• Sugoi Bully Radial shorts
• £76
• Sugoi
• 00 800 4321 3350 (toll-free)

Ah, baggy shorts. While the Lycra vs. baggy issue threatens to become a holy war to join flats vs. SPDs, GripShift vs. RapidFire and hardtail vs. suspension, we freely admit to being fans of both. You can’t beat Lycra for comfort and feeling fast, but similarly for chilling out, feeling a bit freeridey, stopping at pubs and the like, baggies are king. Plus in these summer months there’s the always-welcome gentle breeze up your legs.

So, baggies good. And in the baggy firmament, Sugoi’s Bully Radials are very good indeed. They’re handily unlined, but come with a separate Ricaro Boxer padded liner. Which means that the Radials can be worn over any other padded undergarments you may favour, or indeed just as they are for hanging around. It’s a role they fulfil very well – we’ve been practically living in these for months.

What you really want to know, though, is how well they perform for riding. Again, they’re splendid. The fit is generous but they never feel over-flappy, there’s a broad waistband with effective adjustable bits at the sides and the cut is very well thought out. There’s what the catalogue describes as a “seamless crotch gusset”, which means that the piece inside your legs is all one bit of fabric running up one leg, under your bits and down the other. No seams, no chafing, bliss.

Fabric is Sugoi’s Bully nylon, which has proved hardwearing so far. A cunning feature is the Technifine panel, a stretchy bit that runs up the outside of each leg and across the back of the waist and makes the shorts comfy when you’re leant forward on a bike without ending up with a load of loose material when you’re off it.

Features are minimal, with a couple of deep side pockets and a Velcro-tabbed cargo pocket. No leg drawcords, zippers (even the fly is Velcro…) or superfluous anything, and we didn’t miss any of it except that the cargo pocket tends to eject objects if you sit in a car seat…

Verdict
The Bully Radials are just great. They’ve got all you need and nothing you don’t and they’re hardwearing but lightweight. We like them a lot, but the price is somewhat on the hefty side.

Performance: 5/5
Value: 3/5
Overall: 4/5