Endura Snappers
Price: £39.99
www.endura.co.uk

Endura have built up a legendary reputation for bombproof cycling garments designed to withstand the rigours of their native Scottish environment. We’re still wearing shorts that we’ve had for five years and when you take into account their keen pricing, it’s no wonder they’re more popular than deep fried Mars bars.

Style
A happy medium in terms of bagginess. Loose enough to keep your modesty, but not so baggy they flap or catch on saddles too much. Contrast double stitching keeps them trendy and the chammy isn’t obvious when you’re off the bike. Small Endura logos let folk know what you’re wearing and handy webbing pull tabs are fitted to pocket flaps, side adjusters and zips where neccesary.

Cut + construction
The Snappers use a multi-panel outer shell complete with a curved crotch / inner leg panel to keep your seating seam free. Length is mid-thigh when standing and the right side of “hot pants” when pedalling. If there’s too much flap the elasticated drawstrings on the leg take up the slack. Single rather than double handed cord lock would be useful though.

The inner liner is an ultra fine lightweight stretch cloth which keeps you cool but can leave your eggs feeling more free-range than other shorts. The lack of leg grippers means easy access / exit for pee stops (the fly panel is false) but again means more tackle rattle than others we’ve tested. The seamless Coolmax pad means minimum chafe and sweat as well as a fair degree of padding for longer rides.

A broad, lightly elasticated waistband maintains ride height with Velcro expander straps on each side to cope with the mid-ride café stop. Nice high back means no cleavage exposure either.

Fabric
The Snappers use a lightweight nylon shell fabric with an ultra-light liner. The result is a very light, fast-drying pair of shorts that are still tough enough to handle big crashes without scuffing.

Sizing
Our medium size test pair were bang on for fit

While other shorts try to look all butch with swaggering cargo pockets, the Snappers keep their storage slimline. There are two deep hand pockets at the front, one with a zipped inner pocket for keys and change while the two huge cheek pockets will each swallow a laminated OS map. Handy for sitting on rocks but not so easy to ride with.

Special features
Nowt really, just good lightweight shorts.

The Snappers are more obviously baggies than some shorts, with the loose, lightweight fabric allowing more movement than shorts like the Nemas and Alturas. Some testers felt a bit too unfettered for comfort but the majority of the others thought the shorts were fantastic and were happy riding in them on full-day epics.

Well priced, light, cool and long lasting, with plenty of storage that mostly works OK on the bike. Not everyone loved them but the vast majority would certainly “Snapp” up another pair.