The process of evolution is truly something special. Being born into a cycling family, I have been around bikes and everything cycling all my life. Over this time, I've seen a lot of cool things, and have bared witness to the evolution of different bikes, iterations of different groupsets, and a multitude of different trends.

 I can still recall the time when my Father, Dennis would come back from different trade shows in the U.S. Europe and Asia. Always returning with some cool samples ranging from different parts and gadgets. One year he returned from a large trade show in Cologne Germany. This moment stands out as quite possibly the most excited I have seen him about anything that he has found abroad. My initial expectation is that he has found something that will revolutionize the cycling industry. I was disappointed at first to see him unveil a pair of black bib shorts out of his suitcase. I was like "it's a pair of black bib shorts" He replied, "not just any bib shorts, these are Assos bib shorts" My response was "ass" what? That just sounds so weird. Little did I know, that these "Assos" bib shorts, that everyone bastardizes the pronunciation of, would revolutionize the bib short game. Whether it is precision watches, a train schedule that is always on time or producing the best chocolate in the world. This is just the way that the Swiss roll. 

These Assos bib shorts were made from lycra, apparently an industry first. Unlike the standard shorts we were accustomed to, that were made from wool. It was certainly foreign, but it did look very slick. Upon further inspection, I could not help but notice how cool the chamois was. It appeared similar in color and feel to the traditional leather-based chamois, but it was synthetic. Its padding was strategic. More importantly, it was perforated. Now that is clever. Out of all the features, the most remarkable thing was how light these shorts were. Going over its hanging tags, there was a square packet attached to it. The label read chamois creme. "What is chamois crème?" The backside captioned that Assos chamois crème prevents bacterial and fungus infections (saddle sores); keeps you comfortably cool by reducing friction. At that point, I was like I heard and seen it all, sign me up! 

 It didn't take long before these Assos bib shorts were all the rage. This was incredible, as the bibs were close to $300.00, and in the early nineties, that was a lot of money for a pair of bib shorts. 

Fast forwarding to the later part of the 1990s, Assos released the next generation of bib shorts. The FI.S2 series. This would be the last generation of Assos inline shorts to be produced entirely in Switzerland. Only custom apparel would resume at the Lugano facility. These shorts featured exclusive blends of Dupont power lycra, the first chamois in history that utilizes an elastic insert. The chamois was a project developed with Cytech – Elastic Interface.

 Ushering into the mid-2000s,  Assos was in a state of transition. So too was the cycling industry. Riding on the coattails of Lance Armstrong's dominance at the Tour de France, the sport of cycling was reaching mainstream popularity in untraditional markets. For a brand like Assos, they were too niche and their offering of the world's best cycling apparel or as they would call "equipment" was out of reach for most newcomers to cycling. For the first time, Assos expanded their line up to offer bib shorts at several different price points. Born was the S5 generation. Featuring the top of the line Fi.13 S5, Fi. Mille S5, and the Fi.Uno S5 bibs. 

I was truly blown away with the attention to detail that goes into the planning and development of all the Assos garments. Especially riding shorts. The most fascinating part was that the new S7 bibs were a total reinvention over anything else they had previously produced. It literally shared no design features from the previous generation. From what I was told by Desiree Maier (Daughter of Assos' Founder Toni Maier) is that her brother Roche who was at the head of the company at the time had what was described as a "design incubator" situated outside his office. This is where new inventions would be placed. Each day when Roche would come into his office, he would stop by this incubator and go over its contents. Some days he would remain content with what was brewing in the design phase. On other days, he would see something he didn't like about a particular garment, curse at it and pull it out of the incubator. Apparently, if something was able to last one month in the incubator, it would graduate over to the next phase of development. Rumor has it, that there were over a hundred iterations of the S7 bib before they narrowed down this masterpiece. To me, the Incubator is like a cocoon that over time will produce a beautiful butterfly. 

The All New S9 Collection

 January 2019, marks the birth of a butterfly, and the release of the new Assos S9 generation of bib shorts. Six years in the making, the S9's appear to be the perfect blend of simplicity and sophistication seamlessly at once. Everything that has been learned through the development and experience of the previous generation of Assos shorts is embodied in this new series. Instead of an entire re-do, as what we saw with the S7, the S9 shorts retain certain aspects and improve upon tried, tested and true features of the S7. 

 It's an exciting time, whenever Assos launches a new line of cycling shorts, which doesn't happen too often. The new line of S9 shorts, which is projected to expand with new models dropping later this year, and into next season. It looks like the butterfly has come out of its cocoon, and is ready to fly.