Get your breeks on

Any man with an inquiring mind and frayed inner right pant leg will eventually come up against plus fours or breeks. These well-tailored, woollen, roughly three-quarter length trousers would seem to offer much in terms of comfort and undercarriage utility to the touring cyclist.

It was thus that a pair of Bavarian breeks was delivered unto my person. First impressions: these breeks are startlingly capacious in the seat. I'm not sure if this is because mine are too big or whether they are designed to be particularly low-slung. They feel hefty and warm. They're well-engineered, with an almost excessive number of belt loops. There would be little chance of equipment failure wearing these pants.

Are they really suited to the bicycle? Eminently so, it would seem, even if one would feel equally at ease while thus attired manipulating the controls of a zeppelin or Fokker Dr.1. They are that sort of pant.


I'll test them more thoroughly, with appropriately stripey socks, in forthcoming weeks.