Holy Grail of clothing waterproof and breathable

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Fab Foodie

hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
Location
Kirton, Devon.
Because I have read reviews of people working up a sweat while wearing it for a 'brisk walk'. That suggests to me that it is not practical for cycling at anything other than a walking pace.
And I've worked up a sweat in mine walking the dog, but that's more about having the wrong under-layers than an issue with the jacket. Because it is slightly insulated you need less layering underneath, any more than a base-layer or a short-sleeve cycle-top is overdoing it. I'm quite a sweaty bu99er and find it fine, it breathes well in up to really quite warm and mild conditions (Summer L2B Night rides and back in monsoon conditions for example) and when travelling fast there's plenty of ways to let air flow through. OK, it's no skin-suit but for touring, commuting, Audaxes etc it's perfect. The other plus is that if you're out in the winter and have to stop to fix a mechanical or wait around, it keeps you much warmer then other waterproof shell type jackets, you just batten down the hatches.

I'm more than happy with mine, after Gore-tex types it's a revelation in dryness, breathability and comfort..

.... and I might get one of these for the warmer days .....
http://www.paramo-clothing.com/en-gb/explore-range/product/?pk=305644DC-71D6-421B-999A-0E880822AEB6
 
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Darren Gregory

Darren Gregory

Rides a Pinnacle Arkose 3 and a Trek Emonda SL6
Hello all I started this thread a while back as I was looking for help/advice/opinions on a rain jacket. I eventually went with the Sportful Fiandre Extreme NeoShell short sleeve with arm warmers, I certainly considered the others suggested but I have been impressed with Sportful garments so decided to give this a go.

Road CC gave it a good review so I wont't go into too much detail but just wanted to give some feed back to those who posted. I bought an XXL as that is what I have with my other Sportful products a pista light weight jersey and the No Rain Top. The fit was good although not as good as the other two garments. Reason being is the jacket material is slightly less flexible. The arm warmers are a little tight to get past my wrists but once on they fit fine. The jacket is similar in that it is a bit tight around the shoulder when putting it on but once on it was fine. When zipped up it was little crumpled across the chest.

Frankly considering I don't look like the advertised cyclist I have been amazed so far that all my sportful gear fits perfectly I consider the NeoShell to still be a good if not excellent fit.

Wore the jacket today for the first time and it was raining steadily if not horrendously. WHen I got to my destimation about 11km away and prepared to get change the outside of the jacket felt pretty wet but the material was clearly doing it's thing as the water was clinging to the outside of the jacket, a quick shake and a few minutes later it was dry on the outside, no water had visibly penetrated the inside. ONe thing I did notice was that the top of the arm warmers and the bottom of the sleeves of the jacket appeared wet but I think that was where I disrobed and had to do a bit of inside out thing.

I stood in front of the mirror and my merino short sleeve base layer was a little wet from weat but not overly so, within a few minutes of hanging up the base layer felt bone dry which was quite surprising.

I am not certain the temperature I was riding at but 45 minutes after I arrived I had washed and dressed amd was in the car to head to work and the temperature read 5c, I would imagine most of my route was that or less. I have been off the bike for a week so I cannot say I was putting in 100% effort all the way but I certainly wasn't taking it easy. Only once did it enter my head that I was overheating and I considered unzipping but I held fast and the sensation soon passed. I am not sure how well I could cope with this set up in 10c or more, only time will tell but I am impressed so far.

So after one ride I am impressed I will try and update this thread with any further comments. Hope it helps someone.
 
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Darren Gregory

Darren Gregory

Rides a Pinnacle Arkose 3 and a Trek Emonda SL6
Thread update!

Amazingly considering the British weather I have not used NeoShell very much, I seemed to have timed my commutes and rides to coincide with dry weather or at least dry spells between showers. All that changed today.

My usual commute is about 11km each way depending on route but for the next few days I will need to cycle my entire journey of 30km. 05:00 this mornng and it was raining heavily outside so I donned my Sportful MEsh base layer and NeoShell and set off. The journey took me 80 minutes and it was raining the entire journey and lots of standing water. When I arrived and disrobed I was disapointed to find that the bottom rear of the jacket around the pockets had failed and soaked through. The front area adjacent to the zipper had also failed and soaked through.

Whilst I can live with being wet I was pretty disapointed considering the jacket is quoted as being waterproof and cost me £160. Doing some research it seems I am not the only person who has found this fault as the Road.cc review has images and a discussion about this very issue in the comments.

Suffice to say I have contacted Wiggle and asked for a full refund.

:-(
 
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