Sportful W Headband review

An under-helmet, ponytail-compatible headband designed to keep your ears warm but your head sweat-free

(Image credit: Cycling Studio)
Cycling Weekly Verdict

A great spring or autumn piece to protect the ears when there is a nip in the air, which although is marketed as female specific would work for either sex, ponytail or not.

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Comfortable

  • +

    Raw-cut edges

  • +

    No seams at front or sides

  • +

    Warm

  • +

    Breathable

  • +

    Lightweight (14g)

  • +

    Compatible with ponytails

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    None

You can trust Cycling Weekly. Our team of experts put in hard miles testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

Cold ears can quite frankly ruin a good bike ride, and the moment when it's warm enough to forgo the winter hat can be a tricky point to predict.

The Sportful W Headband is an ideal compromise at this weather junction, keeping ears warm while preventing overheating, filling the winter hat-to-cap gap nicely.

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Hannah Bussey

Hannah is Cycling Weekly’s longest-serving tech writer, having started with the magazine back in 2011. She has covered all things technical for both print and digital over multiple seasons representing CW at spring Classics, and Grand Tours and all races in between.

Hannah was a successful road and track racer herself, competing in UCI races all over Europe as well as in China, Pakistan and New Zealand.

For fun, she's ridden LEJOG unaided, a lap of Majorca in a day, won a 24-hour mountain bike race and tackled famous mountain passes in the French Alps, Pyrenees, Dolomites and Himalayas. 

She lives just outside the Peak District National Park near Manchester UK with her partner, daughter and a small but beautifully formed bike collection.