Swrve Men’s Dynamic Knickers
Many people are perfectly happy riding around in plain old pants, either cut off or rolled up to avoid getting caught in their chain. But there’s no denying that purpose-built cycling knickers (also known as shants) have some great features and certain performance advantages. Take Swrve knickers, for example.
The Dynamic knickers are made from a lightweight material that’s stretchy and durable. Features like an articulated knee and seemless crotch make them more comfortable on the bike, as does the waistband that dips down in the front and stays high in the rear. The zippered rear pockets make sense for the urban rider, and the hip-mounted cell phone pocket is surprisingly secure and rather handy. The cut does seem to favor tall, thin people, so you may be best served buying them from a local retailer where you can try them on first
After months of regular use, I’ve got very few nits to pick with these knickers. The fabric shows almost no visible wear and the seams are all intact. One complaint is that the button above the fly zipper popped off after just a few weeks. 
True, I had been wearing the knickers three to five days a week, but it just seemed premature. Maybe it was bad thread, maybe my awesome gut could not be restrained. The other nit to pick is the $90 price tag. I got a significant “industry insider” price break, but you most likely won’t. Even at my cost, I could have bought a couple pair of pants and a six pack of PBR. But you get what you pay for, and in this case you’re paying for a high-performance specialty item that happens to put food on another cyclists’ table.
Visit www.swrvecycling.com for more information.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
These knickers look a lot like “clamdiggers”, a style popular back in the 50’s. The traditional knickers I’ve seen have all come to just below the knee, with some sort of closure to draw them tight. For $90, I can get a bunch of my pants cut and hemmed up a bit- or I can wear cuff bands and be done with it.
I’m just saying.
January 28th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
The Swrve Dynamics are a bit spendy but they’re amazing pants — nice and stretchy in just the right way for cycling. I’ll be giving away a pair at NAHBS in a couple of week.s
January 28th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
A friend of mine won a pair of their jeans at a race we threw. He’s a courier and has worn them everyday for over a month. In the courier world, a month is about ass blowout time, but the Swrve’s are standing strong! They also have a reflective stripe on the back of one of the legs when they’re folded. They look just like designer jeans! Not to mention, his ass looks great in them.
“I’m just saying”…. you get what you pay for.
January 29th, 2008 at 11:34 am
thanks for reviewing our knicks urban velo!
we would like to note a couple things:
we are now making the switch to jeans-type buttons and these should last quite a bit longer than the thread-attached buttons.
in terms of price keep in mind that we are a small company dedicated to crafting high quality items. all of our products are made in Los Angeles using fair labor practices and the highest quality materials we can find. and most importantly, we heart bikes!
January 30th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
My question: What shoes are those?
January 31st, 2008 at 11:12 pm
They’re Lake shoes (SPD compatible) but I’m pretty sure they’ve been discontinued.
February 1st, 2008 at 10:28 am
stuff made from schoeller fabric is tough as hell. i have a cloudveil soft shell jacket that i wear riding throughout the winter. i’ve taken spills where i’ve literally slid across the pavement for 10 feet on my right arm/shoulder twice in that jacket and there wasn’t so much as a pulled thread.
February 1st, 2008 at 1:33 pm
$90 isn’t too bad considering that Chrome charges $136-$145 for theirs. I agree that it’s cheaper to buy dickies, taper them and hem them yourself, but swrve is producing MUCH smaller runs than dickies or ben davis or whoever. and smaller runs are more expensive to produce. buy what you can afford, but just to point out that they aren’t jacking up the price arbitrarily.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:55 am
these knickers are awesome and swrve is an amazing company. Much cheaper than all of the other cycling specific apparel and with much more style. I have ridden the same pair of their wwr knickers every day for about 5 months and they still look like new. They’re much more comfortable and technical than dickies or pants and i’ll say it, they’re pretty cool looking. support this honest company.