POC Resistance DH Short

(discontinued)

POC Sports is no stranger to protecting serious athletes in the cycling industry. Almost every time you head out on your local trails, you’ll more than likely pass a fellow biker wearing one of their helmets. What may be slightly less common is coming across someone wearing their apparel. Having ridden POC products for multiple years, I can vouch that their apparel is on par with some of the best brand in the business. But what about the Resistance DH shorts specifically? Well, I got my hands on some and with 6 months of riding time, here are my impressions:

Detailed Specs:

DH specific pre shaped fit - for pedal comfort and use with knee pads, high waist for ride comfort.

Shorts are constructed in durable, stretch nylon fabric which has good water repellency and is reinforced at the rear.

Fully lined with a combination of mesh and velcro resistant fabrics.

Versatile velcro waist adjustment system, with belt loops for extra fit precision.

Easy access front pockets and one leg pocket with zip.

Strategically placed inseams for enhanced comfort.

Initial impressions:

Pulling the Resistance DH shorts out of their packaging, I was quite impressed with the overall quality and attention to detail POC put into them. The fabric is a good thickness (not XC nor super thick) and light weight (weighing in at 375 grams for large; 43% lighter in weight than my TLD Moto shorts). All this, along with high quality stitching make the Resistance DH shorts appear to be top notch. Putting them on, they offer a great semi-baggy fit and excellent stretch (thanks to the 8% spandex). These shorts also come with dual snaps, velcro waist adjustments, and belt loops to keep your junk covered.

Pedaling:

When throwing a leg over the bike, the Resistance DH shorts had great range of motion without bunching up in weird spots like other shorts tend to do from time to time. Just like most DH shorts, they were designed to play well with knee pads. But do they? The answer is a solid Yes. Doing from nasty descents to climbing, back to nasty descents, the shorts never bunched up or got pulled down by the knee pads.

Fabric:

Within the first few times wearing the Resistance DH shorts, I noticed that the fabric had a pretty decent waterproofing coat, enough to keep my dry even in light ran and splashes. 

After washing the fabric 10+ times, however, I noticed that this waterproofing coat became less effective. Now, the fabric will repel quick splashes, like crossing side creaks on the trail but after sitting down, any water left on the shorts quickly gets soaked up into the fabric. This may sound like a really unfortunate thing to happen, but compared to other DH specific shorts, isn’t too bad. The fabric of these shorts is thinner than others I’ve used and therefore dries out pretty quickly. 

Versatility:

One of my reservations I had with picking up a new set of POC DH shorts was the limited pockets that were found on my older set (from years back). From the description from POC’s site, this wouldn’t be an issue as they state the new Resistance DH shorts come with three (two front pockets and one leg pocket that zips).  When they arrived, I was pleasantly surprised that they actually included two leg pockets that zip, one on both leg. In short, the Resistance DH shorts offer boat loads of pockets (by far more than their previous DH shorts). 

The zipper handles on both lower leg pockets are very minimal in size, yet very easy to get a hold of and use. When fully zipped, the pockets look nearly non-existent which adds a nice stealth and clean look.

The upper pockets are easy to get my hands into, even with gloves. The only issue I could see is potentially losing important items like keys or a cell phone if placing them in these upper pockets as they don’t have any zippers to hold things secure. Seeing a zipper incorporated into these upper zippers would have made these shorts the ultimate in utility. 

Durability:

Although I can’t give you a full report on the durability of the Resistance DH shorts as I have only had them for 6 months. What I can say is that they show no signs of premature wear and tearing. Even with some nasty battery grease (which I’m sure contained some minor amounts of battery acid) which I haven’t been able to wash out, the shorts have held up very well; Why is there battery grease all over these shorts you might ask? I had a bad day.

One concern I had about the Resistance DH short was how thin (in comparison to other shorts) the fabric was. Knowing I was going to using these for fast and technical riding with plenty of trees, rocks, and sharp pointy things everywhere I was unsure how well they would survive a crash. Although I haven’t had a head-over-heals, break your carbon frame in half, Minnaar type of crash I have hopped and rolled a few times with these shorts and they have held up very well thus far.

Bottom Line:

The POC Resistance DH shorts are a great set of riding shorts. They took the durability I have learned to love with older shorts and have added an even better fit and utility to them. Then and breathable, mild waterproofing, and pockets for days, you really can’t go wrong with these shorts. Would like to see some zippers for the upper pockets to keep things secure but beside that, they are perfect DH shorts.