Six years have passed since Assos rolled out what would become known as the pinnacle of its bib short designs. Called the _s5, this revered collection of shorts has been, to all who've ridden in them, simply the best fitting and most supportive bibs on the market. Well, in the true fanaticism that dominates the collective mindset in the Swiss-based brand's Centro Studio, Assos engineers took to improving what many called perfect. The new collection to emerge is aptly titled _s7. There are four new "mission-specific" models of bib shorts within this technical-feature-laden lineup, with the T. campionissimo_s7 living in, shall we say, a penthouse above the rest. Six patents and nine innovations later, a new level of technological firepower has officially been unleashed on the world of cycling apparel design. Welcome to the next generation of unparalleled Assos perfection. To start, let's run through the main Assos-specific textile that makes up the paneling of the creme de la creme T. campionissimo bib shorts, as it's notably a fabric-first in cycling shorts manufacturing. Assos is calling this material Type. 444 ergoKompressor, with the real secret ingredient residing in its composition. First, Type. 444 is a woven textile with a 33% Lycra content, versus the traditional knits used in almost every other pair of cycling shorts currently available to the public. The reasoning behind this is that Assos wanted a highly compressive bib short design that was still as light and comfortable as possible. So while most manufacturers rely on bib short constructions that use many fabric panels to achieve a desired level of compressive hold -- while sacrificing both weight and comfort in the name of heavily-stitched seams -- Assos' Type. 444 woven textile mitigates this bulky, abrasive side effect that comes with standard compressive shorts by building the T. campionissimo with merely five sleek panels. Countless prototypes tested by both professional cyclists and Assos' very ...