Sportful

It's easy to spend a lot of money on a cycling jersey but the excellently conceived Sportful Pista Long Zip Jersey just goes to show that, really you don't have to. For £40 you get a very smart looking jersey available in several colours with a fit and fabric that works brilliantly in a range of spring and summer conditions.

Sportful's Hot Pack Ultralight is an incredibly light jacket, just 50g, that is fully windproof and water resistant. It can be rolled up into it's own integrated bag and will disappear inside a jersey pocket. With jackets like this we're running out of excuses to cancel the ride when the weather is looking iffy.

As its name suggests, the Sportful Second Skin Neck Warmer is made from Sportful's '2nd Skin' fabric, a mix of 95% Polyamide and 5% Elastane. This is the fabric Sportful use throughout their warmer range (arm, leg, etc.) for its stretchiness that allows it to conform to moving body parts, improving comfort. In addition to the stretch, the fabric is soft to the touch and didn't cause any irritation to the skin.

'Maximum comfort in every detail' is certainly a gutsy product description. The Total Comfort Bibtight from Sportful talk the talk but how do they really perform as a winter bibtight, pitched against the UK weather?

I've been impressed by Sportful's material engineering in the past. These tights are no exception.

Providing incredible protection against the wind, cold and rain, and with a new visibility boosting black and yellow colour option, Sportful's Fiandre Jacket is right up there with the best.

Sportful NoRain's clothing range, which use a proprietary fabric with a water repellent technology, features two jackets. The Fiandre Norain Jacket here is intended for the most motivationally-sapping weather conditions, and is more feature packed and insulating than the Fiandre Light.

Performance is at the forefront of Sportful's design philosophy and this shows in the excellent NoRain bib tights, which rank as the best bib tights I've ever tested.

Key to Sportful's NoRain range, which also includes jackets, arm and knee warmers and bib shorts, is a proprietary fabric with a water repellant technology that ensures rain beads off the surface. What they're not is waterproof, but this finish prevents the fabric from holding onto the water and giving you that soggy feeling.