To create the highest performing racing bib shorts, we needed rethink the platform as a whole, and strip away any component that didn’t contribute to the primary objective of reaching that untapped level where speed and total comfort coalesce. Mission accomplished. Meet the Equipe RSR Bib Shorts S9.

In the harshest racing environments, we see the most advanced insert technology being only as good as the framework that supports it. Consider the abuse a pair of shorts goes through during an average day at the office for a World Tour rider: aggressive cornering, abrupt transitions between road surfaces, constant in-to-out-of-saddle pedaling, and hours of body repositioning. All of this greatly impacts the shorts’ composition and the way its insert functions, and ultimately the comfort both are able to provide.

To mitigate these effects, without tacking on weight, our first point to address for the RSR project was the textile itself. If we created a new material that delivered the perfect combination of compressive hold, durability, soft hand-feel, and the lowest weight possible, we’d be headed in the right direction. Our all-new Type.701kompressor answers the call—the successor to the lauded S7 Campionissimo kompressor—a complex woven textile that delivers on all fronts using ultrathin yarns with super-high elasticity, yielding a near-frictionless weave that provides you with incredible comfort and muscle support. In other words, Type.701 becomes your second skin, delivering phenomenal structural hold, breathability, and a silky smooth, uninterrupted wrap along the low back and thighs.

With the textile accounting for the first phase of A-Lock Engineering, our new bracing system comprising new technologies working together to stabilize the shorts and secure the insert in place, patterning came next. Whereas the S7 was constructed with four panels, the S9 generation incorporates just two, with a primary “butterfly” panel fully wrapping the legs and converging in the rear to form our new ergoBox structure. This design effectively frames the insert in place and provides you with an ultra-comfortable wrap that works in conjunction with Type.701 for the best clickFit we’ve ever produced. You’ll notice we’ve omitted the RS version’s rollBar, cutting a touch more weight and leaning on the textile’s holding properties to do the added stabilizing. The bib straps have also been redesigned using calibrated stretch throughout, with the rear section using a single section of elastic material—folded over on itself—forming an A-frame in the back. It delivers limited vertical stretch in order to add further stability. In the front, the straps are made of a more flexible material, with an antibacterial carbon weave, to wick moisture and lay flat.

For the insert, we focused on a single race-mission platform—evolved from our proven Equipe Evo—giving us the freedom to reassess what is most crucial to a streamlined, race-spec insert. We reduced the overall footprint to further shed weight, employed superAir microShock foam with 3D waffle, incorporated our kraterCooler system to increase airflow up front, and took additional measures to anchor the insert at the rear with our patented horizontal stabilizer. The result? Total ASSOS comfort you’ve come to know and trust, stabilized more than ever.