Sportful Supergiara 2 cargo bib shorts review: tuned for off-road use, but pricey

The Sportful Supergiara 2 shorts were the most expensive of five pairs of cargo bib shorts I reviewed together. They’re targeted specifically at gravel riders, with abrasion-resistant side panels in contrasting colours and four pockets – two on the legs and two on the rear.

The shorts are made from an array of different fabrics, with thicker, coarser, more abrasion-resistant fabric on the outer side of the legs.

The legs are a little longer than those of the Rapha, Gobik and Van Rysel shorts I tested alongside them, although not quite as long as those of the Castelli Unlimited 2 shorts.

A softer fabric with a lot of stretch, thanks to its 30% elastane content, is used on the inner legs, while there’s 35% elastane in the raw-edged leg grippers, which have the usual array of silicone dots to keep them in place. None of the seams are flatlocked.

Sportful says its DMS seat pad is designed for gravel. It has ‘progressive density’ printed on it and feels quite structured internally, with creases in the pad surface to help it curve around your rear end.

There’s an array of ventilation holes visible through the soft surface layer and ‘fast drying tech’ printed along both side edges. It doesn’t feel quite as thick or dense as the pad in the Gobik shorts, but it's on a par with those in the Castelli and Rapha shorts I reviewed.

Sportful’s leg cargo pockets are made of a mesh fabric. They’re wide but not particularly deep, because the opening is cut at a slant. Nevertheless, items stayed in place well, thanks to an elastic hem at their top edge. 

My ride pack protruded from the pocket though, rather than being fully enclosed, so it felt as if there was a greater risk of it falling out, even if this never happened thanks to the pockets’ stretch. The cargo pockets would be a good place for smaller items, though. 

There are a further two mesh pockets in the base of the bibs’ rear yoke. As usual, I found the pockets in the bibs less useful, due to the difficulty of accessing them when riding, although they offer plenty of capacity and they’d be a good place to stash emergency gels for a longer ride.

The mesh section of the bibs’ yoke extends up to the shoulders, where it’s attached to wide straps that don't stretch sideways and have perforations to assist airflow. Sportful’s straps have a little less stretch lengthways than some, which helps keep the shorts in place well, without being uncomfortable. 

The Supergiara 2 shorts were the most compressive of the five pairs of cargo bib shorts I reviewed together. Probably thanks to the high elastane content, they didn’t feel restrictive and conformed well to different riding positions, and on- and off-bike use. 

The net result is that the seat pad is held in place without moving around. The pad is well designed, with plenty of shock absorption to insulate you from rougher off-road surfaces, despite not having the thickness or density of some other brands’ pads.

Sportful also sells the significantly cheaper Giara gravel bib shorts, which have fewer pockets, are made with less sophisticated fabrics and use the same Bodyfit Pro seat pad as Sportful sews into its mid-priced road shorts.

You can also purchase the Supergiara 2 unpadded overshorts if you prefer a more relaxed look.

Sportful Supergiara 2 bib shorts bottom line

The Sportful Supergiara 2 bib shorts offer a compressive fit and plenty of features for gravel riding, including abrasion resistant fabric in the outer legs.

Along with the quality seat pad, these help to justify the quite elevated price, although the cargo pockets don’t add a lot of carrying space.