Specialized Women’s Prime Bib Shorts review

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The Prime Bib Shorts top out Specialized’s women's bib shorts range at a price that's competitive with their rivals.

Elements such as the high-quality chamois and pee-friendly design are up there with the best women's bib shorts.

However, their overall performance is let down by the tight elasticated leg grippers.

Specialized Women’s Prime Bib Shorts specifications

Specialized’s pee-break friendly design is called the HookUP, with a magnetic clasp attached to the back of the bibs, like those from Dutch brand IRIS. To lower the bibs, you need to detach the clasp and pass the bib straps over your head.

The straps themselves are a wide, stretchy microfibre, like those found on Velocio bib shorts, and attach to contoured waist panels.

The legs of the Prime bibs are secured by a combination of a 4.5cm-wide elastic hem and a backing of silicone strips.

The women’s-specific chamois has been developed with Elastic Interface, and features a multi-density design and ventilation channels.

Considering they're Specialized's premium bib shorts, the Primes are priced competitively at £130, sitting between mid-budget choices such as the Rapha Core (£110) and Pearl Izumi Attack (£148.50).

Specialized Women’s Prime Bib Shorts performance

There are so many great elements of the Specialized Women’s Prime bibs. The soft, matt black material is soft against the skin and offers a good level of compression without feeling restrictive.

The waist panel has obviously been well thought-through. It sculpts supportively around the middle in a way that’s all too often neglected in other women’s bib shorts, which can pinch around the middle.

The easy-pee function works well, so long as you have decent shoulder dexterity to reattach the clasp after you go.

The chamois is also excellent; a soft and subtly shaped Elastic Interface offering with a ventilated cover that looks much like those used in the Velocio Women's Luxe bib shorts.

This all sounds wonderful, so what’s the hitch? When it came to the legs, the Prime bibs really let me down.

Most premium, range-topping bib shorts now feature raw leg hems, backed by a pattern of silicone grippers, which I (and many others) get on with for their smooth and comfortable finish.

These, however, use the traditional wide elasticated band to hem the legs.

Though the medium bib shorts fitted my UK size-12 frame perfectly everywhere else, the grippers clamped in around my thighs to give a significant sausage-leg effect.

This was accentuated by the fact that the legs are a little shorter than most, although they're not as short as the Pearl Izumi Women’s Attack Air Bibs. They pinched in further up my thigh at an even meatier point.

This might not be such an issue for some, but the problem was worse than with any of the other bib shorts I tested them alongside.

The Prime bibs are competitively priced for a range-topping offering, and while let down by the leg grippers, they offer good value when it comes to the build quality and chamois – it’s just a shame about the legs.

Specialized Women’s Prime Bib Shorts bottom line

It’s a real mixed bag for these bib shorts, which felt fantastic in many ways but were let down by the elastic leg grippers.

If that feature could be resolved, these would warrant a much higher score.