Review: Men's Burton [ak] GORE-TEX C-KNIT 3L Kalausi Bib Pants 23/24
Price
£830 RRP - seasons 23/24 & 24/25
Gender
Men’s - Women’s available too, same price.
Brand // Manufacturer
What we liked
Super light with huge freedom of movement
Excellent venting and rear-access
Softness, suppleness and waterproofing
What we didn’t
Super baggy if you are slim, not the longest of legs
Snow gets up under leg cuffs
Expensive
The Verdict
THE SHORT READ…
The 23/24 first version of these pants has some great features - we like the buckle-less shoulder straps, excellent 'rear access' and leg ventilation, capacious front leg pockets (both with internal mesh pockets), the cut won’t restrict your movement at all, and they are incredibly light. On the flip side, the waist and chest fit is very baggy on skinny folks and can’t be cinched down, and nor can the leg cuffs, which when wearing slimmer hardboots let snow up under them. And while there are a few other niggles, these are no doubt a premium pant line that Burton will be looking to improve every season.
THE LONG READ …
We were lucky to be able to give these a solid three-week try out in Tignes, and in Switzerland during April of 2024. It was the first season of this ultra-light “super minimalist” splitboarding bib-pant design and as a first iteration, it’s got some standout features as well as some areas for improvement, but you know that Burton’s R&D dept are going to be on top of that - so is worth keeping an eye on.
The first great feature to mention is the material - it’s soft and supple, but still 3-layer Goretex and super light - only 690g in L. It’s panels are cut in a way that gives a ton of freedom of movement. Burton use an approach they call “Kinetic construction”, to wrap the fabric panels around the body in a way that maximises the fabric’s natural stretch along the directions that you need it most.
There are really thoughtful design touches - big front thigh pockets, that both have an inner mesh pocket for stashing transceiver - it’s so rare that left-handers are taken into account with things like that. There is also a stiff material loop above each mesh pocket, for clipping your transceiver to. The inner mesh pockets are a little too big for holding your phone tight, unless yours is a whopper, and the pocket is vertically upright, rather than angled in toward your centreline, and so can make getting your phone in and frequently a bit of a hassle, as it’s just harder than an angled one would be to locate their openings quickly.
The buckle-less shoulder straps mean no pressure points under your backpack straps - the flip side of that being there is no way to adjust how the entire ensemble sits on you.
The chest - the actual bib - has a couple of great pockets, one big and one small - the big one big enough for slipping your skins in even, if you need to keep them warm on a cold day. The other isn’t so small itself - plenty of room for stashing a map plus a pair of lighter-weight gloves perhaps. The whole upper bib material is a light, stretchy fabric that breathes easy.
The rear access zip is brilliant, again two-way zips for left and right-handers, which also means you can open them a little on both sides near your waist and get some symmetrical venting going on there. Take one zip all the way around the back and bingo, the ability to do a number two without taking the whole thing off.
Leg ventilation is typically ace, from Burton - A two-way zip running up both inner thighs, with mesh to keep snow out. There are also two full thigh-length outside leg zips, unmeshed.
There are excellent abrasion pads at the bottom of each leg, and a little steel hook for locking onto soft-boot laces.
Kalausi in 24/25 seasons darker yellow colour: “Goldenrod”
The main challenge for some will be with the fit - it’s lack of adjustability anywhere means you need to be certain shape to best fit these. They are aimed at medium-height riders who are not super slim - I'm 6 foot 2 and slim verging on skinny and the Large had a lot of extra material under the arms around the ribs, though the front of the bib, flat across the chest and front pockets sat fine. There are no belt loops or any other way to cinch the waist, and while around the hips they were not too baggy, if you have heavier loads in your thigh pockets it’ll pull the entire bib down - if you have heavier items loose in those long thigh pockets then they might end up contacting your kneecaps.
The legs are not super long, and on me the leg cuffs kept riding up my boots (see pic below). The excellent heavy-duty silicon inside the leg cuffs weren’t able to grip my hard-boots - even though the cuffs are elasticated, they aren’t elasticated enough to grip on all skinnier hard-boot uppers and there is no inner cuff under the external one - saving weight, The little steel laces hook also wasn’t shaped in a way to let it attach to anything on my hard-boots. Consequently, when boot-packing deeper snow, or riding pow, I got more snow coming up the legs than I wanted - but they really need a mechanism to cinch them down. And being a tall rider, pulling up a bit, with that skinny cuff, they tended to look on me a little like pantaloons.
The light yellow colourway of the 23/24 season shows up scuff marks quite clearly - so it’s great to see that the 24/25 version has evolved into a much darker yellow that also just looks a lot cooler.
SUMMARY…
While Burton desribe these as minimalist, they do have a ton of great features, and thinking about the amount of design that’s gone into these, you can see why they are priced at a premium level.
Having said that, the lack of adjustabiliity in the fit means it’s got to be targeted at a specific shape rider, and that’s not a tall skinner one.
The Kalausi is going to evolve though, so it’s going to be exciting to see how they develop in the coming seasons.