We're sure we're not the only ones to do this but we love Assos road bibs so much we often run them under our mountain bike baggies. We've grown so accustomed to the fit and comfort that nothing else quite cuts it. If it's more of an XC day than a trail day we'll forgo the baggy shorts but we fear that crashing will trash our beloved bibs so we're grateful that Assos now offers the XC Bib Short giving us an excellent chamois and cut with the added durability to stand up to off-road use. It tested the shorts with BMC MTB Racing Team helping to refine them into the tough lightweight and highly breathable shorts here. First up the short utilizes ripstop fabric on the side panels of the legs in the form of high abrasion resistant and breathable dyneRope material. It's a close-fitted woven fabric consisting of a black polyethylene weaving. Claimed to be the world's strongest fiber its 15-times stronger than steel while remaining extremely lightweight and able to wick moisture. Elsewhere it uses its Type. 429 Titanio fabric that's engineered with 4-way stretch so they easily move with you. Assos also took the opportunity to create a mountain bike-specific insert. Its positioned a tad more forward than on its road bibs and tuned for a slightly more upright mountain bike position and the increased body English required on steep switchback climbs. It uses a thick 10mm memory foam over an elastic insert to soak up the bumps over rough trails while reducing friction for increased comfort. The short benefits from Assos' goldenGate technology that interrupts the sewing in the area between the legs creating three-dimensional freedom of movement. Fewer seams mean reduced friction and more comfort. One of our favorite features of the s7 chamois is its perforated foam middle layer resulting in weight savings and increased breathability. The shorts also utilize its aeroPatterningFenomeno1 design that consists of a patent-pending single seam that sits on the rear of t...