Cube Blackline Rain Shorts

Cube's lightweight Blackline Rain Shorts offer great comfort, decent durability and exceptional wet weather protection as far as they go (ie, to the knee), but they're not overendowed with reflectivity, and can slip a little on the saddle.

• Pros: Reinforced gusset, good waterproofing, cute carry bag
• Cons: Limited reflectivity, slippy on the saddle

I tested Cube's Blackline Rain Pants just before Christmas and felt that they were a really decent pair of waterproofs. With essentially the same design, albeit cut off at the knee, it's no surprise that the shorts share many of the same positives.

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That's to say, first, the build is top-notch, featuring Cube's Primetronic waterproof fabric with a section of extra-durable thicker fabric at the seat and upper thigh. There's a Velcro, popper and zip fly closure at the front; a soft and high waistband with Velcro side straps for tightening; and, as with the trousers, for some reason just one solitary zipped mesh-lined pocket (not 'pockets' as stated on the Cube website) on the left hip. The shorts also come with a bijou stuffsack for storage.

Performance in the saddle is similar to the trousers, too. Waterproofing is faultless and you can be quite confident that you'll retain a dry crotch, seat and upper thigh. Fit and comfort are superb, with a decently high back to give you good coverage. However, the waistband is arguably a little too soft and stretchy, and you're likely to find yourself hoiking them up from time to time or giving the Velcro side adjusters and good yank.

A little more frustrating is the reinforced seat section, which although laudable in terms of durability can slip a little, particularly on road or commuting bike saddles. If you tend to move about on the seat at the best of times, you'll be slipping and sliding even more while wearing these.

Adam tested the Blacklines over at our sister site off.road.cc and felt they were almost bang-on perfect for trail riding. As I'm looking more at their functionality in a road/commuting sense, though, I have a slightly different focus.

For example, while the shorts' lack of insulation and lightweight nature is great if your ride is a hard and fast technical challenge, for run-of-the-mill wet rides to work, I wouldn't mind if the Blacklines had a tad more substance to them. That said, with no padded insert anyway, for most wet rides you're going to want to team these with a decent pair of padded tights.

One criticism I had of the full-length Blackline trousers was that the rider's lower legs were slightly held hostage to the cold with chilly breezes sneaking up from below. With shorts, that expectation is something one would hope the buyer has already taken into consideration. But with decent length to the knee, and a toggle adjuster at the hem to seal them against your thighs, they actually do a good job of adequately protecting the areas they do cover. (Try to avoid going too crazy with the hem toggle, though – you end up looking like you're wearing a pair of jodhpurs.)

Probably the biggest criticism I have that doesn't feature among trail-riding requirements is reflectivity. Other than a thin strip of reflective piping down the sides and the Cube branding, there's very little to help you stand out on dark or dreary roads. And, practically speaking, another pocket or two wouldn't go amiss either.

Value

We haven't tested a lot of waterproof shorts, although the Sportful Giara Over Shorts do a similar job and Dave was quite impressed with them. At £65, they offer good comfort and arguably offer more regular day-to-day practicality than the Cubes, although they can't offer quite the same monsoon-surviving rain protection.

However, before you start thinking the Cubes are overly expensive, Gore has some very similar ones – its C5 Gore-Tex Active Trail Shorts – for £129.99. So the Cubes are fair value for this kind of performance.

> Buyer's Guide: Essential wet weather cycle clothing and gear

If you just fancy the long baggy aesthetic, I can heartily recommend Endura's stylish Hummvee Chino shorts at £59.95, but they're definitely not waterproof.

Conclusion

The Blackline Shorts do what they set out to do very well. They're very lightweight, comfortable and, most of all, waterproof. As an emergency measure to keep in your work bag and break out when you want to prevent a soggy bum on a wet ride home, there's little to moan about other than reflectivity and the slight saddle slippage. That said, for commuting purposes, the £30 saving is the only obvious reason why I'd opt for knee-length wet weather protection rather than the full-length coverage supplied by the Blackline Pants.

Verdict

Very good lightweight waterproof baggy shorts, with a couple of niggles