Sportful Fiandre Shift jacket review: top level tech at a more affordable price

The Sportful Fiandre Shift sits in Sportful’s Fiandre line of cooler and wetter weather race pace kits, with the Shift part of the name showing that it is aimed towards more mild and drier conditions than perhaps is typical of the best winter cycling jackets.

Construction

This latest Fiandre line makes use of the brand new Polartec AirCore technology, designed in partnership with Sportful granting them exclusive use of the material, alongside Castelli, for the next few years within the cycling industry. This material is an interesting one as it has been designed primarily to improve breathability and air permeability. This material is PFAS free, as brands look to remove forever chemicals and improve brand sustainability.

Part of the problem of water resistance is that it's often to the detriment of breathability; the internal sweat and moisture build-up can lead to moisture seepage outside and to your overall temperature loss. AirCore is a nano-fibre membrane with an MVTR >35,000 g/sq m/24hrs; anything above 30,000 is deemed incredibly breathable.

A DWR is then applied externally so it remains both showerproof and windproof, with the external protection remaining permeable to air internally, allowing excess out but not letting cold in, in theory.

Against the competition, the measure of cubic feet per minute (cfm) was used for air permeability measurements. AirCore hit 0.7, while Polartec NeoShell was rated 0.3, and GoreTex Windstopper 0.25. Polartec Bio waterproof was rated 0.

Interestingly the jacket has a waterproof column rating of just 5000mm, with most cycling jackets 10000mm or higher. But in research developing the membrane, it was determined that rain falling was only a pressure of 800mm; although when cycling at speed the effective impact pressure of rain will be higher than that.

The three cargo pockets at the rear feature an ‘object retention’ technology, which essentially is an internal flap of elastic material that is designed to make it easy to take items out but difficult for them to eject when you're riding over rougher surfaces. This jacket is also complimented by a two-way zip at the front for better temperature regulation.

Sizes come in S to 3XL, but limited to 2XL for women, and there are four colour options available for men and women.

The ride

The fit of the Fiandre Shift has remained pretty similar to the previous Fiandre 2 jacket. It’s quite similar to Castelli in terms of length of body and arms, but there is a little more room around the middle rather than the more form hugging fit. On my 190cm frame a size medium was true to size, while the arms are an ideal length for even shorter cuffed gloves, protecting the wrists nicely from cold air.

I figured a good way to test the breathability and moisture wicking would be using the Fiandre Shift in some unseasonably warm October weather. Indeed setting out in 18˚C with tights and a long sleeved base layer, I initially was dreading the ride to come. However, the Fiandre Shift, and assumedly the Polartec AirCore, did an exceptional job at dissipating excess heat and moisture from the inside. The two-way zip adds to this breathability allowing you to tailor how much air you get coming through the front, or how much of an exhaust you can open up at the base.

What I really appreciate though is that although this jacket can be comfortable in 18˚C, if you just layer a bit more heavily underneath it is also effective in around 8-12˚C as it has brilliant wind proofing and DWR coating externally for showers. It is certainly not a garment for wet weather, and Sportful makes no qualms about admitting to this. The Polartec AirCore tech is for dry weather, possibly a little showery, and allows you to expel internal moisture without a build-up that can lead to rapid cooling down when intensity drops. You can use this in the rain, just with an external shell, the same as most jerseys. However on its own the Fiandre Shift is an effective jersey/jacket for quite a wide range of temperatures and conditions.

Sportful gives a recommended temperature usage of 5-15˚C for this jacket, and I reckon that’s about right at the lower end if you have a base layer, but potentially conservative on the upper end.

I’m a big fan of the Bright Orange colour option, which is great for visibility. My only small gripe with this jacket is that it doesn’t feature much in the way of reflective detailing, but daytime lights and the dayglow orange colour are arguably more effective.

There also isn’t a zip-up valuables pocket at the rear, which is just something I generally like having, but is not essential. The main cargo pockets themselves are very effective being deep, wide, and secure even with a looser fit on the waist. I had no issues of the jacket twisting over time on rides even when pockets were loaded unevenly.

Value & conclusion

In recent years Sportful has come to represent quite good value in the cycling world while making use of the latest and greatest technologies. There are cheaper options, but they lack the performance and technologies. The Fiandre Shift is no different. The likes of the Castelli Do.Di.Ci is £250 / $280 and features much of the same fit and performance, but lacks the two-way zip and has no DWR. It’s more breathable but less versatile.

The most similar competitor to the Fiandre Shift is actually the Castelli Perfetto 3 jacket. This features zip vents at the side, but aside from that the same technology is used and many of the same features are present. However the Perfetto 3 is £280 / $320 compared to £210 / $250 for the Fiandre Shift.

However, £210 / $250 is still a lot for something that bridges the jersey and jacket line, but the Fiandre Shift performs so well across a wide range of temperatures and showery rain that you can tailor its use with different base layers. This makes for a cheaper total package than a lighter weight long sleeve jersey and a jacket, instead combined into one garment. It’s not cheap, but it represents very good value when you add up the performance it offers.

The Sportful Fiandre Shift is a mightily impressive piece of kit that can be used across a huge range of conditions. Dry weather riding from about 5-18˚C is manageable, with a thicker base layer perhaps for that lower end, but very comfortable at that upper level so effective is the breathability. The odd shower being thrown in or windy conditions do very little to take any temperature away from the body as the DWR treatment and wind proofing are fantastic. All the more impressive is that the Fiandre Shift has all of this performance and technology for a price that undercuts anything that performs anywhere close to as well as it does.