Vulpine Men’s City Chinos

The Vulpine City Chinos are well made, with some good cycling-specific features, but while they're comfortable to wear off the bike, the lack of belt loops is a real oversight for when you're riding.

I've started wearing more casual trousers on my cycle to work, and after testing Vulpine's Omnia cycling jeans and being impressed, I was keen to see how the chinos would compare.

> Buy these online here

First off, they look good and fit well – a pair of trousers that I can quite comfortably wear around the office or out at the pub. They have cycling-specific features but these have been well integrated and are very discreet.

For instance, they have a 'diamond gusset' construction, which basically means you don't have four seams all meeting at a point that could become uncomfortable on the bike. Instead, this diamond-shaped panel covers the inside of your thigh and across the perineum. It makes it much more comfortable than a set of regular trousers when riding.

The chinos are made from a mix of PET polyester (41%), organic cotton (33%), recycled PET (22%) and elastane (4%), with a DWR coating. They have a good amount of stretch, and although I didn't test these out in torrential rain, I used them on fairly drizzly days and the DWR coating worked well, with water beading off impressively.

The stretch in the fabric enables more freedom of movement in these compared with non-cycling chinos, so you aren't restricted in your pedal stroke, and getting your leg over even the most horizontal of top tubes is easy.

While there are several impressive features to these chinos, there is one element that I've found problematic – they don't have any belt loops. Instead, they have the kind of fastening that you often find on more formal trousers – an adjustable elasticated strip at the back allowing you to adjust the waist. The issue with this for cycling is that the hold is simply not strong enough compared with a belt, so there were several times when I found the trousers slipping down, so much so that I chose to only wear them over the top of bib shorts.

I contacted Vulpine to ask about the lack of belt loops, and was told it had been done for comfort: 'We installed waist adjusters instead. This is so you shouldn't need a belt. Hopefully makes it more comfortable when you're on the bike by not having a large belt buckle.'

To an extent I'd agree – a belt buckle can be uncomfortable – but the trouble here is you get three set widths rather than the waist being fully adjustable, so unless you're exactly the right size the chinos don't stay up. Add to that, a waist adjuster doesn't offer anything like the 'stay up' power of a belt, so even if it fitted perfectly it would still not hold as well.

At £100 (currently discounted to £50) they seem on a par with or even better value than Pearl Izumi's Rove Trousers (£99.99) and Rapha's Technical Trousers (£110), as neither have the same kind of weatherproofing. However, both of those have belt loops.

> Buyer’s Guide: The best casual cycling commuter wear

Overall, I'm left with mixed feelings about these chinos. Off the bike they're great, and the cycling-specific features work well while being subtle enough that you would hardly notice them. However, the lack of belt loops means they aren't so good for use on the bike.

Verdict

Good off the bike, but without belt loops they can slip down when riding