Sugoi RS SubZero Bib Tights

The Sugoi RS SubZero bib tights are comfortable and well made, and perform well in typically British damp, cold and windy conditions.

These are the Canadian company's second warmest bib tights (one below its RS Firewalls, which we tested last year), and the first thing you notice about them is the quality. They're made from lovely soft fabrics with flatlock stitching throughout. Sugoi has used its own Firewall 180 softshell on the thighs and the front of the legs, claiming this provides 100 per cent waterproof protection in 'critical areas'. The rest of the tights are made from warm and stretchy SubZero DWR. Both fabrics have a soft fleece backing.

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Putting the tights on, it is apparent that the Firewall fabric on the front is thicker and a bit less forgiving than the rest of the tights. A good pull was needed to get them over my chunky thighs. (There are zips at the ankles to help get them over your feet, and foot loops to hold them in place.) 

I was a bit worried that this might mean they would be uncomfortable on the bike, but it proved not to be the case. The positioning of the Firewall panels has clearly been given a lot of thought and the stretchiness of the Subzero DWR fabric more than compensated for this initial stiffness.

Sugoi's own Formula FX chamois is quite thick, but there was no chafing either on a long road ride or a bumpy blast on the cyclo-cross bike.

The front of the bib comes up quite high, but there's an offset zip for toilet breaks, although to my mind it would probably work better if the zip was in the middle.

In cold conditions heading towards freezing, I found the tights provided just the right level of warmth when pedalling quite hard. The windproofing of the Firewall fabric is impressive, although cold air was able to penetrate the other panels. This wasn't particularly a problem as I found it helped stop me from overheating. The mesh back no doubt helps here too, allowing any heat build-up to escape.

Riding in a particularly heavy rainstorm, the water beaded remarkably well on the front of my thighs. Eventually wetness did penetrate elsewhere – most disconcertingly when it trickled down the back of the tights, giving me a bit of a shock (and a soggy bottom). But the tights dried out quickly when the rain stopped, and in less extreme conditions I didn't notice any seepage. The waterproofing also seems to have survived a few trips to the washing machine.

> Check out our guide to the best cycling tights and trousers here

A last word on fit: you might need to size down – the pair I tried were medium where I would normally go for a large. It would certainly be worth trying these before buying if you can.

Verdict

Well-made, high-quality winter tights that work well in most of what the British weather throws at us