Santini Unico women’s shorts review

Santini says its Unico bib shorts are designed to provide a 'second-skin' feel and I’m inclined to agree.

These women's bib shorts are so comfortable, it’s easy to forget they’re there.

Most importantly, they do the job the best bib shorts are designed to do, incredibly well. There are no unnecessary bells and whistles that might get in the way of that fundamental purpose.

Santini Unico women’s shorts specifications and details

Designed for long-distance road riding, all aspects of these shorts have been optimised for rider comfort.

The shorts are made from a lightweight Italian microfibre, in a near-seamless construction.

The upper is made of a lightweight mesh panel to the front and a high-cut continuation of the short fabric to the rear.

Santini’s range-topping C3W chamois pad is in-built. It has shock-absorbing gel inserts aligned to the pressure points on the ischium (your sit bones), and an ergonomic shape with reduced bulk in the front of the pad.

This minimises compression of soft tissues, while maintaining support and cushioning for the weight-bearing regions of your seat.

Santini Unico women’s shorts performance

These shorts are set apart from many others by the approach to the bib upper – there’s a lightweight mesh panel in lieu of traditional straps.

I found this very comfortable for riding in. The design holds the pad firmly in place, while feeling soft and snug against the skin.

Despite the extra material (compared to bibs with traditional straps), I found these bib shorts great in hot weather and during harder efforts. They’re said to be suitable for temperatures up to 35ºC and certainly performed well in the early UK summer conditions I tested them in.

They wick away sweat well when riding on the turbo trainer too.

My only concern with the upper is the fabric feels a little more fragile due to the lightweight mesh construction – it seems as though the design might be more prone to losing its stretch over time. However, the early indications are it's holding up well.

The legs of the shorts are laser cut, with no gripper band or silicone feature to hold them in place.

This meant they were a little more mobile when riding. After several rides and washes, the shorts began to ride a little higher on the leg, but the difference was marginal – they were still a good length and very comfortable.

It’s also great to see this kit available in a wide range of sizes, with the shorts ranging from XXS up to 4XL.

I measured as a medium in the size guide for these shorts, which fitted well. I’m usually a UK10, which means the 4XL should correspond to sizes around UK18-20, providing for a greater range of cyclists.

That said, Santini’s website size guide curiously only spans up to size 2XL, so it would be useful to see size details encompassing the full range.

One minor grievance I had was concerning the reflective detail. While very stylish in its rainbow-like luminescence, it’s positioned on the outer of the right leg.

This places it on the outside of the rider in the UK, but facing the edge of the road if riding in most European countries – perhaps fitting it to both legs would have been more appropriate.

It would also have been good to see another reflective detail that could be picked up by vehicles approaching from behind when riding at night or in fading light.

The other small issue was some minor bobbling starting to appear around pressure points where the shorts make contact with the side of the saddle.

It’s possible this is a characteristic of the fine Italian microfibre material the shorts are made from, but I’m concerned they could wear through.

Santini Unico women’s shorts bottom line

These are exceptionally comfortable, beautifully made bib shorts, performing well in hot weather and offering a different (but successful) approach to the bib upper.

The bobbling of the fabric and the position of the reflective detail are small niggles.

Aside from those concerns, these shorts are hard to fault. The chamois is superbly comfortable, the fabrics feel great and the near-seamless construction makes it easy to forget the shorts are there at all.