Pactimo Men’s Alpine Thermal Bib Tight

Pactimo's Alpine Thermal Bib Tights are extremely comfortable, even on long rides. They fit really well, and have useful reflective details and cargo pockets to keep your stuff in. At £130 they are not the cheapest out there, but they really do feel worth it.

Pactimo has three bib tights in its range; the other two are the Storm+ Thermals (review coming soon) which are water repellent, and the Vertex WX-Ds, which are water repellent and wind resistant and rated down to -17°C!

The Alpine, then, is the option for less severe conditions. Pactimo's marketing positions them as alternatives to regular bib shorts with knee or leg warmers, except a little more efficient thanks to being one garment.

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They're made with what Pactimo describes as as a mid-weight, breathable, stretchy, brushed-back Italian fabric (83% nylon, 17% elastane). In other words, the usual Roubaix type stuff you'd expect. There is no windproofing or waterproofing.

The upper is mesh for breathability, and the straps are a couple of inches wide and comfortable. I had no issues with chafing or them digging in.

The fabric is stretchy enough that Pactimo designed these without ankle zips, and I found putting them on and taking them off easy enough; I actually own some bib tights with zips that are harder than these!

The stretch should accommodate most body shapes, too. There's not very much compression here, which suits me fine for off-season riding.

Chamois

The pad is Elastic Interface's Paris chamois, a dual-density design aimed at road and off-road use. It's 3mm thick at the front and 13mm at the back, and rated for rides up to six hours. I actually found it supremely comfortable for rides longer than that.

Features

I'm a big fan of the mesh cargo pockets on the thighs, as it allows you to take a bit more on rides without overloading your jersey or jacket pockets. It can be an interesting look when they're stuffed full, but I can't say that kind of thing bothers me much.

There's reflective detailing too: a logo on each hip and a decent-sized strip on each calf. Pactimo says they're more reflective than on previous models too, and can reflect more than 350 lumens.

Temperature range

A trip to the lovely Alpujarra region in Spain proved the perfect test for these. On the coast it was around 18°C, whereas topping out on the mountain roads it dropped to zero in the shade. While these were not ideal for either extreme – between 5° and 12° is their optimum working range for me – they felt the right choice overall. They were breathable enough to deal with the warmer air and long climbs, and warm enough to keep me comfortable on the cold descents.

> 24 of the best warm winter cycling tights

Those generous cargo pockets really help here, as they easily keep a pair of gloves, a buff, a skull cap and a pair of toe warmers very close to hand. I could have stuffed those things in jersey pockets, sure, but they were already full of food, a waterproof, my phone, keys and more.

Sizing

Testing Pactimo's Summit Stratos Range Bib Shorts earlier this year I discovered a medium fitted me perfectly, which was again the case with these bib tights. The size chart is accurate and the bibs themselves are true to it.

Value

These work very well, and I think £130 is reasonable for the quality and performance you're getting, though you can get decent bib tights for less: Altura's Icon Men's Thermal Bib Tights are £95 and Specialized's Men's RBX Comp Thermal Bib Tights are £100, and both scored an impressive 8/10.

As ever, you can also pay more. MAAP's Team Thermal Bib Tights are £215, for instance, and Rapha's Pro Team Winter Tights with Pad II are similarly priced at £210.

Conclusion

These are very comfortable, even on rides longer than the six hours they're rated for, and work well for anything between around 5 and 12°C. That's a sizeable chunk of the winter in most of the UK...

Verdict

Super-comfortable bib tights with useful cargo pockets and a good temperature range