One of the Best Shoulder Season Kits I've Found:Sportful Fiandre Pro Medium Jersey and NoRain Bibs

If you’ve never heard of Sportful, you’re missing out. They’re one of the best in the business, and the Fiandre collection is an absolute must-have for cool weather training.

Last summer, I reviewed the Sportful Giara jersey and bib and in the process I got to know the brand quite well. So well, in fact, that they sent me a few other things to check out on the downlow. The first was the absolutely flawless SuperGiara kit accompanied by a matching Hotpack vest - which are on my own personal Oprah’s favorite things list - and the second was their shoulder season kit.

And after an unseasonably cold winter out here in SoCal, the Fiandre’s become a go-to as well. When I asked what they’d recommend for late fall and early spring training, Sportful sent me the NoRain Pro THERMAL Bibs and Tights, a pair of norain knee warmers, and a Fiandre Pro jacket.

I should probably preface what I’m about to say with this: I think thermal bib shorts are the greatest thing to hit cycling since clipless pedals and very few brands have done them right - they’re either too heavy or too light, and they all seem to lack any sort of compression or other technical enhancements. It’s almost as if everybody just took a mid-level summer bib and remade it with roubaix fabric. Which is fine, I guess, but what if you’re actually RACING when it’s cold? Like, I dunno - maybe cyclocross?

You’re gonna want something pro-level that’s race cut but also transfers heat and moisture like your hi-tech summer kit. And these do that - in spades. The no-rain thermal fabric (which is eerily similar to Castelli nanoflex) was warm when it needed to be and shedded heat surprisingly well when the road or the pace tipped up. The micro fleece inner layer is super soft and, as an added bonus the fabric’s designed to repel water - it’s not like a raincoat or anything, but on a foggy or misty morning it keeps water droplets at bay.

And, we had a lot of those mornings this winter - but as you can imagine it warms up pretty fast here, making it challenging to pick the right setup - unless you grab these and the matching knee warmers - they’re just the thing for rides that start in the high 30’s and end in the low 60’s. I can say the same for the tights, mostly, but I typically used the tights on colder rides that started earlier. Having the knee warmer option with the shorts really increases the upper temp range.

Fory ears my benchmark in the hybrid jersey world has been the Assos IJ Habu jacket. And, like the Habu, the Fiandre Pro is a strange hybrid of a thermal jersey and a light jacket. Which can be really tough to pull off - not, like ‘pull. Off. But accomplish...anyway...suffice it to say that Sportful NAILED IT. I used it both as a jersey with a sleeveless base layer and like a full on winter jacket over heavy base layers. It never failed to keep me warm and dry, and regardless of the pace or terrain and as long as I had the right layers underneath - I didn’t find myself overheating - ever.

The sleeve length is perfect for my super long arms, and the laser-cut finish work on the cuffs and waistband adds a nice modern touch of comfort and function. There’s also a cool laser cut flap inside the collar that can be worn up or down depending on the day. I used this more often than I thought I would - it was cozy!

The front half of the jacket is windproof, and the sleeves have 360 degrees of wind protection - which really makes a difference during the early/colder hours of a ride. And, because the back panel isn’t made from the windproof Polartec neoshell stuff you find on the front and sleeves, the jacket can stretch and move better with you and it also makes the rear pockets really stretchy - which can be a big deal if you’re shedding layers all day.

So, at this price you’re probably asking yourself “Could this be a full on, deep winter training system?” Nah, probably not. I think you could use the jacket with a heavy base layer into the mid 30’s, but I’d keep the tights in the 40 degree and up range for sure. You don’t want to slog long winter miles in this kit. But could you RACE in it on a 30-degree day? Yeah. Definitely. Kinda what it’s designed for.