Ashmei Men's Cycle Bib Shorts

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

These are very high-end bike shorts aimed at sports cyclists.

Here's Ashmei's full write-up:

"Our philosophy at ashmei is to launch product that completely outperforms the current 'Best product' on the market. When we started the development of our cycle bib shorts we knew we had to come up with something really special. We knew we could improve on the very best, but had to approach the design process from a new angle.

"The first thing we looked at was the fabric. We wanted to produce a bib that was ultra lightweight, had a very tight weave to provide a level of wind resistance and had a huge amount of elastic recovery to provide consistent compression. Traditional knitted spandex fabrics were not suitable so we started to test high density woven stretch fabrics and ended up with a fabric that has far great elastic recovery. This woven fabric is water resistant and when completely submerged in water for 5 minutes absorbs minimal water or increase in weight compared to an increase of 180% in weight a traditional 'high performance' knitted lycra fabric obtained. This means that if you do get caught in a shower when riding, your bibs will remain dryer and lighter for longer and even when wet they will dry so much faster, keeping you warm and comfortable.

"We then started to look at the chamois and found that all of the chamois on the market followed a similar route of layering contoured sponge and covering them in a soft touch material. While these can be comfy on the bike, they are all pretty big and absorb moisture that makes them feel like you are wearing cold nappy after your ride. We started to look at alternatives to sponge and found that foam provided fantastic padding without absorbing moisture. Our chamois is bonded to the shorts and we only place the laser cut foam where it is needed, providing you with supreme comfort when you are on the bike but eliminating the cold nappy when you finish your ride, allowing you to enjoy your cappuccino in complete comfort.

"Our cycle bib shorts are tailored to fit when you are on the bike and because the fabric has so much more stretch than traditional knitted bibs we have eliminated the ultra tight sticky band around the leg hem that never feels comfortable. Our bibs are simply finished with a laser cut edge, so they feel ultra comfortable and never ride up.

"We have constructed our bib shorts without traditional stitching. Our cycle bib shorts are ultra sonic welded which means the seams are very strong and completely flat, providing a smooth aero finish and eliminating chaffing.

"We have included a double layer of our beloved brushed merino on the top of the shoulder straps for increased comfort and the straps use a laser cut ventilation mesh fabric that helps keep you cool.

"If you're the type of rider that never compromises on performance, our cycle bib shorts are for you."

With a very good fabric, ultra sonic welded seams and a bespoke seat pad, the construction is exceptionally good.

The level of performance is remarkable. You get loads of comfort, good wind and water resistance, and very good sweat transfer.

The ultra sonic welded seams are never going to come apart in a million years and the same goes for the seat pad.

The shorts initially feel tighter than most but they loosen a touch after a couple of rides.

It's not that the lightweight fabric will make you go any faster, but the fact that it's so lightweight makes for exceptional comfort.

Well, this is the tricky one! You've got the line of thought: "£235 for a pair of shorts? You must nuts etc, etc."

You could buy two pair of dhb Aeron Rain Defence bib shorts for the price of these, for example, and still have £65 left over.

On the other hand, Ashmei uses a very unusual fabric, includes a bespoke pad, offers a very high build quality... None of that comes cheap.

These shorts are a bit special, it just depends whether you're willing/able to spend this much for a top-end performance.

How easy is the product to care for? How did it respond to being washed?

You're supposed to hand wash after the first use, then use a cool machine wash after that. I didn't notice the hand wash bit of the instructions until much further down the line, and they've been absolutely fine. They're as easy to care for as any other shorts.

The ultra sonic welded seams look as sturdy now as they did to start with. There's no way they're ever going to come apart.

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

The level of performance is very high. These are exceptionally good shorts.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

The water resistance and the non-bulky seat pad.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Simple: the price.

Use this box to explain your score

If you average up the scores above, the overall would be closer to 8 than 9 - but we don't do it like that.

The overall score of 9 recognises the thought and innovation that has gone into producing an exceptional pair of shorts. The price is, um, tricky in that it puts these shorts out of reach for the majority of us, but if you fancy treating yourself you won't be disappointed.