Sportful Super Total Comfort Bib Shorts

Brand new for 2015, the Sportful Super Total Comfort Bib Shorts live up to their name and offer stupendous comfort for the longest rides, with a generously padded insert and a fabric that is light and breathable. A nice amount of compression also provides good muscle support.

The shorts are constructed from Sportful's Dry Pro-Lite Fabric. Rather than a knit fabric Sportful use a dimpled 43% Lycra stretch woven fabric, which they claim is lighter, offers better muscle support and moisture management.

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It's certainly a light and thin fabric and also offer a high degree of compression. Whether that makes you faster or not is another matter, but they do feel very supportive and comfortable. The various panels are well shaped and the cut is good, with no restriction of movement when pedalling. During hot rides the fabric does certainly appear to cope with a high quantity of sweat.

The most important part of any bib short is the padded insert, and here Sportful stick with the same Total Comfort chamois used in the previous Total Comfort shorts. That's a good thing: it's one of the most comfortable inserts on the market. A continuously variable urethane foam with four different densities, up to 18mm at its thickest, provides ample comfort for any ride distance, from short blasts to your biggest epics. And it manages that comfort without you feeling like you're wearing a nappy.

Wide bib straps distribute pressure evenly across the top of the shoulders and there's enough stretch in the straps that they don't pull down on your shoulders excessively. The straps are full of ventilating holes and the back of the shorts is filled in with a mesh panel to keep you cool. It's quite a coarse fabric, though, and feels a bit rough when worn right next to the skin, so you're best to wear a base layer.

Sportful use what they call 'Press-to-Zero' leg openings, which follow the current trend for a wide, elasticated hem. There's a band of silicone dots as well to stop the shorts riding up. Comfort around the legs is excellent and there's no irritation when pedalling.

The shorts are held together with flatlock stitching throughout, and durability has been excellent. These are shorts built to not only go the distance, but last a long time too. There are few graphics to peel off, so they should still look good in years to come. The simple black finish with understated graphics means they go well with any jersey too.

There's no shortage of choice if you've got £160 to spend on a pair of bib shorts, and these are definitely up there with the best. We've become used to Sportful offering really well designed products at really good prices, but these are quite a bit more expensive than other bib shorts of theirs we've tested in the past, approaching Castelli and Rapha levels.

They are definitely more comfortable than Sportful's cheaper offerings, though, and for the most demanding and longest rides that comfort is appreciated, but taking the price into matters might be tricky to justify. It's worth shopping around as I've seen them for a good deal less, at which point the price is a bit easier to stomach.

Verdict

Extremely comfortable shorts for long rides but rather a high price