Assos and Rapha and are carefully priced to match or even undercut them – and are still made in Italy. I've been very impressed with the comfort, quality, fit and appearance and would recommend them if you're looking for a pair of high-end bib shorts. I've only really marked them down because of the peeling logo – of course comfort is more important than aesthetics, but if you're paying £140 for a pair of shorts from a famous Italian name it's not unreasonable to expect the name to stay there for the life of the shorts.

Verdict

Italian-made shorts offering great performance and decent value – shame about the peeling logo