Having been in tri/cycling for 15+ years now, I’ve rocked the full gamut of bike shorts and bibs for WARM weather.
**NOTE - I’m NOT talking about tri-specific shorts/suits here, I’m just talking about bike bibs, and also NOTE that I’m NOT talking about cold-weather bibs.
Everything from $20 aliexpress shorts to $80-150 midrange stuff like from Gore, Izumi, and then $250+ stuff from Assos, Rapha, and most recently Ornot.
There’s no doubt the $250 premium stuff feels and looks up close more premium, with superior stitching and fancier materials. You can tell just by picking it up. That alone is arguably a good reason to spend more money, full stop.
But in practice, now that I’ve done like 10+ centuries, countless 50-100 mile training rides, and even more indoor and shorter rides, I can safely conclude that once I’m on the ride, I find zero difference comfortwise and performance wise between my cheapest bibs and the most expensive ones after like 2-3 minutes. They all work. No extra chafing, no weird sensations. Even more surprising, I pretty much abuse all my bibs that are <$60 - I throw them in the dryer every time when the instructions to all bibs say to never do that. I’m hoping they die so I can upgrade and get a nicer pair - but even my Aliexpress $20 pair REFUSES to die. It’s now probably 5-6 years old, stitching is slightly looser and fraying on the inside, but it’s absolutely, fully functional, even if I ride a full century on it. I’ve done more indoor miles on this than any other bib I have just because it’s shorts (by far) yet it’s still kicking.
So at least for me, for WARM WEATHER riding, all my bibs work. I have never been on a ride when I thought ‘man, I wish I wore that $250+ Ornot/Assos bib today!’ , even if I do use that newest Ornot for my actual group century rides nowadays.
Now for COLD WEATHER riding, I do think to generally avoid <$100 bibs. I don’t have enough of these or experience in cold weather to confidently assess them, but for sure, Amazon bibs <$80 aren’t really performance bibs, more like utility bibs that are really bulky and built for stuff like commuting and non-training rides. I’ll leave cold weather bib recommendations to folks on the East coast!