Castelli Superleggera Bibshorts

The Castelli Superleggera Bibshorts are supremely light, they feel great, and the pad is a winner. They’re ideal shorts for long, hot rides if you’re willing to stump up the cash, although in certain lights the side panels could perhaps be just a little more opaque.

At 146g for the size large tested here, the Superleggera bibs are about as light as you’ll get. Castelli says the choice of woven rather than knit fabric alone accounts for a 30 percent weight reduction, and the fabric gets lighter the further you get down the leg – just 90g/m2 for the last part, where Castelli reckons normal short fabrics weigh around 220g/m2.

That’s all well and good, but lighter often means flimsier. Castelli says it had this in mind at the design stage, and that the finished product combines ‘decent durability’ with excellent abrasion resistance. For clarity, that’s mild abrasion arising from everyday use, not unscheduled encounters with the tarmac.

There’s a limit to what I can conclude here, but I’ve worn them plenty and they’ve been through standard wash cycles any number of times. I can’t see anything wrong with them so far.

There’s a very light, striped mesh for the straps and fairly typical bibshort fabric on the front, rear and around the pad, but the legs are a little more interesting. They’re textured and rustly, almost crunchy, between thumb and forefinger, but pull the shorts on and it starts to feel a lot less remarkable now it’s stretched out – which is probably for the best.

It is, however, a little translucent. This is most noticeable on the stripy bit on the legs because the lighter stripes are thinner, but it isn’t fully opaque up the sides towards the hips either. Most of the time it isn’t really noticeable at all, but I’m sure it’ll be enough to put some people off.

The pad is Castelli’s top-tier Progetto X2 Air Seamless, and it’s a corker. It’s 15mm thick at the ‘viscous comfort zone’ around your sit bones, and tapers towards the edges. It’s unobtrusive and for me it did the job in all riding positions. We’ve encountered this pad in other shorts, and our various testers have all said much the same.

One key aspect is that it doesn’t move around. Castelli’s size guide recommended my usual large, and that delivered a good fit. The legs felt a touch tighter than many of my other shorts, but they stretched and gripped in a way that may even help keep them in position.

Value

It can feel a little unhelpful to open a value section by suggesting alternatives that are even more expensive, but it does provide context. Rapha’s Pro Team Powerweave Bib Shorts, for example, are similarly excellent and priced at £300.

Alternatively there are the Pedla SuperFIT 2.0 Bib Shorts, which at £260 are both more than these Castellis and a fair bit more expensive than they were (£191) when we reviewed them a couple of years back.

The Velocio Men’s Luxe Bib Shorts are another strong option, although I’d struggle to confidently state the price. At the time of writing, the UK version of the product page has £218 crossed out with $299 listed alongside as if it’s a discount (which it wouldn’t be). In no way clarifying matters, Velocio states underneath that free shipping is available on orders over €200.

UK-based seller Sigma Sports also lists them for £218, though, so that’s probably the figure to go with.

Without wishing to state the obvious, you can of course spend less. To provide one example from within roughly the same price bracket, Assos aims to deliver top-tier performance without straying into the wallet-emptying costs of ultra-premium options with its £170 Equipe R Bib Shorts S11.

Overall

The Superleggera bibs combine a top notch pad with a great fit, and they weigh next to nothing. If you’re unfazed by some very mild translucency around the legs and hips, they’re a great option for your summer riding.