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Okay, so a while ago I was sent the Salva Gamba waterproof cycling trousers from 24Bottles. And, after checking out there website I discovered that these cost €69! That’s just over £50 – for waterproof trousers.
To me that seemed like madness, considering my previous pair of waterproof over trousers cost €10 from Decathlon and did a sterling job. But, when you start taking a closer look at what you get you start to see why the cost is a lot higher – not that I’m necessarily saying that I’d be rushing out to buy these at that price.
For starters, you’re not just getting trousers – actually you’re not even get trousers but I’ll come to that in a minute – you’re also getting a waterproof seat cover for your bike.
The seat cover acts as a nice little bag for the trousers which is useful after you’ve been riding in the rain so you’re not getting your other stuff in your bag wet.
So onto the ‘trousers’. Well, they’re actually single legged over-trousers. You get two pieces of extremely lightweight material with Velcro running down the side. These are then attached over your normal trousers, and the big benefit with this is that you can have them as snug as you want, so you won’t be flapping around in the wind and rain and you won’t get trapped in your chain or anything. There’s a couple of clips to hold them in place at the top, but they won’t actually cover your midriff, so you need to make sure that your jacket is sufficiently long enough to ensure you don’t arrive at your destination with a wet crotch – it’s not a good look!
As they’re attached with Velcro, it makes them extremely easy to pull off – stripper pants style – and pop them bag into your seat cover/bag, or leave them to dry out for a while.
In terms of specs, the Salva Gamba is made from 100% Polyamide and are 90cm in length – supposedly a one size fits all product. They are as waterproof as you can hope for (5000mm of water resistance), and the quality of the material is strong and lightweight, with a real high quality feel. There’s also two rear reflective stripes on each leg, to aid winter visibility.
Overall though, the question remains: are these – or any for that matter – waterproof trousers really worth over £50? It’s hard to justify in my opinion, but the concept is a good one nonetheless.
COMPETITION TIME: We have one pair of the 24Bottles Salva Gamba waterproof trousers to give away! Simply complete the form below this post for your chance to win! Competition closes on Friday 13th November 2015.
