6 Women’s Bib Shorts With Pit Stop Solutions
Women, rejoice! Bibs and bathroom breaks co-exist with these clever designs.
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Women, rejoice! Bibs and bathroom breaks co-exist with these clever designs.
When it comes to long rides, few things are more comfortable than a pair of bib shorts. But for female riders, few things are more cumbersome than a pair of bib shorts. It’s easy for male riders to take a quick, discreet bathroom break mid-ride, but for women, it’s…complicated. Shorts must be lowered in order to use the restroom, and to lower the shorts, the bib suspenders must come off the shoulders. To yield the suspenders, the bike jersey needs to be removed, and before you know it, a simple potty break requires full-frontal nudity.
“The go-to for women has been to either forego bibs and just wear shorts for convenience, or to wear bibs and deal with the inconvenience at pit stop time,” says Lindsay Piper of KETL Mountain Apparel, “But I think at this point there are a lot of women who are riding at a high level, who don’t want to make sacrifices and are willing to speak up about it, so there’s more of an impetus to solve the problem.”
Kebby Holden, founder of Coeur, a women’s cycling and triathlon apparel company, says bibs have been a man’s domain for so long, that women’s designs were an afterthought derived from the men’s line. But that’s changing, as companies are now creating designs with women in mind, including solutions to “the pee problem” for women’s bib shorts—a task that proves more complicated than one might think:
“It is very difficult to work hardware into soft, stretchy Spandex fabric,” notes Holden. “While most is abrasion resistant, it is still a delicate fabric. Flat lock seams are required stitching for most fabric panels in tri and cycle but integrated hardware and hidden panels often doesn’t allow for it. Add sublimation in across panels and it all gets very tricky.”
But with female participation in cycling and triathlon rapidly increasing, smart apparel companies are investing in new research and design to make bathroom breaks for the female rider quick, easy and—most importantly—discreet.
GORE Apparel was one of the first to devise a solution for female riders with its 2009 release of its patented two-zip system. There are two zippers in the Power 3.0 Bibtights – one on each hip. When nature calls, simply zip open both sides and pull down below buttocks and sit. When you’re finished, pull up, zip closed and hit the road.
For the off-road warriors, KETL provides a mountain-bike specific short with comfort and functionality. From the waist up, the product is a totally standard bib short, front & back. Where things get special is the business area of the bibs: KETL uses a three-panel system, using an unobtrusive, easy-to-grab front zipper to detach the chamois panel. Two crossover panels help hold everything in place, but move out of the way when it’s time to take a leak.
These shorts feature premium-quality Italian lycra and extra wide bib straps connected to a mesh front to eliminate chafing. The most important feature, however, is the vertical zipper on the center back of the shorts that the user unzips, allowing her to easily pull the bibs up and down.
The highest performance women’s cycling bib shorts offered by Pearl Izumi feature a patented mesh fabric for added ventilation and a center bib clip. A smart design for bathroom breaks involves a bra-style clasp on the back strap, allowing for quick bathroom breaks without having to remove one’s jersey.
An innovative patent-pending side leg zipper makes quick work of bathroom breaks – simply unzip, pull the leg to the opposite side to do your business, then zip back down and lock. A soft liner backs the zipper so the rider doesn’t notice it on her leg, and Coeur’s buttery-soft yet compressive fabric makes these luxe bibs comfortable and chafe-free on long rides.
An innovative patent-pending side leg zipper makes quick work of bathroom breaks – simply unzip, pull the leg to the opposite side to do your business, then zip back down and lock. A soft liner backs the zipper so the rider doesn’t notice it on her leg, and Coeur’s buttery-soft yet compressive fabric makes these luxe bibs comfortable and chafe-free on long rides.