After I first wore these Rockrider ST500 Winter Trousers, I was seriously impressed. Great feeling cosy fabric, nice fitted shape, they shed spray really well, no extraneous bells and whistles ‘features’ to annoy, a simple thigh pocket for a house/car key, they stayed in place during rides. Perfect. I banged on about them to anyone who would listen. Forty quid for a great pair of cold weather riding pants. Brilliant!

Read more: The best mountain bike trousers – regular and waterproof

Unfortunately, a few months down the line and the arse panels are wearing through. One single season of use is not very impressive. Even taking into account the extra mileage I’ve done through winter 2020/21.

To be fair, I still wear them and will probably continue to until I either get arrested for indecent exposure or the threadbare bum cheek sections start to let in too much water and chills. They still work and feel super comfortable.

One notably ironic aspect of these trousers is that the non-worn-through areas have held up incredibly well. The stitching is intact. The zips all work perfectly. The knees, inner calves and inner thigh areas are all as they were on day one, despite hard winter riding.

Maybe the grit and water of the South Pennines have acted like sandpaper during seated pedalling. These Rockriders are not alone in their gusset gutting up here. Far more expensive garments have died similar deaths in extreme conditions.

As it is, I’ve loved these Rockrider ST500 Winter Trousers and I’ll continue to wear them until they get beyond the point of acceptability, but I’ll not be replacing them with another pair.