Gore C3 Thermo Bib Tights

Gore's C3 Thermo Bib Tights+ offer excellent fit, warmth and comfort at a price that compares very favourably with their rivals.

When kitting yourself out for late autumn and winter rides, a pair of tights, or longs, is an essential purchase. And whatever your level of ability or income, these C3 Thermo Bib Tights+ should definitely be on your shortlist.

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The key to comfortable cycling through all seasons is protection from the elements without bulk or unnecessary weight, and the C3s hit the mark. Easy to pull on and remove, the leg fabric sits lightly on the skin while the mesh straps do their job excellently without applying undue pressure to your shoulders. The seamless design also ensures zero irritation. Gore suggests you will forget the straps are even there when riding, and for once a marketing claim rings true.

The back is also made of a light mesh which adds to both the comfort and temperature regulation. It might be cold out there, but your body still needs to breathe.

I found the legs themselves an excellent fit to size, these mediums hugging the skin without any creases, and doing so with no additional compression. If you're an advocate of on-bike compression then it might be worth trying a size down, but for everyday comfort without a drop in performance, the fit is spot on.

The thermal fabric used throughout works well in trapping warmth while allowing sweat to wick away, and the water resistant panel on the back should be a bonus for maintaining comfort should you get caught out on a bike without mudguards in the wet. It worked for me in a shower on an otherwise sunny autumn day, but in worse conditions my SKS mudguards did the work instead.

Another welcome feature is the use of Gore's famed Windstopper fabric in the groin area. Using tights with an intrinsic pad (as opposed to padless tights over your favourite shorts) can leave this area exposed to the bitter winds of winter, and while I wasn't out in anything close to freezing conditions in November I certainly felt no sign of chill with the temperature in high single figures. Gore claims the tights will do their job down to 5°C, and while temperatures never got lower than 9°C during the test period, I was given no cause to doubt that claim.

The pad used is Gore's Active Comfort Seat Insert, which sits at the bottom of the company's insert range, using a single layer of foam less dense than on its Advanced and Elite level inserts. This is, on the face of it, the one area of the C3 tights where it looks as though Gore has compromised to keep the cost of this product down, but in use the pad is well suited to the narrower shape of a traditional road bike saddle and proved sufficiently comfortable throughout testing. If this was the only compromise Gore had to make to bring these excellent tights in at under £100, it was a small one and well worth making.

At £89.99 these offer excellent value, and would be worth lining up against the Endura FS260-Pro Thermo tights we reviewed back in January. Those are a tenner more though they do offer more water resistance.

To get this quality elsewhere you could easily spend quite a bit more, such as £125 for the Sportful Bodyfit Pro or £150 for the dhb Aeron LAB All Winter tights.

> Buyer’s Guide: 19 of the best winter bib tights

Overall, these are really good mid-price tights with the comfort and features that you might expect from a more expensive product.

Verdict

Great value bib longs that offer warmth and comfort in equal measure