Sell an arm: Assos debuts $550 Mille GTO winter bib tights with crash protection
Sell an arm: Assos debuts $550 Mille GTO winter bib tights with crash protection
Assos has announced its new Mille GT GTO C2 winter bib-tights, and in traditional Assos style, they look fantastic but cost an arm and a leg.
At $550 (£390/ €450 / AU$820, probably not an essential garment in Australia), the Mille GT GTO C2 adds the cost of a normal set of bib tights to the already pricy Equipe RS tights Assos launched last year, which are $439. “Why are they so expensive,” you ask? Well, Assos says the new tights feature its “plushest insert, low volume insulation, and targeted protection” all of which combine to “set a new standard for winter’s toughest conditions”.
The bibs lean heavily on the same technology and design Assos incorporated into its new Mille GTO C2 bib shorts, as reviewed by yours truly back in July, but with much more insulation than those summer bibs. That means the same Mille GTO C2 pad and a host of fabulously named Assos design features such as the Kukupenthouse, Goldengate side panels, Sundeck Superlight, 3D Waffle, and those external bibs Assos calls the Rollbar.
But what is the “targeted protection” that Assos says sets these bibs apart from anything else as the “first protection-orientated winter bib tights”?
That targeted protection isn’t referring to any protection from winter conditions, although there is presumably plenty of that, rather targeted impact protection. The new tights feature Assos “Impactor” TPU pads built into the tights to protect the hips from impacts and abrasion in a crash. Assos says these removable pads are flexible and breathable for a frictionless and comfortable layer of abrasion resistance and impact protection. One quick Google search gives me a quote of £11,838 for a hip replacement, with that in mind perhaps the £390 for these tights looks like quite a sound investment. I hereby call on health services globally to conduct a thorough cost-benefit analysis of providing cyclists globally with a free pair of the new Assos tights.
Assos has finished the tights with the same Geoprene waterproof protection on the ankles and shins as seen on the Equipe RS bibs. Geoprene is said to be lighter, warmer, more durable, and more water-impermeable than neoprene. Win, win, win, win? Geoprene was developed by Japanese Neoprene manufacturers Yamamoto and is manufactured using limestone rather than oil as is used in Neoprene, with some suggesting this also makes Geoprene the more environmentally friendly option, although that claim is more hotly debated.
The Mille GT GTO C2 winter bib tights are available now in two colour options; BlackSeries and Flamme D’Or. Both options feature entirely black tights from ankle to waist, with the only noticeable difference being the grey or gold stitching on those external “Rollbar” bibs.
A pair of the new bibs currently sits somewhere between Switzerland and Ireland on their way to me for a winter weather riding review. Heading out in the cold and wet to test these tights winter protection is dedication enough, so don’t hold your breath on a full review of the Mille tights impact protection.
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