Morvelo Stealth Stormshield bibknickers

Once the temperate heads up through single figures, I start to find full winter tights a bit too warm, whilst it’s definitely still too cool to flash the knees in a pair of shorts. Their season doesn’t last long, but for these conditions I find a pair of bibknickers a good bet as they’re just that bit cooler than tights but still keep the thighs and knees warm – which is important to make sure that they work well.

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The Morvelo Stealth Stormshield bibknickers tick all the boxes: they’re made of a superroubaix lycra fabric, which is very warm and quite windproof. The legs are held in place at mid-calf by wide, comfortable single layer grippers and the panels in the legs are cut so that, although there’s a pronounced curvature to avoid bunching behind the knee, there aren’t any seams there either, avoiding the risk of chafing.

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All the panels are flatlock stitched to further reduce the chance of rubbing and the bibknickers are surface treated so that water just runs off them.

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Morvelo Stealth Stormshield bibknickers' seat pad is excellent quality. It’s well shaped and quite thick, particularly under the sit bones and has ventilation holes punched in it around the periphery. It’s quite bulky and so feels slightly obtrusive when walking around off the bike, but once riding it provides a great level of comfort for extended periods.

The front of the shorts comes quite a way up your torso so that there’s plenty of overlap with top half garments to ensure you stay warm. The rear yoke is even higher, with the mesh straps beginning a few centimetres below the shoulders.

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Other than a couple of small Morvelo logos on the sides and reflective tabs sewn into the leg seams, there’s not much decoration on the Stealths, meaning that they’ll go with pretty much any top half which you want to wear. Morvelo’s winter collection contains some more individualistic designs too if you want an outfit which matches your top half.