I will chime in on the design, build quality and comfort/performance of nearly all Assos products. If you shop the sales that are often shown by Assos, it helps to pay 30% less, but of course not all of their product line is at discount. As we used to say regarding tools, buy the best and cry once. I have never been disappointed with anything from Assos - shorts, jerseys, base layers, gloves, hats, sun glasses, and recently their MET Assos helmet. And the stuff lasts forever, mostly.

I also have a number of Rapha products, cargo bib tights and shorts and yes, the external pockets are very nice. I have not had the same good experience with all of their product line, whereas I have with Assos. In particular, on three different Rapha jackets and jerseys, the zipper has failed (it is a YKK). Often it as after the 12 month warranty period and Rapha would not repair or replace the item, but offered me a discount on a new replacement, but only after I complained to a supervisor. For a wind front jacket that was now reduced in price to about 170 Euro, I felt burned. I bought it last year and used it for part of the winter, then pulled it out this year for winter and it was perhaps 14 months after initial purchase (directly from Rapha), so outside of their 12 month window.

For what it is worth, I have returned stuff to Pearl Izumi for warranty repair, sometimes when the jersey or jacket or other is a number of years old (5 or more in some instances). No questions from them; they either repaired the item or replaced it.

Castelli are also very good with customer support.

My worst experience has been with Gore Wear cycling products. I had two pair of gloves fail with stitching coming undone, the palms wearing off, etc. I could not return the product to the shop where I purchased it because they were no longer in business. After months of writing to Gore, they told me, sorry, not our problem since you bought them from a retailer. I will never own another Gore product regardless of sale prices that I may see on 2nd party web pages, such as Bike24. Just send the customer the same or similar product and say 'sorry that your experience was not good with our product(s), try these and we hope you are satisfied.' Again this builds brand loyalty and cost the company very little and in return they will get free advertising and I would always promote them to others in the cycling community.

Customer support is where it is at, and when a company does not support their consumers, particularly with premium priced products from Rapha or Gore, they loose consumer loyalty and hell, customer support even if the company or vendor feel that the customer are wrong, is the best form of advertising that a company can make. Hence I will buy products from other companies who support us - the consumer - and never Gore, and seldom Rapha. Yea, I like Rapha stuff and it is stylish, but it is pricey and their return policy has burned me on three occasions. ok, off my soap box...