RRP: £99.99
Time tested: 24 months
From: www.silverfish.com
If there’s one thing I’m fully signed up to in MTB trends over the last few years, it’s riding packless. I rarely ride with a pack these days and with most rides being a couple of hours or so long, I don’t need to take much with me.
A couple of years back, I reviewed the 7idp Hydro bib, which at the time, I was pretty excited about. Hydration, pockets, protection…it promised a lot but ultimately failed.
Still looking for the ultimate in enduro (aka riding) bibs, I stumbled across a relatively unknown pair (at least, here in the UK), which are now my personal favourite bit of riding kit overall…the Yeti Enduro Bibs.
Yeti are known more for turquoise and race winning gravity bikes but they also churn out branded riding kit. The Enduro Bibs have been around for a few years with a few refinements along the way. I’ve no idea if the likes of Richie Rude or Jared Graves have had design input, but they are very well designed.
Construction wise, they are made from a lightweight mesh that fortunately, is not see-through. Sorry BDSM fans but you won’t be partying in these with your favourite choker and matching gimp mask 👺. The material is soft against the skin with enough stretch to fit snugly but without feeling like Richie Rude is personally giving you a wedgie. The mesh also means your body has room to breath and heat dissipation is very good, even on hot days. In the winter months, a base layer under the straps (with a windproof jacket on top) has been fine for the reasonably mild Cornish weather but works fine as part of a layering system in colder weather climates.
The chamois is of a high quality with a contoured fit foam pad and all firmly bonded to the mesh material. Unlike the Hydro Bib, this padding won’t be shuffling around your undercarriage like an stowaway flying into Heathrow.
For my slim build, the fit is great. They’re not too long, not too short, not baggy, not too tight. One thing I like, is the fairly low cut front which make pee stops easy, at least for blokes. I can’t say I’ve spent any time researching bib shorts for women but I’m hoping specific designs for women exist to help with this issue, otherwise it must be pretty tricky. Unfortunately therefore, as is often the case no doubt, these are probably designed more with men in mind and I don’t believe a women’s version exists.
Now to the storage bit. Around the back, there are three ‘XC jersey’ style elasticated pockets. They are reasonably deep – deep enough to hold a small pump or a banana in securely and stretchy enough to hold a small roll-up waterproof jacket (in my case, the Endura MT500 emergency jacket) without any worries. The three pockets ‘hang’ from the bib at the top of the pockets, which means they are free to lie outside of the waistband of your shorts.
Next to the rear pockets, to the right rear-quarter, is a very useful zip-up pocket. This one sits against your side and is ‘waterproof’. Don’t get it twisted though, we’re not talking about going for a post-ride swim with your super special four-camera-lensed smartphone type waterproof. More like waterproof enough to stop your sweaty-ass tampering with it’s innards. Oh, did I say smartphone? Yes, correct…the pocket is big enough to fit a decent size smartphone. My Google Pixel 3a (150 X 70mm) fits in perfectly and once in, feels comfortable against my body, is easy to get in and out for those quick Instabangers and means it’s reasonably well protected if you make an accidental dismount.
Finally, there are two other subtle pockets on the outer thighs, aimed at stashing some energy gels but anything smallish and flattish could also fit in there…a tenner for the pub after…Pokémon cards, a couple of Mini Cheddars. Whatever.
After 24 months of regular use, and multiple washes, they are still going strong. The chamois doesn’t feel like it’s compressed too much and certainly hasn’t broken down over time. The fabric and shape are still all good, no induced sagginess, no rips or tears, just a bit of material bobbling on the thighs where kneepads rub against them.
I’m massively pleased with the Yeti Enduro bibs and I really can’t fault them. For an ‘enduro bib’, some people may want to see some protection integrated, like the 7idp Hydro bibs or the Alpinestars Paragon bib, and that’s certainly something that would be good to have, but I wouldn’t mark it down for not having them. They do the job perfectly and don’t let the ‘enduro’ tag get in the way, these are great bibs for any type of riding (including ‘gravel’ riding).
The 2021 enduro bibs have since been released and whilst they have a new look, as far as I can tell from the description, there are no changes other than the cosmetics. That’s good in my opinion.
(As with everything, the RRP has gone up for the latest version but if you’re the right size, you can catch them cheaper than RRP by shopping around – e.g Silverfish 👍)
orena45blog - MTB Riding & Racing 