RDO LAB // Explorts 2.0 Arctic

Just in time for fall and winter, when very few people are able to wear shorts at all, we’re releasing our newest bibshort: The Explorts 2.0 Arctic.

Not following our logic on the timing of the release of these shorts? There is no logic. We’ve been wanting to do some development on printed shorts after taking a five year hiatus, and we’ve also been wanting to do some work on dialing in the on-piece lower pattern of our women’s-specific shorts, so we used the Arctic shorts as a development garment for both projects. Keep in mind: We develop our garments and patterns ourselves, from scratch. We’re just as curious about creating great riding garments as we are about making great bikes. We are a lab, after all.

The Arctic print pattern itself is a graphic abstraction of a pixelated, almost camouflage theme. Because we were able to really go into the design details of the design with a fully sublimated short, we had a lot of fun with the smaller visual details, and have experimented a lot on these shorts with less conventional placement of words, glyphs, and logos. The result is a unique short, unlike anything we’ve ever created, and something that points to more experimentation with garments in the future.

Our printable fabric is Italian made, and is just a bit more compressive than our standard Explorts 2.0 black shorts. The premium EIT chamois is the same as we use in all of our shorts, having proven itself in everything from hour long rides to work, to week long rides across countries, including being used by two of our factory riders in this year’s Tour Divide. We routinely get feedback stating that “these are the best bibshorts I’ve ever worn”, and we’re not making that up. We hear it regularly from riders who’ve been riding and trying various shorts for decades. We would gladly put Explorts up for consideration against any high end bibshort on the market.

For the Men’s bibshorts, you’ll find cut and features identical to our standard Explorts 2.0, with the one revision being that the bib straps themselves are updated with a newer fabric that performs better when sublimated. It’s still as comfortable as ever.

For the Women’s bibshorts, we’ve taken the design of the 1.2 shorts, but we’ve changed to a one piece lower construction, which eliminates the sewn on cuff and replaces it with a single piece of fabric. Silicone injected grippers hold the cuffs in place. A Women’s specific chamois is used. Women’s shorts also retain our quick release bib strap clips for easier on / off. Women’s shorts will begin shipping late November, as they had one more round of pattern revisions before production.