Vulpine Men's Jinzu Raw Selvedge Cycling Jeans

Vulpine's new Jinzu Selvedge Cycling Jeans are hardwearing, well-made and cut especially for riding your bike, although paying £179 for a pair of jeans is going to be a tough step for many.

So, what makes these cycling jeans as opposed to just jeans? The most important single feature is what Vulpine call the 'diamond gusset'. You know how most jeans have four seams that meet right where you sit on a bike saddle? Below your perineum, if you will. Well, that's not the case here. Instead, Vulpine add an extra panel – that diamond gusset – and arrange the seams so that you're not sitting on any of them while you ride.

This makes a big difference to your comfort when cycling because there's no large, pressure-forming lump of fabric between you and the saddle. And that diamond gusset isn't at all obvious when you're off the bike; these just look like standard jeans.

Vulpine have also cut the back of the jeans a little longer than normal so that you don't expose any flesh when you're leaning forward on the bike. That's good news for you and even better news for people behind you in traffic. Seriously, no one wants to see your arse crack (it's a medical term).

Again, though, Vulpine have made the difference from normal quite subtle. These don't shout 'cycling jeans' when you're off the bike.

The knees are slightly articulated – shaped so that you can pedal easily – and the belt loops are plenty strong enough to carry a U-lock. I didn't use the extra loop at the bottom of one of them that's designed for attaching a carabiner but it's there if you want to sling one on there.

Obviously, the fit will depend on the individual but I found the straight cut to be loose enough for a cyclist's muscles without being too baggy.

Vulpine haven't added reflective details to the turn-ups or anything like that, so you're on your own as far as visibility is concerned.

Cycle-specific features aside, these are high quality jeans in their own right. They're made of 12oz Jinzu selvedge denim from Japan, 12oz being a medium weight. You probably wouldn't want anything much heavier than this for cycling bearing in mind that you'll be generating your own warmth and wanting plenty of flexibility.

Selvedge, if you're not a denimhead, refers to the edge of the fabric as it comes off the loom, and the idea is that it's woven to prevent fraying. Although many people will tell you otherwise, it's as much about the pose value of that white Selvedge edging when you turn up the hem.

You get the usual five jeans pockets, the bottoms of the rear ones being lined so you're very unlikely to wear through them over time. The fly is secured by Vulpine's own metal buttons and you get a neat-looking polka dot lining inside the yoke (the bit below the waistband around the back).

If you're a true denim connoisseur you'll probably want to leave the washing of these jeans for as long as possible to get them to fade nicely over time, but I couldn't very well write a review without having put them through the machine, so I turned them inside out and stuck them on a few cold washes. They came out of it just a tiny bit less blue each time – as you'd expect – and finished up the same size as they went in because the denim is pre-shrunk.

Of course, the danger of not washing your new jeans is that they'll leave dye that you might notice on light coloured stuff so you'll probably want to avoid white saddles for a while.

After several weeks' use the Vulpine jeans are starting to look worn in and there's absolutely no abrasion to the denim. By the look of things, these are going to last for ages.

These are a really comfortable option for cycling around town, that diamond gusset being a highlight, and the clever bit is that they look pretty much like non-cycle specific jeans when you get off the bike so you don't look like a fish out of water when going about the rest of your life.

Verdict

Well-made, hardwearing jeans that are cut especially for riding your bike, although the price will be a hurdle for many