Review: Pearl Izumi PRO Leader Kit

When it comes to reviews of clothing it is always a highly personal matter, especially with road kit it seems. In Tyler’s recent review of the Icebreaker Wool cycling gear, he notes that he prefers shorter shorts, where as I prefer longer. Then of course there is the general fit of the clothing, as we all have different body types. To further complicate matters, the Pearl Izumi P.R.O. Leader bib shorts are their top of the line gear, so of course they are supposed to be good.

They are good. Really, really good, in fact. For me, they’re almost perfect. Find out what that means after the break.

As clothing is so personal, it’s hard for me to talk about fit without revealing a little personal information first. I’m fairly short at 5’8″ with a ~29″ inseam, and am usually in a medium kit, so both the medium short and jersey fit perfectly. Admittedly, when I first received the kit I had gone through some stuff, and I had put one some weight. Even at 165+ there was still a roomy fit, which is at least in my experience, rare for such high end gear. Now that I’m finally getting back to riding shape and back down to 150 lbs the kit still fits great – something I attribute to its insane amount of stretch which also adds to the ridiculous level of comfort. Seriously, it’s like being swaddled by a cloud. Especially on the legs, which is an area I always have fit and comfort issues.

Let’s just put this out there: I am not a fan of elastic grippers. Every short I have that has those evil, uncomfortable strips, I find myself grabbing the elastic with both hands and stretching it until it starts to break. Then it’s sort of comfortable. Almost. Of course, the problem with that is that once you stretch it that far they tend not to stay in place very well. Which is exactly why I love the “grippers” on the PI P.R.O. leader bib shorts. Instead of a continuous line of silicone the leader bibs only have a few small diamond shaped gripper spots coupled with an extra stretchy compression cuff. That means you aren’t reminded you’re wearing cycling shorts for the entire ride, and at the end of the ride you aren’t left with crazy lines dug into your legs. An added bonus for me is that this design doesn’t rip your leg hairs out, if you’re not into that whole shaving thing. Now, before you go all Velominati on me,  just know that I have tried it, and get terrible ingrown hairs – therefore I don’t shave.

As far as I’m concerned it’s the most comfortable gripper system I have come across, and the stand out feature of the entire kit.

Based on Tyler’s review of the Icebreaker kit, I don’t think he would like the length of the Leader shorts, but I love it. The leg of the short terminates just above my kneecap, which I like. Most shorts for me are an ok length, but these are ideal. If the shorts had a traditional gripper, I think I would be saying they were too long, but the compression cuff makes the length perfectly comfortable.

That of course leaves the chamois, and overall fit, which are both excellent. With a lot of bibs, I tend to feel cramped – like the straps are too short, but not with these. Combine all of the previous mentions with Pearl Izumi’s excellent 4D chamois and you have  one hell of a bib short. While the jersey is also very good, the bib shorts are the real winner here. A comfortable jersey is important, but it just doesn’t have the potential to ruin a ride like a bad pair of shorts do. Fortunately, in this case Pearl Izumi nailed it.

The matching P.R.O. Leader jersey has a ton of features that you would expect to find on a high end jersey, and a few surprises as well. More than just a prominent design feature, Pearl Izumi claims the sublimated X form on the back of jersey functions as additional support for loaded jersey pockets. While wearing the jersey you don’t really notice anything different, but upon returning to some other jerseys of mine, it felt like the backs of those jerseys were sagging to the floor. So it seems to actually work with my usual pocket loads of Gu’s, iPhone, tube, and whatever else I’m carrying.

If you happen to carry a cell phone, or MP3 player for that matter, there is a smart little sweat proof pocket built into the middle pocket on the back of the jersey. It’s big enough to fit an iPhone with a Speck case, so it should fit most devices. Just above it, you will also find a tiny slit in the jersey to route the headphones up, underneath the jersey. Even with a phone in the pocket, there is still plenty of room in the outside pocket for anything else you need to stash. While electronics pocket is definitely not water proof, it does a good job keeping your phone dry from sweat.

Thanks to both the short and jersey’s In-R-Cool treatment, the largely black kit remains very tolerable, even on blistering days in the saddle. The Coldblack technology really seems to work, which is good because I like black. Overall the fit of the jersey is great, especially when in riding position. The jersey has a bit of a droptail design, which along with a silicon gripper on the hem, keeps it in place and keeps you from flashing your ride mates.

The only bit of caution towards the jersey is that it doesn’t seem to be dryer friendlyl. I have always been leery of putting cycling clothes in the dryer, but I’ve always been told that a quick blast in the dryer helps refresh the qualities of the fabric. Even so, I only put it in the dryer for 10 minutes or less, and on low heat. Though when I removed it from the dryer this last time, two parts of the sublimated graphics had stuck together and while I was able to get them apart without harm, I don’t think that would have been the case if I left it in much longer.

That brings us to the price. At $220 for the bib shorts and $200 for the jersey, these are certainly up there in price. However, when you compare them to other ultra high end cycling gear they are actually at the low end of the price spectrum. When it comes down to it, for me the bib shorts are worth every penny. Hell, I’m thinking I may buy another pair because I like them that much. The jersey is really nice, and awesomely comfortable, but if you’re on a budget I would get the shorts and opt for a less expensive top.