Altura Icon Men’s Cycling Bib Shorts review

Altura says its Icon Men’s Cycling Bib Shorts are designed for an optimal fit and comfort “that you trust and want to wear on every ride”.

The Elastic Interface Icon pad produced exclusively for these shorts is rated for rides of up to six hours.

In testing, the shorts performed well for their price point, but fell short of the six-hour comfort claim. Altura’s own Endurance Bib Shorts are significantly better and cost only £10 more.

Altura Icon Men’s Cycling Bib Shorts construction

The Icon bib shorts sit in the second tier of Altura’s range, alongside the gravel-oriented All Roads Cargo Men’s Cycling Shorts, also at £85 / €105, but below the Endurance Bib Shorts at £95 / €120.

Altura has focused solely on delivering comfort with the Icon shorts and doesn’t advise a specific temperature range.

The Icon Pad features Eco X-Tract Fabric, designed to quickly expel moisture, resulting in increased breathability.

Altura says larger-sized shorts use a denser foam in the pad to ensure a more comfortable riding experience, although having had both medium and large samples in for testing, I struggled to notice the difference between the pads.

A central channel is incorporated into the pad with indents for your sit bones either side, which Altura says is to relieve pressure and improve blood flow. The indents taper as they reach the front of the pad.

Altura has strategically placed Italian Miti carbon fabric in key areas “to draw toxins away from the skin for a fresh feel”.

The bib straps are designed for comfort to prevent chafing on the skin and there’s reflective detailing to ensure you're seen. Altura uses miniscule silicone grippers to keep the shorts in place on the leg.

The shorts are available in sizes S to 2XL, in black.

Altura Icon Men’s Cycling Bib Shorts performance

I’ve been testing the Icon shorts for a couple of months on a variety of short and long road and off-road rides.

The shorts have been paired with three saddles during testing – a Specialized Power Pro Elaston, a Fabric Scoop and a Van Rysel Sport 900.

The Icons have a very relaxed fit, offering light and gentle compression for muscle support.

The size large I predominantly tested was a little too relaxed for my 74kg build – I’d have appreciated tighter-fitting legs and there was some bagginess around the pad, which was also a complaint I levelled at the Endurance shorts.

In fact, the Icons are more generously sized than the Endurance shorts.

I also tried a size medium for a ride, but found the pad area to be too tight for comfort.

Fortunately, the bib straps kept a strong hold of the shorts when riding, but the upgraded wide and soft bib straps on the Endurance model are worth the extra £10 investment alone.

On five-hour Sunday club runs, the shorts were comfortable but unremarkable. I would start to feel the discomfort around the three-hour mark, or sooner on hillier escapades when I put more pressure through the shorts for climbing.

On my gravel test rides, the shorts damped vibrations nicely, but again, two to three hours would be about the comfort limit.

The chamois could do with being slightly thicker for improved comfort on longer rides and it’s one of the thinnest of the shorts I've tested. I’d also like to see an indent or more attention paid to the front of the pad to better support the crotch area, because the padding is very thin there.

Like the Endurance shorts, the Elastic Interface pad didn’t soften up after washing as I found it did on the dhb Aeron 2.0 and Van Rysel Road Cycling Bib Shorts Racer 2, which is a plus.

Moving to the legs, the side panels aren’t as cosseting as the Schoeller abrasion-resistant panels used on the Endurance shorts and I’d like to see more attention paid to the gripper.

I could see a noticeable gap between the gripper and my skin, where it would bunch over (this was also true of the tighter-fitting size-medium shorts).

It was also the only gripper on test that didn’t interact nicely with the knee and leg warmers I used on colder rides.

The Endurance shorts have a large silicone band underneath the dotted sections, which is ultimately more effective in keeping the shorts in place.

Where the Icons score points over their rivals though is with the intelligently placed seam locations. There’s sufficient clearance between the seam and pad on the Icons and I never felt them when riding, even after many hours.

A badly placed seam can ruin an otherwise good pair of shorts and it was one of the lessons I learnt testing budget cycling shorts last year.

It’s an area that plagued the Endura Pro SL EGM and Rapha Pro Team Training bib shorts, which were tested alongside the Icons and both retail for double the price.

Altura Icon Men’s Cycling Bib Shorts bottom line

The Altura Icon shorts are a good option from the British brand, with some pleasing details that kept me comfortable on most of my test rides.

For my particular build, an option between the size-medium and large tested would have suited me better. As ever, sizing is certainly worth paying attention to.

For £85 / €105, they hold their own against other bib shorts at this price point, even if they don’t achieve the claim they will be comfortable for rides of up to six hours.

However, for £10 more, the Altura Endurance shorts are where I’d part with my cash for the more comfortable chamois, bib straps and generally more luxurious construction.

And if your budget can stretch a little further, to £110, the Castelli Competiziones would be my recommendation.