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review
Club Ride Womens Jewel Inner Shorts£22.00
VERDICT:
Pretty padded women's pants that are discreet and surprisingly comfortable given the minimal chamois
Weight:
48g
Contact:
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.
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If you're looking to buy some padded underwear for casual riding, then the Jewel inner short from Club Ride Apparel is flattering, feminine and, most importantly, comfy. Despite the name, the style is a high-leg brief, but they also do shorts-style and long-leg padded pants.
I tested the patterned 'Black Butter' colour scheme, with bike wheels adorning the waistband (and butterflies on the fabric). The waistband is wide and comfortable and sits well below the belly button. The pants' fabric feels soft and silky, is nice and stretchy, and fast-drying too. There are mesh panels at the side and a mesh strip below the waistband at the rear to help keep you cool and dry. There are thumb loops too, presumably for pulling the pants up, but I didn't feel the need to use them.
The 3mm chamois pad is surprisingly effective given how minimal it is. Club Ride say that the Jewel is designed for rides of up to one hour, but I wore them on a leisurely ride of several hours and found them more than adequate, combined with my Body Geometry saddle.
An advantage of their svelte padding is that you can wear the Jewel under tight-fitting shorts or trousers and it doesn't show. Also, there was no dreaded VPL when I paired them with Club Ride's Joy Ride capri shorts, which are fairly snug fitting. So, they'd be ideal if you wanted to commute in them under your skinny jeans, or jeggings even.
While £22 for a pair of pants might sound quite a lot, you can easily spend that on a pair of women's designer knickers – and they certainly won't have the features that the Jewel has. So, if you want to feel good and look good, treat yourself, I say – or get your fella to!
Verdict
Pretty padded women's pants that are discreet and surprisingly comfortable given the minimal chamois
road.cc test report
Make and model: Club Ride Jewel Womens Inner Short
Size tested: Medium
Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?
These pants are designed for wearing underneath casual cycle wear or ordinary clothes and riding for a short length of time (up to an hour). They're aimed at women who want to look good as well as feel comfortable on the bike. They fit this brief (boom-boom!) well.
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
ActiveFlow™ quick-drying, breathable, stretch fabric with mesh inserts
Wide waistband with soft inside for comfort
Bikini brief fit
Anatomically shaped 3mm single-density chamois pad
Quicky™ single density pad moves with the body on & off the bike
Rate the product for quality of construction:
8/10
All the stitching and seams are good (although after the first wash the care label frayed from its stitching) and the fabric feels good quality.
Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
10/10
Rate the product for value:
8/10
You can spend a lot more on fancy padded pants, and also a bit less.
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
These do exactly what they're intended to: comfy padded pants that look pretty too and are discreet.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
How they felt to wear, how they looked on, and the fact they don't show through under your normal 'bottoms'.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
Nothing.
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes
Would you consider buying the product? Yes
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes
Rate the product for performance:
10/10
Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
10/10
About the tester
Age: 43 Height: 170cm Weight: 58kg
I usually ride: Marin Point Reyes 29er My best bike is: Giant Anthem X1
I've been riding for: 10-20 years I ride: Most days I would class myself as: Experienced
I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, touring, club rides, mtb, Audax
Latest Comments
- mdavidford 14 min 54 sec ago
OK, but how much is the lack of decent cycling facilities already impacting people who would want to travel by cycle if only they were provided?...
- Jogle 17 min 3 sec ago
Perthshire man left with container full of 500 old bicycles in row with environment chiefs...
- wtjs 20 min 3 sec ago
You need something special to configure a cycle computer that hasn't yet been released
- EK Spinner 20 min 57 sec ago
just re read and saw it was "due care & attention" - again I firmly believe that banned and/or drugged drivers should be on a dangerous driving...
- mctrials23 23 min 38 sec ago
GCN just did a cool video on this. All I could think by the end was that perhaps if you got to do what the presenter did and mince around Italy in...
- ravenbait 32 min 9 sec ago
I missed that, thanks for pointing it out. I can't comment, as that's outside my area of expertise. Apologies to Rendel. This is why they should be...
- wtjs 36 min 11 sec ago
A fully 'evolved' MAMIL is an OMIL- this one has been wearing proper cycling shorts since 69, when they were some wool mixture, I think, and didn't...
- chrisonabike 1 hour 16 min ago
Well my guilty secret (not really) is that my most used and favourite routes in Edinburgh are ... shared use paths! Stuff I often suggest is doing...
- S.E. 15 hours 39 min ago
The real issue is that other people in the sport business get much more than the athletes... I also tend to agree that 8 million a year is already...
- S.E. 16 hours 37 sec ago
Inner width is only 13.4 mm... Will you get Shinano or Campognolo?
Add new comment
11 comments
Are you sure they're not CO2 canister holders?
It's all about the challenge....
Are those 'thumb loops' not just loops to clip your baggies into?
Or some people have learnt how to use Google image search
Wow, I only clicked on this to read the neanderthal dribbling comments. Where are they?!
I did click through to the link, and there are other far more...challenging garments... for sale. I think the lack of sexist comments is a sign that we, as a group of men, are becoming more mature.
BIG KNICKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ahem...
Thumb loops? Can't say I've ever looked at my undies and thought that was the one thing they were lacking.
I'm amazed that after the best part of a day there's not one single sexist comment. The last review to show women's undergarments had comments that went on for weeks from all the frustrated folk who roam these parts!
I agree. I only come here for the knicker reviews, and I have to say I find this one singularly disappointing.
Thumb loops?!?!!?!?
Ladies are so unadventurous.
If these had been boys undies, I would consider it a matter of national importance to see if I could use the thumb loops as shoulder straps, and provided photographic evidence of the end result.
Raise your underpant review game!
Look at the size of those loops! Are you one of The Borrowers?