Assos Equipe RS Bib Shorts S9

Released a few weeks back to quite a lot of fanfare was the new Bibs from Assos. Well known (and voiced) by many riders as the best manufacturer of Bibs, Assos have gone all out with this new design.

Lots of words have been used to promote these, but the key ones are 'A-Lock'. This term describes the new braces style design/technology used to provide the best fit.

I'm going to cheat actually and fall on the words of Assos themselves, they'll work far better than anything I could cobble up.

'To address these points, we employed A-Lock Engineering, our new bracing system comprising proprietary textiles and technologies working together to stabilize the shorts and secure the insert in place. The S9 generation incorporates just two panels, with a primary “butterfly” panel fully wrapping the legs and converging in the rear to form our new ergoBox structure. This design effectively frames the insert in place and provides you with an ultra-comfortable wrap on your legs using our Type.441 textile, developed specifically for compressive hold and silky comfort. From here we added our unique rollBar, which mimics a race car’s anti-sway bar by using the bib straps to stabilize the insert as your weight transfers from left to right while cornering. Each strap is sewn into the seam directly above the insert, ensuring it’s under pre-loaded tension at all times.'

There is something really ingenious looking about these, which with it being Assos I'm sure will pass over in to both comfort and performance. These are the RS S9 version coming in at £175, if you hit the lotto you might want to check out the £255 RSR S9 version.