RedWhite started in April 2014, with the mission of creating a bibshort that helped us get through our long AUDAX rides in comfort.
We had returned from a long tempo ride and our sit-bones were sore, and we couldn’t get back onto the bike the following day. We thought to ourselves,”We could do bibshorts better.”
We started developing our first bibshort – The BIB - Stealth, by going back to basics. We focused first on designing a chamois that could support us on ultra-distance rides and then built a bibshort around that chamois.
This article will walk you through the various components that were carefully selected, designed and combined to make a comfortable RedWhite bibshort :
The Chamois
Silicone Microdot Grippers
Fabrics
Fit
The Chamois
The first thing you’d notice about any RedWhite bibshort’s chamois is how plush it is.
We achieved this plush feel by using Open-Cell foams of 3 different thickness and densities. Open-Cell foams are peppered with tiny air pockets that help our chamois absorb road vibrations, increasing comfort on longer rides.
To ensure the chamois remains plush and doesn’t compress over time, the part of the chamois that directly contacts your sit bones uses a thicker and denser layer of our Open-Cell foam compared to the rest of the chamois.
The perineum area is elongated and firmed up using a thin and dense foam layer to provide ample protection and comfort when an attacking rider goes into the drops and rolls forward onto the saddle. The foam layer is kept thin to reduce chafing at your perineum and to also allow the chamois to contour easily to saddles with cutouts.
All RedWhite’s chamois are heat moulded using a proprietary process called “Thermic Moulding”. This process gently applies heat that fuses every foam layer together while maintaining the air pockets that help our chamois absorb road vibrations. The fused foam layers also never come apart with use, resulting in a longer-lasting chamois.
We have longer technical articles that cover the manufacturing process and technology of the chamois in our bibshorts. Each is roughly a 10 minute read and well worth it :
A long distance cycling bibshort requires some form of gripper to ensure it stays in position. RedWhite’s bibshort go one step further by ensuring the grippers provide the necessary grip without constricting your legs on a long ride. We call this a “Silicone Microdot Gripper“
We use a lycra fabric that’s overlaid with hundreds of microbeads of silicone. Each dot works together to give an even and non-tacky grip on the skin, while the lycra base ensures your skin still breathes and isn’t constricted.
It is a gripper you would barely notice.
Fabrics
All RedWhite’s bibshorts use Italian fabrics from MITI.
Our main lycra fabric is a 220gsm matt black fabric with 20% Lycra POWER (an elastic fibre with compressive qualities), and 80% nylon.
This lycra helps us achieve a natural next-to-skin feel, and the result is a soft, supple and highly breathable bibshort.
The top mesh used for our bibshort straps is also one of the finest from MITI. It is incredibly stretchy, lightweight and soft. These 3 properties allowed us to design wide bibstraps that cover a lot of your torso, without causing overheating during warm days. The increased coverage by the mesh results in the bibshorts feeling almost like a comfortable 1-piece suit, rather than a pair of shorts held up by straps.
Fit
A well fitting bib short should disappear on you when you ride.
We discovered that most people have the following problems with their bibshort fit :
Fitting the gut. Lets face it, not all of us have bodies like Chris Froome. Most of us carry a slight belly which also expands as we take big breaths during a ride.
The bib-straps fit great off the bike, but when tucked into an aero position, they sag and flop about.
To solve the gut problem, We added an oversized front panel of lycra below the navel. This panel avoids cutting horizontally below and into the belly and gives a generous amount of room for the belly to expand out. This results in increased breathing room as we tend to breathe with our diaphragm whilst exerting ourselves.
The solve the common fit issues with the straps, we patterned them to follow the curves of the lycra as opposed to horizontal add-ons seen in other shorts. The design intent was to create a mesh that hugs the body all around and remains like a skin-suit even when the user goes into the drops.
The first thing you’d notice about any RedWhite bibshort’s chamois is how plush it is.
