Assos Equipe R S9 bib shorts long-term review

With the Assos Equipe R S9 bib shorts, you get a superb fit and some serious comfort for your road rides. In the company’s lineup, the performance-oriented shorts sit just below the WorldTour level Equipe RS bibs. The Equipe R, however, is a more versatile piece of kit. Put it on for races, or simply wear it on big days in the saddle. Also, the Equipe R will cost you fewer Swiss Francs.

Durability of the Assos Equipe R S9 bib shorts

I’ve been wearing and testing the Assos Equipe R S9 bib shorts for months. After many wash cycles, they still look pretty good, which is nice as they come in a classic, dark black colour. Of course, I’m not against blue, red or some other shade of shorts, but it’s nice to have kit in a rich, classic hue. The gripper and chamois also seem good as new, which is not always the case with bibs after you’ve worn them a while.

Assos Equipe R S9 strap design

You’ve probably seen the top-end Equipe RS bib shorts on the cabooses of riders on Tudor Pro Cycling, a team owned by Fabian Cancellara. One of the elements that stands out on those shorts is how the bib straps run externally and attach above a rear panel.

The advantage of this construction, Assos says, is that it keeps the insert in the best position, as you corner or get out of the saddle. I’m not a fan of the straps-visible-past-my-jersey look. I mean, if I was riding for a Swiss pro team, I certainly wouldn’t mind, but I prefer the standard placement of my Equipe R’s straps.

Peter Hammerschmidt, the senior director of product management at Assos, explains why the company changed the design for the Equipe R, and forgo the “rollbar” construction that they use on the RS and the even higher end RSR shorts, where the straps go down to the back seam of the insert. “With the Equipe R, we slightly modified the pattern of the panel wrapping around the back and the hips to deliver a tight and snugger fit especially in this area,” he says. “Together with the asymmetrical stretch of the new Lycra material, we manage to stabilize the shorts in that part and to prevent the insert from sliding to the front without having the bibs going all the way down.” The shorts use the X-Frame straps, which were modified from the A-Frame of the Equipe RS.

For me, I found the Equipe R S9’s straps felt lighter on my skin compared with other shorts in my collection.

Absorption and moisture wicking

The Equipe R uses Asoss’s Type.443 fabric. It’s a trickle-down…