Originally Posted by 79pmooney

I don't like them. I've bought one pair (of very nice Segois). My gripes - the obvious issues around toilet trips and the process taking far longer for #2 . Also big clothing changes on long days with big temperature changes often require more undressing.

Another issue - the effective suspender length. It needs to be right for the shorts to be (typically) >$100 comfortable. So they need to be tried on. And if you are like me and thrifty, you will find that the bibs stretch and no long have the suspender effect they had new.

Now, I grew my racing wings decades ago in the environment of the Boston racing scene where the local guru was John Allis; a great racer and one of the very first of the modern era to race in Europe. He was a huge proponent of suspenders. Now his were button-on to wool shorts with buttons. Real money. I raced cheap shorts and used clip-on suspenders. The first time I clipped on the suspenders, it was "wow!". I've been using them ever since. Now this was years before bibs took over. Bibs came and they were $10-15 more expensive and I already had the suspenders. 30 years later I am still saving $10-15 a pair and I get roughly 50 % more use out of them because suspender stretch isn't an issue. (Well it is, but the suspenders come with adjustment capability. And when they die, it's $20 or less for another pair that will outlast many pairs of shorts.

Ben