• Gore Bike Wear Path shorts
• £90
• www.gorebikewear.com

Yes, you’re reading that right, this is a ninety quid pair of baggy shorts. Frightening though that sounds, it’s not an unprecedented amount of money. After all, you can pay more than that for a pair of Lycra bibs. It’s still a fair chunk of cash, though – can it be worth it?

First impressions are good. Gore isn’t a brand that’s traditionally been associated with cool designs, but the Path shorts are very contemporary. If you don’t go for the blue/grey colour scheme shown here, they’re also available in black or black/beige (which we haven’t seen but suspect is better than it sounds).

The Path shorts follow our favourite format of a baggy outer short and a detachable Lycra inner. Some inner shorts lend themselves to use on their own if you’re so inclined, but the Path inner is quite extensively ventilated with mesh panels – draw your own conclusions.

It’s fixed to the outer short with tapes and press-studs, which makes it easily removable and also means that the two parts of the garment can move independently for the best fit. Obviously you can use the outer over any inner short you fancy, although unless it’s got the requisite loops on it you won’t be able to fasten it in.

The outer shorts have all of our desirable features. There’s a proper zip fly and the waistband is adjustable with a pair of Velcro tabs at the sides. The range of pockets is generous without being bewildering. Each leg has a zippered side pocket and a Velcro’d cargo pocket, while there’s a single zippered pocket at centre back. The other zips on the front reveal long mesh vents that run nearly the whole length of the leg.

Three different fabrics are used in the Path outer shorts. They’re mostly the usual “shorts stuff”, but with the addition of stretch panels at front and back and a heavy-duty reinforced seat. This is actually quite abrasive, to the extent that it likes to grip your saddle. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends largely on your saddle and your riding style – we didn’t find it particularly objectionable, certainly less so than wearing through the seat of the shorts.

Positives: Comfy, versatile, look good, well ventilated, hard wearing

Negatives: Pricey

Verdict

So, £90 for a pair of shorts – worth it? Amazingly enough, we’re going to have to conclude “yes”, albeit in a kind of “yes, if you’ve got the money, but possibly not worth the extra saving effort if you haven’t”. We like the Paths a lot – they’re comfy, they look good and they’re proving durable so far. And given that you can spend just as much on a pair of Lycra shorts and you get the outers too, they can’t be bad value.

Performance: 5/5
Value: 4/5
Overall: 5/5