Assos T Equipe EVO bib shorts review

You go to Assos as the Swiss brand is one of the best when it comes to cycling shorts and now that you can get the very good Assos T Equipe Evo bib shorts for £130 you shouldn’t buy anything else! This is what Editor’s Choice was created to tell you and that is why these bib shorts are included.

The latest in its lower-priced Equipe range, the Assos T Equipe EVO bib shorts are based around a slightly updated version of Assos’s Equipe_S7 pad.

The EquipeEVO_S7 pad still uses Assos’s silly-sounding but actually very sensible goldenGate construction, whereby the chamois is only stitched in at the front and back, allowing a degree of float and minimising friction, but it now has perforations at the front for better ventilation. The new pad is also black – a much more practical choice for a chamois than amethyst, the signature colour of the previous version – and the shorts themselves come in four new colour ways.

>>> Best men's cycling shorts 2018

Construction

The construction of the Assos T Equipe EVO bib shorts looks to be the same as that of the T.Equipe_S7, which is still a current model and which also costs £150. The Racing Fit is intended to supply a little bit of compression but is not by any stretch – if you’ll forgive the pun – restrictive. Once on the bike, the EVOs are more second skin-like than any we’ve tested: it literally is a case of fit and forget.

The wide elastic of the bib straps stretches evenly and keeps the shorts in place without any feeling of pulling at all – something not all shorts manufacturers achieve by any means.

At the bottoms of the legs are elastic grippers which, in a nice piece of symmetry, are the same width as the bib strips and have horizontal 2cm dashes of silicone on their insides rather than lots of tiny dots. However, the ergonomics of the Assos shorts are so good that there would be no riding up of the legs or bunching even without grippers.

Assos hasn't gone for the long, knee-length look that some pros favour: there’s a good 3.5 inches of clearance above the kneecap. They are also relatively low cut at the waist, meaning no folding and creasing of excess fabric when bending over the bars.

Ride

In comfort terms there’s nothing these Assos shorts can’t do. For aggressive, on-the-rivet riding there’s plenty of pad in the middle and towards the front, and for more leisurely cruises to the cafe on the back of the saddle the sitbones are well looked after too. Crucially, they feel neither over-cushioned nor too spartan.

Value

Although they're cheap by Assos standards, the Assos T Equipe EVOs are at the expensive end of the bib shorts spectrum, but assuming they're are as durable as their predecessors, the Equipe_S7s – and there’s every indication so far that they are – they will supply a good five years of riding and would therefore be a worthwhile investment.