First up, I'm a big fan of Lusso kit, that's pretty evident if you follow me on instagram, but that all stems from pretty much stumbling across Lusso back in 2018 when I decided to commute through the winter, and I laboured for hours over what kit would see me through the winter months. Lusso ticked all my boxes. A few purchases later and an application dropped in, I became a Lusso Brand Ambassador in February 2019.
That does bring some perks and I get my Lusso kit at a discount (and if you use Mike15 at the checkout you'll get 15% off non sale items). That said I bought these shorts not because I needed some new ones, but because I've wanted some cargo style shorts for a while. I'd looked at Rapha, Sportful, and a number of others that have released this style shorts, and also considered my experience of the other bits of kit I had bought from them. I struggled to match their price to my previous experience of quality, and held off purchasing. Needless to say I was pretty pleased when Lusso announced these shorts and pre-ordered them straight away. What are Adventure Bibshorts? Quite simply bibshorts for all day riding. They provide a few extra pockets which are easier to reach, two on the thighs "cargo" style and two on the back. The benefit of shorts like these are that you can wear them under any t-shirt/jumper/jacket and still have access to a couple of pockets on your back. Why would you need pockets on your shorts? Well no, no you don't but there is a good reason to have pockets on you legs. They are incredibly accessible, I had no problems stashing two gels and a GoPro with mini tripod in one of the leg pockets. But the real benefit for me at least was the back pockets, they felt lower down than my jersey pockets. For anyone who has suffered a shoulder injury in the past, and lets face it most cyclists have come off once or twice, having a pocket slightly lower down your back was so much easier to access. I found (once i'd got used to their placement) they were far more comfortable to reach and retrieving things from pockets was faster and just felt less awkward. Doesn't it feel weird riding with something on your legs This was the bit that really surprised me, my first ride in them was on a very wet and muddy gravel ride.
Plenty of rough terrain, out of the saddle climbing and rolling downhills, and I can honestly say say I didn't notice anything on my legs, or back, even when I'd stuffed the GoPro in on top of my snacks.
I think this is impart because the outer pocket fabric is a very compliant elastic material, with much more give than the main Bibshorts material. So rather than the fabric touching your leg deforming, the pocket deforms first. But at no point during my ride did I have to stop in frustration to adjust the contents of my pockets. That said I imagine it would be a different story if I used my leg pockets to store keys or tools. Think leg pockets for things that you'll whip out and need quickly. And back pockets for the moments you have to stop, keys/tools etc. Anything pointy is probably going to rub and cut the fabric as well as stick into you. Think it’s probably just common sense not to do that. The Ride? It genuinely was really good, and I think from now on until something else comes up I'll be purchasing these alongside my go to DRS shorts. I could easily sit in the saddle for 100 miles plus in these, and probably will on my charity ride in August, I just need to weigh up whether the benefit of more on body storage has more pros than the benefits of the compression over 200 miles I’d get from the DRS shorts?. I can whole heartedly recommend these Adventure shorts they really are superb, both in terms of fit, craftsmanship and styling. Value for money at the time of writing they are £125.00 but if you use Mike15 at the check out you can get 15% off. This sits them in the middle of the market for similar products. Personally I feel the benefits of knowing that the items are manufactured locally to me (Manchester, UK), and having dealt with their customer services both for crash replacement as well as general advice, puts Lusso above competition. Final Thoughts Adventure shorts really do serve a purpose and not just for adventure rides. Unless you're on the look out for KOM's and want to avoid marginal losses of aero caused by turbulence generated by a pocket on your thigh, these make perfect sense. They afford you to be able to use you back pockets (jersey pockets) for your tools and a few spares things you don't want to access regularly on your ride. Your leg pockets you can stash your phone, camera, snacks and items that you might want to pull out when you're still moving. I can't count the number of times, I've pulled my phone out of my back pocket and nearly dropped it, or had to carefully fumble in my pocket to pull out gel out, whilst making sure my keys don't get pulled out too. The thigh pockets give you a reassurance, you can fit your whole hand in and out easily if you can't feel the pocket on the back of your hand, you've not put what ever it is you're putting in you pocket, in you pocket. From my perspective I'll be slowly replacing my bib shorts with this style of short, I'd love to see some new designs coming out, specifically a DRS/Adventure cross as well as some more casual jerseys that match the adventure style. Head over to Lusso.bike to see what else they have.
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Mike GaskellI started commuting around May 2017, mainly to save the £45 a week train fare and get ready for the Dunwich Dynamo. Archives
August 2022
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