If Mark Tatulli’s Lio is right and this means there are bikes in hell, my afterlife is looking up. On the downside, I’d prefer bibs to shorts.
Speaking of Hell and Bike Bibs…
This weekend, I wore through the Pearl Izumi Slice UltraSensor Bib Shorts that I just bought last month. With just five outings and 153 miles on them, these should not have worn out.
By the end of my short ride Saturday, the insides of my thighs had been rubbed raw where the fabric developed holes. I’m still walking funny today. Ouch!
It is a good thing Mark Cavendish wasn’t wearing this bib on his winning 232-kilometer trek from Cholet to Châteauroux in the Tour de France. He may not have made it across the finish line before his crotch fell out.
The last bib I had was worn for two years and nearly 1,100 miles. I’m hoping this was just a spurious anomaly in the Pearl Izumi manufacturing process. My experience with Pearl Izumi has been good and their bike clothes have held up very well. So, I’m going to take another swing at this bib — for the few miles I did wear them, they worked very well.
Fortunately, Performance Bike has a great, 100% satisfaction return policy. So, I’m going to send these back and pick up a new pair. I’ll let you know how the next pair works out for me.
If the second Pearl Izumi pair fails as quickly, I’m going to give the Performance Bike branded line of shorts (Ken’s bike bib review) another look.
—Matt
IF they just wore through and the seams were poor or the material was defective. Return them to pearl on warranty and they should replace them as long as it wasnt from a fall or misuse.
I returned the Pearl Izumi bib shorts to Performance Bike the first week of August 2008 and didn’t get a replacement pair until April 2009. Yes, it really took nine months to get a replacement pair of shorts from Performance Bike.
At first, Performance Bike said they hadn’t received the shorts. Then they had received the bike shorts but they were out of stock and they would send a replacement as soon as they were in stock.
Then I called (months later when I saw on their web site that the shorts were available) and they said they hadn’t received the shorts and requested I send a tracking number. The USPS delivery confirmation number had expired because it had been more than six months since I mailed them to Performance Bike.
It was all very frustrating and I’m still not sure if I’ll do business with Performance Bike again.
The Pearl Izumi Bib Shorts
On the plus side, I have put a couple hundred or so miles on the replacement bib shorts and they are holding up nicely. So, I can’t blame Pearl Izumi for the problems, just Performance Bike.
Cheers,
Matt
Is this a common occurrence? I have noticed of late that my expensive pair of winter AmFib tights has a hole under what would be where my left buttocks meets my left thigh. First I thought I had caught them on something, but then I noticed a pair of the shorts I have had for some time has a wear spot in the same location, as does a pair of looser, thinner bike pants. Can it be the seat I ride on, the way I ride, natural wear or all of the above? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I’ve found recent Pearl shorts quite lacking in the quality department. I dunno if they’;ve switched to different manufacturing processes or differnnt materials but they just don’t last as long on trails now.