Nine pairs of winter trousers rated for all-day comfort
Unless this is your first winter of mountain biking in the UK, you’ll have noticed that when the thermometer drops and all that wet stuff starts falling out of the sky, both trails and rider are likely to end up seriously damp, for months on end. Splashes coming up off tyres and precipitation falling from above can leave you cold and soaked, seriously impacting on your ability to have fun slipping and sliding around in the mud.
If you want to ride year-round, a decent pair of riding ‘pants’ (an Americanism that’s stuck, as it helps differentiate form-fitting, motocross-style legwear from shapeless hiking-type trousers) is one of the best investments you can make to keep you drier and more comfortable. All nine pairs here are designed to keep you warm, manage moisture from both sides of the fabric, and protect your legs and knee pads from the mud and spray that’ll inevitably build up (and is a pain to clean off). The best trousers allow you to stay outdoors for longer, and once you’re done, you can simply peel them off and hose them down, rather than traipse a load of mud indoors.
Riding pants have increased in popularity in recent years, with many UK mountain bikers now wearing them year-round to ward off scratches from vegetation and splashes from puddles. This means fit, function and design have vastly improved. No longer derived directly from MX pants or waterproof hiking gear, the best MTB trousers are now lighter, stretchier, better-fitting and more breathable than ever before.
Any rider who’s been out in a biblical downpour followed by sunshine will be well aware that the flipside of waterproofing is breathability. A great pair of winter riding pants has to deal with the heat a rider generates inside, which then condenses, to avoid the dreaded boil-in-a-bag effect cheap waterproofs can bring. Another thing to bear in mind is that, unless you ride like Sam Hill, you’ll likely have more crashes in winter because of the mud, so your gear needs to be able to handle rough conditions without falling apart.
The best trousers, therefore, keep you dry, fit great with no flapping (even when soaked) and manage heat build-up and sweat evaporation so you don’t get soaked from the inside out. Brands use a multitude of high-tech fabrics and strategically-placed features to achieve this, but which designs here cut the mustard when the conditions turn to treacle?
JARGON
SATURATED WEIGHT
Fabrics differ in how much weigh
