Not designed as winter specific tights, a pre-dawn commute at 0C brought a bit of a chill, but far from uncomfortable. When the mercury dropped -4C a pair of compression tights, used as a base-layer, made things quite comfortable. Thicker base-layers worked, too, but felt a bit too chunky – maybe I should have gone up that size, but the truth is that these are not designed to keep you toasty at less than 6C, so had really done pretty well.

 

I’ve found them ideal for those milder English winter days, say around 8C, suggesting they’ll do well in spring and autumn, too. On longer day rides, combined with padded shorts, the articulated nature of the design has encouraged comfortable riding: everything seems to stretch and pull in the right directions. Worth adding that there was good cohesion between the tights and the padded inner shorts – in this case Funkier Seamless Boxer Shorts.

 

Worn under bib-tights or my older, looser Corinne Dennis longs, they’ve been too warm for me with the temperature at 0C. With a wind chill at -5C, the combination was a very good one. However, I’d usually go for some specialist winter bib-tights, such as the Stolen Goat Climb and Conquer.

 

I’ve found that the Entrata tights are best combined with longer jerseys and jackets, such as the Castelli Commute Reflex or the Stolen Goat Aarkan Everyday Jersey. Such combinations have prevented chill around the kidneys. That is partly down to the fact that my touring geometry is a more upright than any racing snake of even moderate ambition would use.

 

These aren’t waterproof or even resistant, but they do dry rapidly on the bike after a short shower. A good soaking and they’ll take time to dry out and they’ll not keep things warm. However, the slim profile and panel design go well under waterproof over-trousers – of you wear such things. Speedier day riders may not think this important: tourers and explorers may well like it.

 

By the way, despite there being no stirrup or gripper strip, I’ve noticed no riding up around the ankles whilst riding.

 

Castelli suggest that the Entrata Tights No Pad will double-up for running. I am not going to comment as I am not a runner.

 

To pad or not to pad, that is the question. Well, without trying the padded version I won’t try to be definitive. I am sure that Castelli would only use high quality pads, so I’ll assume that your answer would depend on whether you wanted to maintain the flexibility of pulling these on under your bib-tights or getting off your bike and going for a run.