Spokesman Team Shorts

One hundred pounds is probably the tipping point for many cyclists when shopping for road cycling bib shorts, and this new offering from British brand Spokesman offers a good fit and performance, comfortable padded insert and smart styling and compare favourably with similarly priced offerings.

Spokesman is a new cycling clothing that launched with a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2014. Since then, it has seen its popularity surge, and it's gaining more presence in retail outlets, including very recently Cycle Surgery.

Read more: Best cycling bib shorts

What the company aims to provide is "stylish product with cutting-edge fabrics". Nothing new there, that's a similar claim lots of companies might make. Spokesman founder Nathan Gibbons comes from a 20-year stint in the clothing business and his expertise shows, as these are very well made and the performance and fit not only matches shorts in the same price bracket but more expensive bib shorts as well.

The padded insert is where the bulk of the money goes when you buy a pair of bib shorts, so let's start there. Spokesman uses a high-quality Cytech padded insert. Cytech, in case you're wondering, is a company that specialises in padded inserts and supplies many cycle clothing brands. It's a simple-looking pad (and very yellow) but has deeper foam where your sit bones contact the saddle, and thinner foam at the edges. It provides good comfort for club rides or long sportives. It's a well-shaped pad too and stays in place.

Holding the padded insert in place, because that's really the primary job of the rest of the bib shorts, is a mix of Power Lycra side panels and a mesh fabric for front and rear centre and underneath the padded insert. There are sticky silicone inserts lining the short openings to keep the hem from riding up. There's a lighter mesh material used for the panel that sits over your back, and two wide elastic bib straps spread the pressure evenly over the shoulders, and there are no seams to irritate if wearing without a base layer. The shorts are constructed with flat-lock stitching throughout.

They're good-looking shorts. There's a thick band of reflective material on the right leg that is a bonus for late evening or night time rides and complements the orange band at the end of the shorts as well. There's a large Spokesman logo on the other leg and a radio pocket features on the back of the shorts. I never find much use for radio pockets on bib shorts, but if you want an extra pocket for an MP3 player or something else, it's there.

You're spoilt for choice if you want high-quality bib shorts these days and these Spokesman Team Shorts provide offer all the performance, comfort and fit you could want. There's really not much to dislike about these shorts at all. The one feature that wins for me is the large reflective band, which manages to look reasonably stylish.

Verdict

Quality bib shirts with good performance and comfort