All shorts seem the same. Until you tug on something different. So, it is with Ostroy’s woven-spandex bibs. A common cheat on figuring out the quality of a pair of bottoms is panels; more is supposed to be better. These shorts go the other way; fewer panels. There seem to be three here—one around the left leg, one around the right, and one for the glutes.
A bit of how these shorts ended up on me. I was rolling downtown on seventh avenue, and either I caught up with Alex Ostroy. Or he caught up with me. We chatted, as we usually do in such moments, and that was that. Shortly thereafter, he reached out and asked if I’d be interested in trying out these shorts in exchange for a brief write-up. I got the shorts, did the write-up, a paragraph of which ended up in the Ostroy.com newsletter. As I did the writing, and these bottoms could be of interest to others, I’m now publishing a revised entire piece here (revisions only stop when something is published…until its revised again).
The ways of premium bibs
The first time I had shorts with few panels, they were cheap and not terribly comfortable. In the bad, old days, very rectangular two- and four-panel shorts were common; they never fit great. Assos was the premier short brand back than and they always had more panels and better spandex than the competition. But the competition caught up and premier brands raced ahead, and then the competition caught up, and so on. The bike world might have maxed out panels—I think I have one pair with ten. And, possibly as a result, or just pushing short tech further, premier brands are going the other way.
The most recent time prior to this I had shorts with so few panels, it was Castelli’s long-departed Body Paint bibs, which fit great, and stay put, but suffered from a mediocre chamois and too much transparency when stretched beyond a certain point—Castelli blamed it on knitted spandex.
Apparently, woven, not knitted, spandex is the big difference in making good bibs with few panels. Knitted fabrics are from a thread that is interlocked with the help of needles, while woven is when two sets of threads are interlocked usually via a loom. Woven can apparently result in fabric that is thinner, denser, more crash resistant, and longer lasting, and the stretch characteristics can be tuned more precisely than knitted spandex, which is what most shorts are made of. Woven’s fit possibilities are starting to be embraced by the bike world. Castelli, Q36.5, Rapha, and Ostroy, and probably others, are now working with woven spandex to improve fit, which also means reducing panels.
Woven in action
The differences start when pulling these bibs on. While the line of sticky gripper dots need to be flipped inside out for easy dressing, the fabric itself seems to stretch around my legs more easily, making wriggling time shorter and less difficult. Once on, they have an almost limitless feel to the stretch, making all movement feel free and natural, even after hours in the saddle. In terms of appearance, the woven textile seems to have a different sort of matte finish, less of the sheen that is typical of knitted fabrics.
The bibs themselves are made of two completely different materials than the bottoms. The suspenders are made of a thicker, two-way stretch material that feels firm, almost too firm, when pulling them over the shoulders. As the point of the straps is to hold the pad in place, the limited stretch feels like it does the right thing, even if there has been a moment or two when a strap felt like it was digging in to the skin. But all it necessitated was a finger inside the jersey to reset the strap position a bit narrower on the shoulder and the sensation was gone for the ride. The lower part of the bibs is mesh netting, which is light and airy and seems mostly to serve as a way to hold in a base layer, as it has great give when breathing hard.
The chamois
The pad is one of the most dense I’ve ridden. It’s from Elastic Interface Technology, EIT, a giant in the business. Seems that the chamois was custom-built for Ostroy, as there’s nothing quite like it on the EIT website. The top isn’t the most plush that has graced my nether region, but an advantage is that it seems not to get as damp-feeling when soaked with sweat—don’t know if it’s the top layer, the nature of the padding underneath, or both, but it works.
I love the idea that the spandex is more abrasion-resistant, but it’s not something I want to test out.
If there’s any surprise to these, it’s the length of the legs. They seem to be much longer than other small bibs I ride. The inseam on several other pair of shorts I have measure between 25-26cm. These measure 28.5cm, almost an inch longer. While this might make them au courant, taller riders might benefit while those with short legs and short femurs, might consider sizing down.
These woven-spandex bibs have quickly become a favorite for the long miles as well as hill-grinding days.