Bib shorts on the cheap - anyone seen any for around £30?

daniel_b

Afternoon all,

my bro is on a tight budget, because although he is a keen cyclist, he is also a keen snowboarder, and spends his year living in Italy, working in a ski resort, so funds are comparatively limited.

I did buy him some Cannondale bibs from CRC when they had an offer on, in L and XL, but both are too large, so I think he will be after a medium, or possibly large if they are sized smaller.

Halfords have some Funkier ones on sale, but only in huge sizes.

Can anyone recommend any good bargains out there - or is it a case of either waiting until the winter or spending more?

Personally I tend to spend around £40-£60 on mine, and tend to favour Mavic and Santini.

veronese68

Try Merlin, they had some on offer recently.

pblakeney

Why not simply buy him good ones in return for free lodging?

I can imagine the ski lodges being quiet in the summer and the roads look good!

itboffin

Try spesh basic range, I use them on the MTB and use to wear them for commuting.

paulleary

Try funkier gel bibs , £35 on ebay. Rally good value

navt

Decathlon have some good stuff.

cjcp

Spotted these guys on Twitter yesterday; no idea what they're like, mind.

http://www.d2dcyclingclothing.co.uk/

WindyG

Pro Bike Kit have some Northwave ones for £31

jack_ammo

Try Planet X, they might still have the Biemme's on sale.

PBo

Tenn outdoors do decent cheap bibs. I actually prefer their basic range to the pro range...

pollys_bott

Veronese68 wrote:

Try Merlin, they had some on offer recently.

I can recommend the Lusso 10 / 12 panel bibs, got some from Merlin a couple of years ago.

rubertoe

Halfords have Adidas and Sportful bibs between £25 and £32.50.

fat_tail

Planetx clubman - £29.99 and are very very good too

junglist_matty

Team bibs at decent price:

http://www.dolan-bikes.com/cycling-clot ... -2012.html

daniel_b

Cheers all, some great posts and suggestions, plenty to go on, and mot I had not seen before - looks like a lot
of places are quite low on sizes, so he may have missed the boat in time for the summer, but I'll keep my eyes peeled for him.

PBlakeney wrote:

Why not simply buy him good ones in return for free lodging?

I can imagine the ski lodges being quiet in the summer and the roads look good!

Good call, and I tend to offer him, or buy him cycling stuff for his B'day and Christmas, glasses, helmet, mitts etc etc
And yes riding is very good out there, all be it VERY steep - oh and high altitude of course!

He has an idea of trying to set up training camps out there in the summer actually, only for people who want to practice hills/mountains though I guess :shock:

pblakeney

Daniel B wrote:

He has an idea of trying to set up training camps out there in the summer actually, only for people who want to practice hills/mountains though I guess :shock:

That is what sorts out road cyclists from commuters.

Road cyclists actually seek out these climbs!

PS:- I believe that there is a market for such a venture. Just look at northern Mallorca in April!

Levi_501

http://www.prendas.co.uk/

Amazing bargains (sometimes)

asprilla

On a related subject, I need some cheap padded baggies that don't have more pockets than the SAS annual fishing trip. I need them for the Brompton World Champs.

littleprawn

From CRC....

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/onet ... prod116165

bought some for just over £30....they look and fit okay but not tried them out on ona ride yet...

daniel_b

Just to update this thread, and thanks to the commuting bargain thread, I manated to order him 4 pairs (in differing sizes) of the dhb ones, 55.00 down to 27.50.
If the 2 mediums fit him, they weigh in at only 20.00 each, as they took the 15.00 tdf discount of these.

Have also ordrered him some 45.00 Etxeondo half price ones as a birthday present.

Thanks all.

daniel_b

Just to update this thread, and thanks to the commuting bargain thread, I managed to order him 4 pairs (in differing sizes) of the dhb ones, 55.00 down to 27.50.
If the 2 mediums fit him, they weigh in at only 20.00 each, as they took the 15.00 tdf discount of these.

Have also ordrered him some 45.00 Etxeondo half price ones as a birthday present.

Thanks all.

itboffin

whats the quality and cut of those dhb bibs like?

daniel_b

Just had a look now for you - I would say they are better quality, on the face of it, than the cheap sportful bibs I bought from Halfords.

The pad is a bit thinner but seems denser, and to my mind and feel, better quality.

The material is similar, ie pretty thin and shiny, but again the dhb is marginally less cheap feeling.

Cut is fairy standard I think - bare in mind that the smallest size I ordered is too big for me, I would say that from trying on the medium, the legs are usual length, towards the knee, and the bottom of the bib is around belly button height if that makes sense.

For £20 it's a total bargain imho.

itboffin

silly me i hadnt realised i have a pair already, in fact I wore them yesterday

firstly after 100+ miles the pad felt hot and uncomfortable and secondly the left leg has frayed badly where it was rubbing the side of my saddle, in one ride!

rubertoe

I just ordered a couple of pairs for commuting duties

daniel_b

itboffin wrote:

silly me i hadnt realised i have a pair already, in fact I wore them yesterday

firstly after 100+ miles the pad felt hot and uncomfortable and secondly the left leg has frayed badly where it was rubbing the side of my saddle, in one ride!

That does not sound good........ Did they refund/replace them?

As a back up/alternative I have just ordered some of these for him to compare and contrast with - £24 each down from £50:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-bib-short-shimano/rp-prod122463

sswiss

let us know what the quality is like on those Shimano bibs - I'd be keen to know how your consumer test goes against the dhb pair.

daniel_b

sswiss wrote:

let us know what the quality is like on those Shimano bibs - I'd be keen to know how your consumer test goes against the dhb pair.

Hello mate, unfortunately the test opinion will be a little time in coming, as my brother is not over here for another 6 weeks - I'm taking advantage of the 365 day returns policy.

However I will see what the pads feel like in comparison and the overall quality of the material/stitching, although of course I will not be wearing them myself, and update this thread shortly.

Ok, so my impressions of the two bibs on a relatively superficial level:

Material - Shimano material feels of a better quality, and more substantial, although perhaps this might partly be because the dhb's are designed for warmer weather?
Stitching - dhb stitching is all there, but it isn't anything like as neat and uniform as on the Shimanos.
Leg grippers - Exist on both items, dhb's will probably do fine, but the shimano ones are more substantial.
Pad - Subjective of course, but both are a very similar shape, and to me, the dhb ones feel like the better pad - they are similar in thickness, but the shimano one seems to crush down relatively easily, where as the dhb feels like a more solid and dense pad, and on that basis, if I were to be wearing these myself, that is the one I would plump for.

Hopefully ITB's stitching issue was unusual, and I would hope that if anything like that did happen within a year, that Wiggles, as far as I am aware, good customer service, would deal with it accordingly.

itboffin

if you can still find some in stock I strongly recommend the Castelli Velocissimo bibs from PBK for £70 yeah twice your budget but trust me more than twice the quality of those other options.

Surely your undercarriage is worth it?

gbsahne001

itboffin wrote:

if you can still find some in stock I strongly recommend the Castelli Velocissimo bibs from PBK for £70 yeah twice your budget but trust me more than twice the quality of those other options.

Surely your undercarriage is worth it?

wiggle have stock for £64

junglist_matty

itboffin wrote:

secondly the left leg has frayed badly where it was rubbing the side of my saddle, in one ride!

Are you sure this fraying wasn't due to the velcro strap of a saddle bag? I've had a few different bags and had to cut the velcro straps off because they rub bib shorts....

I had a pair of almost brand new Castelli bib shorts and used a new saddle bag on the bike, went out for a 60mile ride then realised about 10miles from home the shorts had rubbed on the velcro strap of my saddle bag which caused a hole about the size of a thumbprint; I wasn't impressed!