Gear of the week

The CW Tech team ride and rate the latest kit on the market

Assos Dyora S9 women ’s bibshorts £175

Assos’s latest womenspecific high-end shorts now feature the inclusion of ‘A-lock Engineering’, attaching the bib straps much lower down and externally, to prevent the chamois from moving around. If you’ve ever got out of the saddle then sat down to discover that the pad has somehow ‘folded itself’ into a very uncomfortable ‘peak’, then this is designed to fix that. And it works.

The Dyora RS chamois pad is incredibly comfortable no matter the ride length and is made from a lightweight foam, with Assos’s three-layer 3D waffle construction. It boasts the brand’s ‘goldengate’ tech, where it’s attached only at the front and rear to ensure it doesn’t move around due to friction on the short outer.

Assos has tried to minimise the use of seams on these shorts, with the primary panel wrapping the lower back and legs. While I agree that seams in the wrong place can be uncomfortable and create unwanted bulges, I prefer the use of more panels, which can spread compression a little bit more.

The fabric itself is lightweight and comes with a 50+ UPF rating. I found it to be fastdrying and the shorts kept me cool, even under the summer sun. The bib strap material incorporates an antibacterial carbon weave.

Assos has gone for a thin elasticated gripper – this differs dramatically from the wide gripper that I love on the UMA GT half shorts. Both hold the shorts in place, but this Dyora version is a little too compressive on me – I much prefer the wider-tapered legs on the entry-level shorts.

The only other disappointing feature is a lack of any mechanism to make comfort breaks an easier experience.

These shorts come in at £175. While it’s not cheap, we have recently tested other shorts retailing for more and Assos kit has a long-standing reputation for being extremely hard-wearing and long-lasting.