Sportful Fiandre Extreme Neoshell jacket

Dressing for the UK winter just got a whole lot easier with the new Sportful Fiandre Extreme Neoshell, a comfortable, warm and waterproof jacket that copes well with a wide range of weather conditions. It really is one jacket to rule in all weathers.

Like the rest of Sportful's Fiandre range, this new jacket is designed to cope with variable and constantly changing conditions. It's been race-tested, like all Sportful's top-end clothing, by the Tinkoff-Saxo professional cycling team. It's designed to keep you warm and dry, and be breathable enough to avoid overheating.

> Find your nearest dealer here

> Buy this online here

To create this new Fiandre Extreme Neoshell jacket, Italian company Sportful worked with fabric specialist Polartec to adapt its relatively new Neoshell material for its needs. Neoshell has been used in a cycling garment by Sugoi previously, but Sportful got Polartec to make the fabric stretchier, to enhance the fit and comfort.

You might be wondering what Neoshell is all about. It basically offers the rain protection of a traditional hardshell waterproof jacket, with the warmth, fit, comfort and breathability of a softshell. Sounds like the holy grail of winter cycling jackets, when dressing for winter can be fraught with indecision; there are too many choices and chances for getting it completely wrong, resulting in either getting wet or overheating.

The fabric is constructed with taped seams everywhere to ensure that the whole jacket really is waterproof. There's a waterproof YKK Vislon zipper on the front and three pockets around the back, plus a dropped tail and lots of reflective details. The collar is nice and tall and the cuffs are a simple design, intended to provide a close seal around the wrists.

The cut of the jacket is a good shape too. It's designed to be a close-fitting top, and for wearing over a single baselayer. I found it a bit tight across the shoulders when standing up, but on the bike it's fine. I'm probably right on the line between a size small and medium though. The fit around the torso and arms is excellent, with no excess material to catch the wind.

It's not as immediately comfortable as pulling on a softshell; despite Sportful's efforts to make the fabric stretchier, it's clearly more restrictive than a regular softshell fabric. Any concerns fade away when riding, though, because on the bike it's very comfortable.

Cycle clothing technology has advanced quite a bit in the last few years. There has been a rise in the popularity of rain-resistant high-performance softshell tops that can cope with the unpredictability of the British weather well. But they're not without their shortcomings, especially in prolonged heavy rain.

There are no such shortcomings with the Extreme Neoshell jacket. It really is one jacket you can wear no matter the weather. It's designed to excel at temperatures below 10 degrees, but I found the breathability sufficient to wear it above 15 with a short-sleeve baselayer underneath. I do run cooler, though – overheating is rarely an issue for me, but staying warm is!

It really is properly waterproof. We've had some stonking rain showers recently and so I've had plenty of wet rides to thoroughly test the jacket. Lucky me. On one ride it rained solid for the entire two hours I was out. The jacket kept me dry. Another ride saw about three of four short showers interspersed with sunshine and blue skies. Again, the jacket repelled the rain brilliantly, and dried out really quickly between each downpour. There are no weaknesses – all the seams around the arms and shoulders stand up to the rain just fine.

Those two examples demonstrate this jacket's brilliance. It copes in sustained downpours and also deals with sudden but short bursts of rain. On rides when the weather forecast makes it hard to predict what rain you might encounter on a ride, this jacket looks after you. I can now leave the emergency waterproof jacket at home, it's redundant.

And it's not just good in the rain. On cold and dry days when there's no hint of rain clouds on the horizon, the jacket provides adequate warmth to keep you comfortable. You can adapt for different temperatures by wearing a different weight baselayer or swapping from a short sleeve to long sleeve. Even with a short-sleeve baselayer there is good warmth on the arms, and with a long-sleeve there is no overheating to speak of.

It's impressively breathable. The material actually lets a small amount of air through from the outside – not so much that you feel it, but you do notice the absence of heat build-up. I've battered up hills and done sprint intervals and it has refused to allow me to overheat. I've taken it above the maximum temperature recommendation and it has coped just fine.

I've done the same test loops on the same day in different outfits, to really see how the jacket compares, and it comfortably outperforms a regular softshell in really heavy prolonged rain, and a waterproof jacket in the breathability stakes.

> Check out our guide to the best winter cycling jackets here

Essentially, this jacket makes it easy to dress for a ride. Regardless of what the weather is doing, you can just sling this on over a baselayer and hit the road, safe in the knowledge you'll be protected from whatever the weather decides to hit you with. It's the best expression of Sportful's Fiandre range yet, and is perfect for the British winter weather.

What I've not been able to do yet is test the jacket in really cold weather, so I'll update this review once I have done. I've been testing it for the last two months, and it's been getting a lot of use. It's been through many washing machine cycles and the fabric comes out clean every time, and it's showing no signs of wear.

Verdict

A very high performance jacket that copes with rain, wind and cold without overheating