Review: La Passione Cycling Club Bib Shorts
(2021) There is a belief comfortable bib shorts are briefly weighed down by a monstrous price tag. In an industry with trickle-down technology, the bib short has inherited many of the pricier traits with an attractive sales price. With large amounts of outdoor miles suddenly racking up, we felt it was time to review La Passione Cycling Couture’s Club Bib Shorts. Don’t be surprised if these become your new workhorse bibs from long adventure rides in the saddle to speed work days on the training plan.
La Passione Cycling Couture wants you to know that the Club Bib is tailored cut for an ideal position on the saddle, that it’s highly compressive, and that it has a high inner silicone gripper. It is built around the Elastic Interface chamois pad. It also features a tiny Italian flag to reinforce its country of origin. Even more noticeable is the price.
La Passione’s Club bib short comes with a generous leg gripper as well as a reflective panel and white badge on the right leg.
For the months of riding the bibs are certainly more compressive than any others we have tried. With such tight configuration there is a moment or so where the bibs need to be manipulated into place but this works for hours of comfort on the bike. After months of riding indoors in tired kits, this was an exciting pace forward in bib shorts.
Eager to get outside with these new bibs we rode dozens of miles in cold weather. The silicone leg grippers kept the leg warmers in place. Maybe it was the newness of the bibs but they were noticeably warm in cool conditions, an added bonus. Paired with the compression of the bibs, the silicone grippers held everything in place from each ride’s start to finish. When given a choice between winter tights and Club Bibs plus leg warmers, it was an easy choice to pull La Passione’s Italian design off the hanger.
With two aspects going well, the chamois feedback was going to put these bibs in their place. Happily the Elastic Interface pad felt incredibly comfortable. Compression, leg grippers, and a comfortable chamois, the La Passione Cycling Couture bib shorts must be top shelf neighborhood. It is no stretch that we made every excuse to get into these bibs.
What came as the most remarkable part of the bibs was the purchase price. Easily half the price of flagship bibs of other brands, the Club Bib Shorts look and feel as if they belong with pro-level offerings. Here were standard items on an attractively-priced set of bibs that have maintained their compression and comfort for months of regular use.
Which brings us back to the beginning and our claim that these bibs will easily become your go-to set. These are the bottoms to use when the team kit is not required. This is the garment you will insist on when it’s Wednesday Night Worlds or hill repeats like the coach ordered. With fondos returning to the calendar, these are definitely the bibs to prioritize when the event sends riders over a metric century of rough-and-tumble roads where a comfortable kit - top and bottom - are what make or break the day out. These bibs are definitely worth a look.
