Zoca Active Women's 3/4 Cycling tight

Zoca's Active Women's three quarters are a welcome break from the tradition of basic black for cycling shorts and tights. Yes, black is flattering and goes with all manner of differently coloured jerseys, but it would be nice to just occasionally have a choice of something different. Zoca do a sleeveless cycling top to match, giving a rather fetching ensemble. If the idea of coloured cycling kit brings you out in a cold sweat, they do black too.

But looks aren't everything, and do these tights live up to their initial promise? The three quarter length is handy for three season use (or year round with British weather) and these particular tights are made from a lightweight supple and slinky fabric, making them ideal for variable conditions. They are made using a paneled design, with flat seams, and a female specific synthetic chamois pad. There's a gently curved drawstring waistband, a small zipped pocket at the lumbar area, grippers at the bottoms of the legs and reflective trim.

The fit is fairly true to size, with a size large being roughly equivalent to a UK 14, and the leg length fell a short distance below the knees on me at 5 ft 5, so taller women may find the leg length somewhat short. The supple fabric is extremely comfortable, but not particularly supportive, making it good for recreational and fitness riding, but probably not so ideal when more long-term muscle effort is required. This fabric wicks moisture well, and keeps the legs at a good stable temperature. The synthetic female specific pad is well shaped, and also soft and pliable, offering good levels of ride comfort, but again is probably better suited to less intense and not really long rides due to this softness- whilst it protects well, it can feel like it's compressing over time. Another niggle is that due to the softness of the fabric, the waistband does have a mild tendency to want to migrate south to bunch up above the pad, which isn't very aesthetically pleasing. Tying the waist drawstring tighter would help combat this, but that results in a less comfortable waist.

In essence, these are a great looking and pleasant to wear pair of tights, which perform really well for recreational and fitness riding. The same soft supple fabric that makes them so nice to wear though, also causes a few minor problems, which make them less appropriate to higher intensity or longer duration riding. For a sector of the female riding market where looks are very important, these are ideal.

Available from www.sheactive.co.uk

Verdict

Attractive, comfortable and nicely featured. Great for recreational and fitness riding, but more competitive women riders may find them slightly underspecced.