Review: Pearl Izumi Women's Symphony Short
Thanks to Zoom-Zoom's recommendation, I bit the bullet and bought new bike shorts.
I have this in Medium.
When I first got it, the first thing I noticed was the chamois was a little bit thicker than my other ones, but that's alright because I'm planning on wearing this for LONG rides and my first century.
Just wanted to shout out a mini-review.
I love this short!!
Shorts that I'm comparing PI Symphony to is:
Sugoi 2010 Mid range style, RC Pro Chamois (I don't know the style).
Bontrager RL WSD Short (I won this from a raffle).
First thing first - I was really nervous about the leg grippers. I bought a PI short two years ago, and I absolutely HATED the leg grippers. I could FEEL the plastic threading, and it felt like my legs were in a vise. My cycling friends tells me to "flip them up". Uh, no. It makes my legs looks really like an overstuffed sausage!! I'm not thin, and I have jiggly thunder thighs that I'm hoping will be toned up with more cycling and running. So...I was wary of PI for a long while.
I needed new shorts because I was putting in more days, and I only had one short that felt good, but not 100% perfect for 30+ miles.
Bought it and received my shorts. Saw the leg grippers and the stupid plastic threads were GONE! There are Silcone dots instead.
Put it on, and I immediately felt comfortable. It's a little more stretchy than my other shorts, so it's definitely not compression style. It's nice and long, and covers up my quads pretty good (short legs, so they come down a little further than most people). The leg grippers is SLIGHTLY tightish, and my legs does show a little "sausage", but not any worse than my others and certainly better than the first PI I tried. It was better looking on me than the Bontrager.
Chamois is soft to the touch, and not so overly designed like the more higher priced Sugoi's shorts with 3D chamois and various thickness in different areas. There is very little "indentations canals" (whatever they're called) on the PI. There's a LOT on the Sugoi - which I didn't like much because there is one that cuts across the top part and I can feel it from my hoo-ha if I'm in it for a longer period of time. The butt area chamois is thinner than the Sugoi, but thicker than Bontrager. It feels soft when I squeeze it. The Bontrager feels like foam than a chamois, BUT, I like the Bontrager's shape. It reminds me of a tri short's chamois, just slightly thicker. It's ONE flat panel. The center area that your hoo-ha is on, is the widest of the three. I like it. The Sugoi, second widest. The PI, the narrowest. So if you have a wider hoo-ha area, you may feel uncomfortable. I felt the sit bone area on the PI is wider than the Sugoi but slightly narrower than the Bontrager.
The belly area is really comfortable, which I'm surprised about. There's no drawstring, which can turn off some people. My Sugoi had the draw string. Bontrager didn't. After a 30 miles in the Bontrager, I wanted it OFF...it felt like it was digging in my waist. Sugoi, I can just loosen it up. PI - perfect. The only thing that I really hate is the band area is wide, but the elastic itself is half that size. It does get ANNOYING when you put it on and the elastic is flipped in/twisted. You know, like those cheap pajamas pants where the elastic band gets twisted, and you can't do anything about it? It would make sense to have the elastic to be a little thicker or reduce the size of the band area. That's the only thing that I hate about this short. If you have flat abs, then it won't be an issue, but if you have some rolls (admit it, some of us do...), that will overflow that area, and the band will get lost in there....the elastic band can also get flipped/twisted that way. I only notice this after riding, when I'm putting it on/off. Never during riding. I never felt constricted like I do with the other two shorts (even though Sugoi has drawstring, it still feels a little tight).
The In-R-Cool WORKS! I live in Vegas, so I naturally get HOT...never felt like my shorts made me hot...it was always my cycling clothes. I do get sweaty, but never HOT. Nice plus! I'm thinking about buying a Jersey or a shirt (I never use the rear pockets...so why can't I just cycle in a tech shirt?) with In-R-Cool fabric.
When I take it off, I can see the cool dot shapes on my legs, but it goes away after a while. The fabric is stretchy, so it may feel like it's slightly loose. I think if you have "normal" looking legs and strong legs, I would size down. I think I could wear a Small, but the waist band may be too tight for me.
There you go...my review. IF you want to see up close photos of what I'm talking about (all three shorts chamois, leg grippers, and waist area), just let me know. I know if I was shopping for shorts, those things are what I'm looking at, especially if I'm online shopping. Very rarely or never see any pictures of the chamois or leg grippers.
(ps - sorry for so long....if you read the whole thing, you're my hero. I apologize for any grammar/misspellings...just ignore them.)
