I’ll caveat this with – it obviously must work for most / a lot of people… but…
Dropped £215 (full retail price) on some Assos Mille GTS S11 bib shorts. Went on a 100+ mile ride, super excited for what I expected to be many hours of my ass feeling like it’s barely touching the saddle and finishing not even realising I’d been sat down.
What actually happened, was after about 50 miles, those two very thick pads you can see (picture is the inside of the padding) start to separate apart a bit more under pressure because, well they’re not connected. So what happens? Your perineum has no padding and you get the familiar aching/pain/numbness down there from the pressure. It’s probably made worse because they’re so thick so separate more/easier if that makes sense.
You could blame seat position – I’m not tucked in riding aero or on the drops for that distance – but these are billed as endurance shorts not race shorts.
Pretty annoyed I’ve dropped that much on shorts and left feeling overall extremely underwhelmed (and slightly numb).
Assos bib shorts are generally raved about – are the other models better/different? Or have I just got a weird shaped ass and the issue here is not the shorts…
by Winter-Childhood5914
9 Comments
Buy ANCH it’s super comfy.
I only have their old GT level ones and they are fine. Overall I do prefer Gobik for my rear tho
Stupid question ther should be a cover above the padding no? All mine have it and it seems from other pics online yours should have it too maybe thats why they seperate?
No bibs are universal and work for everyone – one person’s holy grail might be immediately uncomfortable for another. I think Assos deserve the acclaim, but I’m also on my 4th pair of them and find them to be just okay for my body.
You might need to keep searching to find something that fits you better.
I never understood the Assos hype, I personally don‘t like them because of the thick padding. It cuts into the side of my thighs.
I don‘t think it‘s supposed to look like that. Maybe a manufacturing error or fake item?
I own both Equipe (bib for outdoor longish rides max 5 hours) and Mille (shorts for indoor max 90 minutes). For some reason I find the Equipe more comfortable over 3-4 hours versus the Mille for 1 hour.
It sounds like the padding thickness is too much for you, but it is really individual – for me, these exact shorts are the best from Assos i ever owned, but I also have more expensive GTO (older so different chamois design as well) and they are too thick (ok for 2-3 hours, but after more hours, i get bruises or i have to reapply butt cream) – did you try Equipe models? They have less padding so it might work for you.
Also you did not mention your measurements, maybe you picked bigger size, and thats why it moves?
I cannot turn mine out like that, there are seams at the front and the back of the pad. Just around the middle it’s s not sewn together
They’re just bib shorts. They will never be as important as how you interact with the saddle overall. You said you have pressure points, which most likely stems from a bike fit related issue rather than the bib shorts.