Rapha Women's Jeans

Rapha's Women's Cycling Jeans are essentially very stretchy denims with some cycling-friendly details. They're designed to work on the bike and off, for trips around town punctuated by office meetings or coffee stops, that kind of thing. They're well made and very good quality, as you'd expect for the money, but as with any jeans, how well they 'work' depends on how well they fit, and for me that was a bit of an issue.

There's also the price. It's a fair amount of money for a pair of jeans, but plenty of people are prepared to pay this for jeans without any cycling pedigree: MiH, Diesel, other names too hip and trendy for me to know about... (I just did a quick search and saw a pair of Dolce & Gabbana ones for over £3K! Gap and H&M are more my level – Fat Face when there's a sale on). If it makes you hot under the collar that anyone would consider paying £150 for jeans, stop reading now and accept that there are people who do.

> Buy these online here

The fit is more 'jeggings' than skinny jeans (the sort of skinny jeans I wear, anyway), but the feel is more jeans denim than thin and stretchy jeggings stuff. It feels like it'll last years, the stitching and seams are top notch, and the fabric is 'abrasion and stain-resistant', so getting chain oil on the legs shouldn't be a disaster.

They aren't any more rain-resistant than a normal pair of jeans, so get caught in a shower and you'll end up damp, though they seem to dry a little quicker than my other jeans. (The outwardly similar Levi's Commuter Jeans are water-resistant, for £90.)

Unlike a pair of cycling tights, which tend to be very elastic and stretchy all over, getting jeans that fit well is more of a personal matter. For me, although the Rapha jeans on test are the right size, the fit isn't as good as I'd have liked. They're just that little bit too tight around the calves, and just that bit too loose around the waist. Not hugely so, but just... noticeably so.

The waist issue is solved with a belt. Without a belt, they tend to slide down gradually while I'm walking. On the bike this doesn't happen, because there's a saddle keeping them up – but these are designed for off-the-bike use too. It feels like it's caused by the tightness around the calves – they grab a hold there, and as I walk they get pulled slightly further down the leg, but don't move back up into place again. It's a bit odd because although I don't have overly large calf muscles, I'm not as slim around the waist as I used to be...

If it is the tightness around the calves that's causing the pulling, that's more of an issue than the feeling of tightness. It's not a big problem in terms of comfort – I can wear them all day quite happily. But when I do take them off it's a bit like my lower legs breathe a small sigh of relief (and there's quite a strong seam mark left in my leg). And the slimness of the leg comes in really handy for slipping into a pair of wellies for a quick dog walk.

As for the cycling features – other than the stretchiness of the fabric for easy pedalling, it's basically limited to safety details: bright pink seam piping on the turn-ups to get you noticed, a bigger reflective Rapha logo if you fold the right (chainset side) leg right up, and a thin reflective strip below the label on the waistband at the back.

There's no concession to saddle comfort – the seams are placed as they would be on normal jeans, with no seamless gusset or anything like that – and the pocket layout is as you'd expect on a pair of Levi's (though no little inset pocket within the front right pocket). That's all deliberate: they look like a normal pair of jeans, and they're not designed for long rides.

> Check out our guide to the best casual cycle commuting wear here

I tried them with and without a padded liner, and on my six/seven-mile commute they were as comfortable without as with the liner; in fact, wearing the padded liner meant they were more uncomfortable off the bike, rather than more comfortable on it. For shortish journeys anyway. I'd probably go without, and just use the jeans for the short on-off rides they're aimed at.

So basically, if they fit you (or you're happy to wear a belt), and you often find yourself riding short journeys interspersed with 'civvy' time, these are well-made, high-quality jeans that are just that bit more bike-friendly than high street options. Whether that's worth the extra over a pair of stretchy skinny jeans from H&M is up to you. I do rather like the 'yes you can wear denim on your bike' message they give you, too.

Verdict

Well-made, high-quality, cycling-friendly if not wallet-friendly jeans, but a little tight around the calves