Scott Trail MTN Dryo 50 Women’s Waterproof Shorts

Big bike brand Scott produces a full and hearty range of good looking bike gear, with these Trail MTN Dryo 50 Women’s Waterproof Shorts being no exception. They bring colour and, importantly, a dry bottom to winter riding.

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Beneath the absolute mouthful of a name, Scott’s MTN Dryo 50 Waterproof Shorts, are the brands only completely water resistant offering for us ladies. Made from thier DRYOsphere 3L fabric the shorts provide a highly waterproof and windproof, breathable barrier from the elements – 10,000mm waterproof rating to be exact.

• You can buy Scott MTN Dryo 50 Waterproof Shorts here

Picking up the MTN Dryo’s I immediately noticed the soft feel of the material. These shorts look like any regular waterproof outer shell but they feel super soft, with none of the crinkly and stiff feeling you might get with other brands.

With a 14” inseam these are plenty long enough to cover knee pads and crucially when talking about waterproof shorts – they cover a good amount of leg too. Whilst pedalling, the shorts did ride up my leg a little, a factor I attributed to the lack of any stretch panels, the material has no ‘give’ and there are no inserted elasticated panels either that might solve this issue.

The MTN Dryo 50’s are simple in construction, they offer a pull-on, pull-off design with an elastic waistband that can be winched tighter by a pull cord, great stuff and simple to use in muddy conditions too with no zips to get clogged up. Elsewhere there is a Velcro cuff at the bottom of the hem, although this isn’t something I put to use as I wore the shorts predominantly with knee pads where they offer a large amount of room at the leg hole. There is also a small zip pocket with water resistant zip, great to prevent water ingress from the outside but with the pocket placement on the lower leg, is vulnerable to splashes from below due to the netting used in the pocket liner – not one for valuables.

The shorts are reasonably well fitting, but still produce some inherent puffiness around the waist and hips when seated. I had the good fortune of trying both a size small and a medium and found both to be a good fit, the alteration on offer in the waistband and the generous length allowing me to wear both comfortably. The medium shorts did catch on my saddle at times so I stuck with the smalls for a tighter fit.

Performance wise the Scott MTN Dryo 50’s are as waterproof and as breathable as they come, I’ve been stepping out in these for a couple of months now and am never left disappointed, never too hot or sweaty or left with a wet bum. They’re easy to care for too, they lack of any extra fuss in the form of poppers, zippers or buckles make them easy to hose down and dry off for the next ride with no mud left in any nooks and crannies.

Given a couple of stretch panels to combat the rising of the short up my legs when pedalling, these would be a damn good pair of reliable shorts. Without it, they still make good roads into fending off the bad weather just with a little dampness occurring at the knees. The MTB Dryo 50’s are light and packable, making them a great over short to chuck in the bottom of your pack in case the weather turns sour as well as being one I’m happy to ride all day in. At £86 they are pretty pricey but as the material used is of a robust nature and of superior technical quality they will likely last a few seasons without letting you down.

It’s worth noting that now you can buy any of Scott’s massive range of gear online, the only thing not available on the internet are the bikes. At this time Scott are only showing availability of these shorts in black, with colours such as this purple and a blue to be added early next year. 

• www.scott-sports.com

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