Scicon X-Over Bib Shorts

Scicon, best known as a purveyor of top end bike bags and travel luggage, has been branching into new areas lately and these new X-Over Bib Shorts show that the company isn't holding back on the design and use of top-end fabrics to create some of the most comfortable clothing available. As always, though, this level of development will cost you.

• Pros: Excellent multi-panel fit, comfortable pad
• Cons: There are softer fabrics out there, and it's a big outlay

Looking through the product description, Scicon has designed the X-Overs as real all-rounders, capable of tackling road riding, off-roading, long and short rides at varying efforts. Okay, most shorts can achieve this, but to be fair to the Scicons, they are very good at it thanks to the quality of the chamois.

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For the pad Scicon has gone to one of the biggest names in the business, Elastic Interface Technology, whose chamois you'll find in a lot of the major brands' shorts like dhb and Rapha.

Here we've got its signature pad, which it makes using 100 per cent recycled Eco Carbonium Flash fabric. The overall design looks to be pretty simple. You won't find a network of channels criss-crossing the pad, dissecting varying thicknesses of foam in a bid to relive pressure and numbness. Nope, what you have is a simple groove down the centre separating the saddle shaped padding into two.

The padding itself isn't that thick but it is quite firm, which gives plenty of support with just enough squidge to take out the knocks from the road.

It is thicker at the back and gets thinner as it slopes gradually away until you are just left with a thin section at the front.

I really like it. It offers a really good balance of comfort without being overly soft, so you don't lose any of the feedback from the road, telling you what your rear tyre is up to; it just takes the edge off the worst vibration.

Out on the gravel trails I found it to work just as well. With the long, draggy climbs off-road I'd spend a longer duration of a ride in the saddle just tapping out a rhythm on the pedals but found the Scicons didn't cause any irritation or numbness on four or five-hour rides on varying sizes of aggregate.

The rest of the shorts offer similar levels of comfort thanks to the use of Mititech Power Italian fabric, which has four-way stretch and a decent level of compression.

To start with I found the material a little scratchy against the skin, although after a few washes it did become softer. Even now, though, it doesn't offer the same levels of smoothness as the Pro Transfer fabric of the Pearl Izumi Pros I was also testing.

The material does breathe well. Over the hot Easter weekend I did a couple of rides wearing the Scicons and felt reasonably cool when moving. The breeze blowing over the surface wicked sweat away to a decent degree, and I felt about as comfortable as I would expect considering the conditions.

The shorts are cut well and move with you regardless of your position on the bike; you won't find any bunching of the fabric anywhere.

They have been designed by ASG Bike Science, bike fitting experts and part of a group of companies that includes Scicon. They obviously know their stuff as the shorts provide a close fit without being restrictive, and should work well with a range of body shapes.

All of the seams are positioned out of the way of the saddle or anywhere else they might rub or cause irritation, so there are no issues on those longer rides.

To keep the legs in place Scicon has used material knitted in a kind of carbon fibre chequerboard effect rather than using silicone or similar. They are 75mm tall and although you're aware of the fabric for the first five or ten minutes, you soon stop noticing it, and after four to five hours in the saddle there were no noticeable pressure areas around the leg.

The bibs comprise highly elastic and wide straps that run from the base of your back right the way down to your stomach in one section, so no seams on the actual shoulders which is good to see.

The centre section is made of mesh which, just like the main material, is highly breathable.

The quality of the manufacturing is top notch throughout and the X-Overs' use of some excellent materials plus that chamois puts them up there with some of the best. However, a lot of the best come in much cheaper, and their rrp of £219 makes these one of the highest priced pairs that we've tested in a long time.

To soften that blow Scicon has included one of its shoe bags (£35) and a pair of limited edition espresso cups. There is also a voucher offering a discount off its Elan Power Ergo saddle, which I rather liked.

So, if you are into a package deal then the Scicons might not look too bad value.

However, I mentioned the Pearl Izumi Pros earlier, and those will set you back £180. The Neon Velo Pro Fit bib shorts come in at £170, and Liam thought that was quite a high price to pay. The Scicons do have excellent attention to detail, like those continuous straps, and the pad does sound better, but it's still a pretty steep outlay.

> Buyer's Guide: 22 of the best cycling bib shorts

Also, good performance can be had for a lot less money: Sean was massively impressed with the Lusso DRS bibs, which are £120.

Overall, I'd say the Scicon X-Overs' price puts them at the top end of the market, but although they are a lovely pair of shorts – and the fabric softness is improving with every wash – they aren't quite the pinnacle of what you can buy; they aren't the best I've ever worn, but they are pretty close.

Verdict

An impressive mixture of performance and comfort but it's a massive price tag