P is for...

As threatened promised, P is for Purchasing. I'm going to write some more ill informed opinion about something I've bought recently. What a treat this must be for you.

Today's subject is Castelli's Fondo bib-tights. Before I go any further, I'll ruin it by telling you, in almost the words of Tony the Tiger, 'They're frickin' great!'.

I'd rather not have to wear bib-tights in the middle of May but, if I've got to, these are great bib-tights to find myself wearing. 

Unlike some other bib-tights I could mention, the Fondo tights are a marvellous fit; they may well be the best fitting cycling item of clothing I own. No flapping or loose crotches with these tights. They're snug and extremely comfortable while allowing full freedom of motion. I don't find myself having to adjust them at all once they're on and the KISS3 chamois  more than does its job. 

At the risk of sounding like a complete pervert, it seems to diminish that awful smell of one's sweaty gusset extremely well. If I give it a quick sniff upon getting home, it's not absolutely rancid. Who even knew that was possible? In addition to being fairly stink free, the KISS3 (despite being fairly thin and unobtrusive) is remarkably good in terms of comfort.

The tights themselves are splendid. They seem to give me the most support where needed and allow my blood to flow where it's supposed to be going. Although not of the super warm variety, they definitely keep me snug and happy in the temperatures suggested on the Castelli website. They don't have any special windproofing qualities (or pretend to) so an additional pair of windproof tights might be wise to own for blustery conditions OR maybe looking out the window, saying "It's a bit windy, I think I'll stay inside" would be even more wise.

As an indication of how highly I regard these bib-tights; I've bought six pairs of them. That's not to be taken entirely out of context. I should point out I haven't payed the £109GBP RRP (or close to it) for any of them. I firstly bought two plain black pairs from ProBikeKit for £59-40GBP each and then noticed Evans (as in the bike shop rather than the clothes shop for the medium to larger lady) was selling them for (including a 15% discount offer at the time and some Quidco cashback) less than £50GBP a pair. That being the case, I bought another four pairs from there (one in blue and three in Italian Flag). Smashing! All in all, I got six pairs of Fondo bib-tights for the RRP of three. Hoorah! 

At the time of writing this, Evans is still selling them for £59-99GBP and currently has a 10% discount on top of that. If you're interested, you could do a lot worse.