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review
£130.00
VERDICT:
Cool and comfy bib shorts with a superb all-round performance – but you have to pay a premium price
Weight:
186g
Contact:
www.saddleback.co.uk
At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.
What the road.cc scores meanGood scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad.
- Exceptional
- Excellent
- Very Good
- Good
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- Average
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- Poor
- Bad
- Appalling
Excellent shorts – these are really comfortable and very well made. Yes, the Castelli Free Aero bibs are expensive, but there’s a whole lot of performance engineered in here.
You get three different kinds of fabric in the lower section – a durable Lycra-esque material through the seat area, extra-stretchy ribbed sides, and slightly more breathable front panels. It’s all flat-stiched together and there are no seams on the inner thigh so you don’t get any chafing whatsoever as you rack up the big miles.
The two layer Progetto X2 pad is high quality too, giving you plenty of comfort without too much bulk. The thickness varies from 3mm around the edges to 12mm underneath your sit bones, and there's a seamless layer next to your body that both wicks sweat well and dries out fast to keep humidity to a minimum.
More and more brands are going for single-layer leg-grippers these days and Castelli’s Giro++ version is a fine example. It‘s really thin and lightweight, but we had no worries at all with the legs riding up, while a couple of subtle reflectives around the back improve visibility. As for the mesh bib section, it’s highly breathable and it doesn't cover up too much of your torso so you stay cool.
On the down side… well, to be honest, we’ve used these tons lately and we’ve got no particular gripes. The build quality is high and they look great too. We know the all-black version is the sensible choice for typical UK conditions – wet and white isn’t attractive, if you know what we’re saying – but we can’t help feeling strangely attracted to our colour option.
Okay, you can get some really good shorts for half the price, but these are right up there among the best.
Verdict
Cool and comfy bib shorts with a superb all-round performance – but you have to pay a premium price
road.cc test report
Make and model: Castelli Free Aero bibshort
Size tested: white/black
Rate the product for quality of construction:
9/10
Rate the product for performance:
9/10
Rate the product for durability:
9/10
Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
9/10
Rate the product for value:
6/10
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes, they're excellent
Would you consider buying the product? Yes, if I had the cash
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes
About the tester
Age: 36 Height: 184cm Weight: 74kg
I usually ride: My best bike is:
I've been riding for: Over 20 years I ride: Most days I would class myself as: Expert
I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, commuting, sportives, general fitness riding, mtb,
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
Latest Comments
- john_smith 1 hour 53 min ago
Straight into the sun is perhaps an exaggeration, but at that time it would be about ESE, and there are bits of the road which head roughly SSE, so...
- john_smith 2 hours 2 min ago
7 October was just a bit of harmless fun until the "msm" ramped it up.
- hawkinspeter 2 hours 3 min ago
It's not censored if you just pirate it
- stonojnr 3 hours 7 min ago
an example of Kesgraves "best cycling infrastructure in the country" https://maps.app.goo.gl/GsCMbzDUTPdq59qS9
- ktache 3 hours 11 min ago
They are not going full gas at every point. They would destroy themselves. And tactics, they save themselves for when effort is really needed....
- wookey 3 hours 15 min ago
It turns out that that is national police policy. We found out from this process that there is national 'secured by design' policy which causes...
- mtbtomo 3 hours 55 min ago
Been available for quite a while, full GRX mechanical 12 speed. Probably around the same time as 105 mechanical 12 speed if I were to guess.
- TheBillder 4 hours 1 min ago
Less harmful citrus degreaser is easy to find at £8 or less for 5 litres. Works ok for me, even diluted up to 4:1. Both paraffin and white spirit...
- Veganpotter 4 hours 6 min ago
Nope, it's to keep your straps down and quieter. Plus most sunglasses are polycarbonate and aren't going to shatter like glass anyway
- Steve K 4 hours 37 min ago
And, more seriously, where's the coverage of the closure of the cycle lane which forces you to cycle on the Totton bypass.
Add new comment
10 comments
Hmm. I think Saddleback may be towing the party line on this one. I just managed to try Velocissimo and Presto side by side and the Presto large are very slightly tighter than the Velocissimo medium.
I'm now utterly befuddled.
Great, Thanks. Best get the plastic out...
Castelli: word from Saddleback is, "All the Castelli shorts and now the jerseys are the same size across the board. If you a large Free Aero, you are a large Velocissimo. Simples."
Awesome. Thanks.
I'll drop a mail to Castelli's UK distributor, Saddleback, and see if they have any advice on that.
Thanks, Mat.
I just found some Castelli Velocissimo bibs in Evans. Tried s/m/l and medium was definitely the winner. S->M seemed like a bigger jump than M->L.
I have quite long legs (relatively that is - I think long legs are a given at 189!) so maybe my average size torso fitted the mediums ok.
That said, I see in some people say the Velocissimo's come up bigger than Castelli's other bibs, and also that the Free Aero and Body Paint ones come up a bit smaller. ('flatter the masses' vs. 'pro fit' maybe?)
I think their jersey sizing differs by product, too. The Podio jersey is much closer fitting than the Prologo one for the same size.
Decisions, decisions...
Maybe just get 'em from Wiggle so I can return for free with Collect+ if need be.
Thanks again.
Hi Matt_S, you're about the same size as me. Not sure why I've been relegated to 184cm on this review - I'm 189 or 190cm and 75kg.
I also take a medium Castelli jersey, but the shorts I have are large and they're definitely the right size for me. So I'd suggest large; I can't see them being too big for you. Good luck
More specifically, I'm 189 and 75kg. My measurements are very close to the Castelli Medium sizing chart (chest/waist/hips). I tried on a Castelli Prologo jersey in Medium and it fits well. Unfortunately I can't find anywhere that sells the shorts to try.
What size did you test? Currently it says "Size tested: white/black"!
On your other tests you're listed as 190cm 74Kg. If that's the case, what's the fit/sizing like?
Thanks, Matt.
So by "Free", they actually meant "Equivalent to two days after tax earnings for someone on the average national wage"?? I'm sure there must be a breach of the description of goods laws there somewhere.