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cycling chinos wideMarks & Spencer launches cycling chinos
Forget MAMILs, stockbrokers and mass media claims that cycling is the new golf/squash/bar billiards. You know that cycling has finally cracked the mainstream when that most conservative of clothing stores Marks and Spencer introduces day clothes with cycling features.
That’s exactly what’s just happened with Marks and Spencer’s introduction of cycling chinos. The High Street giant describes the new trousers as ‘Tapered Water Resistant Cycling Chinos’ though there are very few other details about the cycling features on Marks and Spencer’s website.
Made from water-resistant cotton with two percent Lycra to give some stretch, the big game-changer here could well be the price: just £39.50 for trousers that look normal, but are comfy on the bike.
You can see them on the Marks and Spencer Website here.
Road.cc forum user ceepeeee drew the chinos to our attention. He got a pair yesterday and wore them for the first time this morning. He writes:
“First impressions are good - they fit well, are stretchy enough, the poppers to tighten the ankles work well, the reflective details are subtle enough. Can't comment on the showerproof-ness as it was dry.
“Two big plus points: they only cost £39.50 and they come in larger sizes. I have no idea how they compare to similar offerings from Rapha or Vulpine, for example, but as I can neither afford nor fit into them it's not a comparison I can make. Maybe one of the cycling magazines or website will review them but maybe M&S haven't sent any out - until yesterday they weren't even being sold as cycling specific even though there's a big label inside that says ‘Cycling Chinos’.”
Unusually for niche trousers, a large range of sizes is available, and two colours. They’re offered in 30in to 44in waist, in 29in, 31in and 33in leg length and in ‘charcoal’ (dark grey) or ‘stone’ (that horrid light brown that’s the inexplicable default colour for chinos).
As yet, though, there is no women’s equivalent.
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
Latest Comments
- Steve K 2 sec ago
Given recent news, I thought it might have been a cartoon from the other topic Dave covers.
- JMcL_Ireland 4 min 50 sec ago
May the poor man rest in peace....
- wtjs 8 min 43 sec ago
in other cycling cases, they've been dropped before trial b/c a prosecutor gets hold of the file & can back down ...
- Freddy56 9 min 22 sec ago
Story one: "Here is all the deals at 50% off."...
- andystow 22 min 53 sec ago
Front wheel trued and tensioned last night. I think it took me well over an hour.
- andystow 26 min 43 sec ago
Definitions aside, that is a ridiculous amount of cardboard. Is the double wall really necessary to protect the product?
- Clem Fandango 37 min 17 sec ago
It used to (literally) be a cattle market.... How on earth did anyone survive??? https://heritagesearch.oxfordshire.gov.uk/images/POX0626282
- quiff 45 min 43 sec ago
From the article above.
- quiff 49 min 29 sec ago
If you watch him climbing Shap, the gearing doesn't look great. From the linked article:...
- bensynnock 51 min 13 sec ago
You'd just get dog walkers on it with a 30m lead.
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45 comments
For the money these are worth a try (M&S online will send any size for store collection, and as we know you can always return). Lack the tougher seat of Raphas (and alround a bit of quality to be honest), but the ankle poppers are simple and useful.
A pair received & tried on; sadly to be returned. The cut gives no taper at the waist, and the active movement waistband lacks adjustment. Will dig deeper & try swrve/vulpine/Rapha next time.
Looking past the hideous trainers, and even the merits of the trousers as cycling wear, the arrival of specifically cycling-designed clothing in Marks & Spencer is a wholly positive sign of cycling's newfound popularity among normal people.
I'll order a pair (in 'graphite', not that horrid beige) and give them a try; I don't expect them to be as nice or as hardwearing as Rapha's or Vulpine's, but then they're one third of the price...
Nicely twinned with orthopaedic shoes for that definitive 'no exercise in 20 years' look!
Yeah 'some cyclists' are odd sized...most of their heads are bigger than their waist sizes..but some appear to be able to fit them well up their own backsides...we are not all young skinny whippety pups...ya know...I'm off to Aldi to buy some more corny pastiches (sic)
On the issue of fit, thin waist I understand - but why is everything 'slim fit' (or in yoof shops 'ultra-skinny') in the leg? I can barely get a pair of trousers over my thighs these days, let alone try to pedal in them.
I want to know where Chris Hoy buys his pants!?
This! I don't even have big thighs, how is it I can't even get most trousers on?!
From experience: don't ever try and buy a pair of trousers in Italy. You think cycling wear is oddly sized? Their jeans appear to be for children.
Sir Chris and Jason Kenny has some of Meccanica Cycles stuff. JC fits into their standard straight leg jeans. And they are Made in Britain! Check out http://www.meccanicacycles.com/category/Clothing PS they are a new British brand sizes up to 4XL
Thanks for the link, not seen these before. Hopefully I won't need to go up to a 4XL....
the 4th photo down looks like the model has wet himself ! some dodgy shadow anyway ! I think I'll go for a zip cardigan before these....
You know you've been road cycling too long when you feel perfectly comfortable walking around in cafes in full kit and the thought of biking in jeans is uncomfortable. But seriously, how did they manage to make the thin model look lumpy? There's something going wrong with the waistband and front pockets on these trousers.
Glad to see that the model in the picture is wearing regulation prison-white coach tour trainers. Who's betting that if they are wearing Reactolite Rapides and a blue harbour polo shirt as well to complete the ensemble.
So you can wear them on your bike. Like, when you go cycling. Wow - that means they're just like, er, trousers ...!
If your waist measurement is less than your inside leg then stick to buying Rapha. The snobbery is then there for all to see and saves you posting on the Web and sticking the vees up to ordinary cyclists.
'Rule of thumb - if your waist size is bigger than your inside leg, you need to lose a bit from around your middle '
Depends how long/short your legs are
It's a shame they're only available for short people.
I like M&S, they have variable leg lengths in the womens Depts is one of the few places that makes trousers that are long enough for me at 36"
Shame they're not doing that in this line or i'd happily buy a pair
Rapha's strong point is extra material in the crotch area. Not quite padding but extra material for protecting the vulnerable parts.
Do M&S's have this?
Rapha's strong point is extra material in the crotch area. Not quite padding but extra material for protecting the vulnerable parts.
Do M&S's have this?
Nope. They are definitely chinos without any major structural additions. The back is a little higher than on "normal" trousers so builder's crack is less likely but if anything the fabric is thinner than other chino-type trousers - less canvassy, if that makes sense.
Thanks for bringing it to road.cc's attention; I've ordered up a pair, as my Union34 trews are showing wear. Whilst I'm disappointed that there's no gusset to avoid centre seam, I'm hoping that they may be laterally stiff, yet vertically compliant.
And these PR shots are where M&S go wrong. Put on some decent sneakers, roll up a leg hipster style and team not with a tucked-in white t-shirt that makes it look like they've been made for 60 year olds, but a cool shirt - untucked - and PUT THE MODEL ON A BIKE with some moody black and white urban background. Voila, I'd be all over them and running up to M&S at the top of town pronto. However on the basis of these shots, I will not be going to M&S except to buy a sandwich.
Nail/head etc.
Those dorky trainers are awful. I think it's a wider M&S issue in that they always appeal to their core market (the average age of an M%S customer is 49 according to the Telegraph). Perfect for a relatively health young grandad though.
And precisely what is wrong with being made for 60 year olds? I will certainly be buying a couple of pairs next time I am back in the UK - just as long as they are snow proof as well.
I've never understood M&S trouser sizing with their odd numbers
They are a bit Alan Partridge.
Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing
The seam runs under the gusset right in the middle but most decent cycling/touring trousers have some kind of taped seam or different stitching. Anyone know if these have that?
Also, does the big label inside have written in a funky font quotations from a cycling god of yesteryear?
My local M&S doesn't carry anything in a waist smaller than 32in. Complete waste of time for a normal person going in. I hope they fail to sell a single pair.
I'm not sure about anyone else but claiming legs longer than 33" and waists less than 32" as normal. Bloody freaks!
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