Santini Unico Men’s Bib Shorts

The Santini Unico Men's Bib Shorts are a primo option if you want to ride a long way without a second thought for your nethers. They use Santini's best seat pad, a luxurious fabric with almost no seams, and rock a glorious colour scheme... though it's inside the straps, so once you have them on no-one will know.

These feature a raft of elements aimed at minimising discomfort on the bike. The C3 seat pad (also found on Santini's more expensive bibs) makes a significant contribution, and features variable thicknesses with perforations and gel inserts under the ischiatic bones to help spread the load. I really rate it.

Santini has a scale for bib short comfort, and these it rates at '8 Hours,' which is the maximum. I used them for rides of close to that without giving them a second thought. Which is exactly what you want, of course.

Curiously, there isn't a single design of seat pad which works best, in my experience. I have got on well with pads with perforations and some without; pads with an almost constant thickness, and pads with notable sculpting. My guess is its the positioning and the type of foam which may be more significant.

In any case, I'd say the C3 pad is on a par with the best I've tried from Rapha, Castelli and the other heavy hitters. Crucially, the positioning is spot on – sometimes I find my sit bones too close to the end of a seatpad, but here there were no such issues.

The microfibre fabric is really lovely – soft and luxurious to the touch, with more stretch than traditional lycra. It reminds me of the standout feel the first time I handled Castelli's Mondiale bibs back in 2016, although the fabric here definitely has more stretch than those did. That makes them quite forgiving, and gives a bit more flexibility in terms of sizing.

In other Santini bibs opt for XL (it's Italian sizing, y'know, give me a break) for the longer legs, but here I had no trouble or constriction with size L.

There are very few seams – below the waist there is just one thermo-welded seam running down the inside of each thigh. The leg ends are raw cut with no silicone or other grippers. The stretchy fabric does a pretty good job of keeping them in place anyway, and the lack of seams really does give a 'barely there' feeling.

The bibs straps are also raw cut, so have no stitching or seams on their edges. I found them very comfortable with or without a base layer. At the back is a reinforced panel with laser-cut holes in it... it seems odd to make this section thicker just to cut ventilation holes in it, but it does breathe very well and I never had the feeling of sweat gathering between my shoulder blades.

The thing you notice immediately is the gorgeous, asymmetric colour fade on the inside of the straps. Of course, when you're wearing them all anyone can see is black. Santini should make a jersey using this colour, I suggest. Here, only you will see it, but you'll probably enjoy it anyway – I did.

> 38 of the best cycling bib shorts – get comfy on longer rides

Other details are pretty minimal. There's an attractive iridescent Santini logo on the right leg which is reflective, but there are no other reflective details at the rear. There are no pockets either, but then they're still relatively rare.

Value

At £179 these are getting towards the high end, though they're not right up there – it's quite easy to find bib shorts at £210-£250. The MAAP Pro Bib 2.0 for instance is £235, and features a more traditional panel construction.

The Nopinz Souplesse bibs seem like a bit of bargain by comparison at £119.99, especially as Stu really rated their comfort and construction in his review, while the Assos Equipe RSR Bib Shorts S9 are even more expensive than the Santinis at £255, though they offer an unusual fabric and particularly high compression; our reviewer Jamie felt that if you could afford them, they were very strong performers indeed.

Overall

The combination of pad, fabric and minimal seams here really works even for long days in the saddle – these are as good as any bibs I've used.

Verdict

Great bibs, suitable for long days out in sublime comfort. Only you will know about the nice colourful bits, though...