Detail of Body Geometry Chamois

Bib shorts are really the only sensible option for road riding and racing. Allowing a permanent bottom/chamois/pad/saddle interface they don’t slip and chafe like standard shorts do and they always fit like a pair of familiar slippers. But like all things there are good and bad bib shorts and some team kit and cheaper bibs can play havoc with your bum cheeks.

Specialized’s Body Geometry is used extensively in their range of saddles and shoes, but also extends to their latest bib shorts. The Pro Chamois is where all the action takes place, with high density areas of foam for the key pressure points while in lower pressure areas slimmer foam is placed, providing a great fit and high level of comfort. There’s no doubt that these are intended to be used with BG saddles and we’ve tried the Toupe and Alias on several test bikes and the match is perfect.

For the lyrca Fieldsensor fabric, which uses a proprietary knitting technique to achieve a high level of sweat wicking, is used. It works by fine yarns on the outside sucking through moisture from the larger yarns on the inside. It all sounded good in theory and in practice it works well too. We’ve had this pair through summer and winter in 24 hour mountain bike races [Dave says he didn’t take them off! – ed] a crit or two at Hillingdon and just about every training ride in between. Needless to say they’ve been washed plenty of times and they’re good as new. All the logos are still in firmly place and the chamois pad is perfectly intact.

They look good too. The black with red highlights is going to match most outfits and a swooping seam along the sides of the legs is comfortable and flattering. And you don’t have to worry about the shorts slipping up as silicone leg grippers prevent them moving around.