dhb Knowle Bib Shorts £89.99

Having earned itself a solid reputation for outstanding quality and performance at impressive prices, Wiggle’s in-house clothing brand dhb is expanding upwards, with the release of its new top-end Knowle range.

The higher price point allows dhb to use better fabrics and sharper designs. The results are impressive. RCUK has never found much to find fault with dhb clothing before, but the Knowle range fits much better, with a racier second skin type fit that will please the race heads, or just those who want less flappage from their clothing, and better performance from the materials used.

First up, let’s take a look at the bib shorts. The fit is impressive, they really hug the contours of the body but there’s a generous amount of stretch in the wide mesh bib straps which spread the load well, and also make toilet stops less off an awkward situation than they can sometimes be!

Fieldsensor, Lycra Power and Inter Power fabrics are combined smoothly into the shorts with flat double-stitched seams. Fieldsensor, a popular material at this price point, works hard to wick sweat away and keep your skin most moisture free, while the Lycra Power material compresses the muscles, keeping everything taut, with the elastic gripper tape keeping the legs in place .

A new chamois also takes up some of that extra cost, with a Cytec Multi-D Comp Carbonium (what a name!) insert. It’s made from four different grades of foam carefully placed to provide the most padding where you most need it; the effect is a comfortable chamois that provides hour after hour of happiness.

Five sizes from S to XXL are available and three colours; black, red/black and blue/black.

dhb Knowle Jersey £69.99

Like the shorts, the jersey is made from a Lyrca Power fabric which in use proves to be brilliant at keeping you cool and dry in hot weather, and it’s also very light weight.

Anatomically-designed it fits like a second skin with the shape not leaving any excess material that can either flap around in the wind or rumple up. Crouched over the drops there’s no deterioration in the quality of the fit. If you like your clothing tight fitting, you’ll like the Knowle stuff.

Discrete mesh panels underneath the arms give a bit of extra stretch and added to the jerseys ability to cope with hot weather. All seams are of the flat lock variety increasing the comfort factor, and elastic gripper tape on the rear of the waist helped keep the jersey in place, even when the three rear elasticated pockets were well loaded.

There’s also a zipped pocket and if you like listening to tunes while you’re cycling you’ll like the holes which feed the headphone cables through from the zipped pocket.

Verdict

This is an impressive debut into a higher price point for dhb. They’ve combined all the great qualities from their other clothing ranges but added a touch of quality in the form of better materials and a better fit, while still offering incredible value for money.

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Fit, comfort, fabrics, value

There’s not much to fault

www.wiggle.co.uk