Assos Mille shorts, are they worth it?

I have a pair of Uno's & love them, a great deal on a pair of Mille's (longer leg version) persuaded me to try them........on balance the Uno's fit me better - I take a large, but have sparrow legs & the Mille's aren't quite snug enough on the thighs. Obviously if you are quadzilla this won't be an issue.

I have the S5 Uno shorts and they are really good but they pull on the shoulders quite a bit unless I put them on properly. I have just got a pair of Sportful Bibs and they are nearly as expensive and feel nice and tight, but they arnt as comfy as the Assos on long runs.

The pad in the Mille (the first Assos bibs I bought) seems to be a bit on the bulky side. I have since bought two pairs of the S5 Uno bibs, which are fantastic and you can get them for under £100. These are now my preferred option for most rides.

I have Mille bibs and Castelli Aero Race bibs - prefer the Castelli ProgettoX pad to be honest, as I find the Mille pad a bit too bulky. So much so that I'm selling the Milles.

Having said that, the pad in the Sugoi RS bibs isn't far off of either. Given you can pick those up for around £60/70, they're a very good bib for sensible money.

FYI, www.castellicafe.co.uk has a variety of shorts in their sale section...

I preferred Etxeondo Dicolor bibshorts to Assos Mille. The quality is easily as good, the cut and style superior imho. The price is very reasonable: you don't pay the Assos tax!

Giordana shorts are fantastic value too.

I would always suggest you try before you buy; make sure the fit suits you.

I bought some as a treat after doing an endurance event this year and I have to say they're superb, I've not had any problems with the stitching (bit of a worry if I do, I bought them in France) but they are the comfiest pair of shorts i own/have owned.

I have bibs by Santini, Vermarc, RH+ as well as Decathlon's finest own brand stuff and can say the Assos are by far and away the best, though at 1/3 or 1/2 the price the RH+, Santini etc are not 1/3 or 1/2 the quality. If you can find a good pair of shorts you get on with for long distance then the additional money might not get you as much value as another pair of your favourites.

For what it's worth I did 125 miles a day in June in RH+ shorts which were £60 a pair and they were more than suitable.

All depends if the fit suits you or not. I have some Assos tights that are probably my favourite piece of kit, everything about them is perfect BUT when I tried on 2 different pairs of Assos shorts that were in the sale, neither felt right and despite how much I love the tights, I wasn't going to buy them just because they were Assos.

Others are right, if you managed with the others then a change could be risky and also other manufacturers items are just as good but perhaps considerably cheaper too and the fit may be more suited to your shape than someone simply saying get Assos or Castelli etc as they are the best.

Castelli kiss3 pad in their "cheaper" shorts is great or up a notch so is the progetto insert in the "expensive" shorts. I found the kiss3 is slightly better on shorter rides under 2-3 hours. Oh and a decent minty arse lard always helps.

If you had no problems with the existing shorts, why spend more?
I think you can get excellent shorts without spending more than £50, and £100+ for shorts is far too expensive, especially if you are buying a few pairs for regular riding.

I purchased a pair last year to find the material went thread bear lower back just above the stitching of the insert after 6 months. Returned to Wiggle who then passed back to UK importer we heard nothing regarding a replacement (Wiggle did chase) so after a refund I purchased cheap shorts which I now regret was a mistake. I suffer from sores and the inserts in cheap shorts (£60) aren't good where as Assos inserts are by far the best on the market and come spring 2014 I'll be buying another pair. So yes a big layout in money so buy from a good retailer if there's a quality issue but the fit and feel are excellent, the insert superb, the shorts look great. I'll give mine the benefit of the doubt maybe a bad batch of material. Hunt around on the Internet you can get them discounted or go direct to Assos on line factory discount store you may be lucky.