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BUYER'S GUIDE
Best cycling bib shorts: The road.cc People's Choice verdict is in!
Last week we asked you to tell us your favourite bib shorts. We've counted the votes and the results are in. Here's the top ten.
Note: we don't claim any great scientific accuracy for this, especially as write-in polls are awkward things to count. But it's pleasing to see many of our favourites are there, and we're looking forward to getting our hands on a set from a very successful newcomer to see if they're really that good.
10) Endura FS260
10 votes
Stofish says: "Expensive but not stupidly so, comfort is as good as any other and to my experience harder wearing."
8) Sportful Bodyfit Pro
13 votes
GustyBH says: "Classy look & real all day comfort."
8) DHB Aeron Pro
13 votes
dches1 says: "The most my budget stretch to is DHB Aeron Pro. I think for their price they're excellent, no cause to complain! Lovely and comfortable over all distances (for me, anyway)."
7) Lusso ProGel
14 votes
Curly says: I'm a big fan of the Lusso Pro Gel, the only one where the pad hasn't gone flat after 5 years and hasn't started to fall to bits like other makes. I have had Castelli and similar and their Lycra doesn't hold together like the Lusso ones and its great to buy a brand make in Britain
5) Rapha Pro Team
15 votes
paulrattew says: "For me it is the Rapha Pro Team bib shorts. They are supremely comfortable for riding super hard or for long days in the saddle. The chamois is lovely - slightly different from the one in the Rapha Classic shorts and an improvement. The lycra is really supportive, the grippers deep and comfortable. Plus they look great. If you damage them crashing Rapha will do their best to repair them. They are horrifically expensive, but this is the one area where I don't want to skimp."
5) Castelli Free Aero Race
15 votes
Castelli fans are men and women of few words, it seems, but the X2 pad is what people like about these shorts.
4) Castelli Velocissimo Due
18 votes
markfireblade says: "No question even at normal retail prices."
3) Howies Men's
24 votes
Al__S says: "Mainly seamless construction; lovely "classic" matt black finish; no bright colours; subtle; comfortable; good value. What's not to like?"
2) Rapha Classic
28 votes
VeloVert says: "Classy as hell, with the matt finish being a little less showy than the Pro Team shorts. Pad is epic; I did five hours on Sunday having never done more than two before and the one part of me that didn't hurt was my backside. Expensive, but you truly do get what you pay for."
1) RedWhite The Bibs
41 votes
rosscompton says: "I recently got a set of 'The Bibs' from Red White. They're far better than everything else I have. A great pad that is perfect for a long ride and really comfortable grippers. Can't recommend them enough!"
About road.cc Buyer's Guides
The aim of road.cc buyer's guides is to give you the most, authoritative, objective and up-to-date buying advice. We continuously update and republish our guides, checking prices, availability and looking for the best deals.
Our guides include links to websites where you can buy the featured products. Like most sites we make a small amount of money if you buy something after clicking on one of those links. We want you to be happy with what you buy, so we only include a product in a if we think it's one of the best of its kind.
As far as possible that means recommending equipment that we have actually reviewed, but we also include products that are popular, highly-regarded benchmarks in their categories.
Here's some more information on how road.cc makes money.
You can also find further guides on our sister sites off.road.cc and ebiketips.
Road.cc buyer's guides are maintained and updated by John Stevenson. Email John with comments, corrections or queries.
Acknowledged by the Telegraph as a leading cycling journalist, John Stevenson has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc editor Tony Farelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013 and these days he lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.