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Sportful Supergiara Thermal Jersey

7
£110.00

VERDICT:

7
10
Good choice for riding in cold winds, far from home, but storage could be better
Keeps you warm into single-digit temperatures
Blocks wind
Not stretchy
Slippery pockets with no retention ability
Looks will be divisive
Weight: 
320g

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Sportful's Supergiara Thermal Jersey does a good job of keeping you warm in cold conditions – but exactly how it's 'gravel' isn't clear. The separate-layer windproof panel works, but won't be to everyone's taste.

Sportful had a bit of a hit with its Supergiara bib tights as Stu reviewed here – the 'giara' bit of the 'Supergiara' moniker meaning 'gravel'. Giara translates in Italian to 'an earthernware pot', which could become gravel if you dropped it from a height, I guess.

Sportful Supergiara thermal Jersey - riding.jpg

The gravel-specificity (yes, that's A Thing now) of the Supergiara tights are the pockets. One on the thigh for gels and other light stuff, and two more on the back, to hold items easy to hand or under your jersey, that you don't want ejected into the void while fanging about lumpy, bumpy gravel tracks. I was keen to understand exactly how a jersey itself could be more 'gravel'.

The Supergiara Thermal Jersey is a pretty hefty affair at 320g. It would feel more like a thermal jacket, if it weren't so tight-fitting (it's not me in the photos). Sportful does a heavier version, the – surprise – Supergiara Jacket, which costs £60 more, features triple-layer fabrics, and has two additional stash pockets on the chest. Sportful says it's good for 5-10°C, which I'd take as good for down to zero, if the performance of the Thermal Jersey here is anything to go by. Maybe guideline Italian temperatures are to be given the same raised eyebrow as Italian clothing sizing, but I digress.

Sportful Supergiara thermal Jersey - back.jpg

The Thermal Jersey fabric is a real mixture, the complexity of assembly accounting no doubt for a chunk of the price tag. There are a number of retro-reflective grey panels, bands around the arms, and also above the two outer pockets. Definitely not high-vis, but they do work in car headlights. 

Sportful Supergiara thermal Jersey - reflective.jpg

Everything's held in place by a full-length silicone grip-strip around the hem, and the fairly chunky (in a good way) YKK zip terminates al fresco at the neck with no zip garage to be seen.

Sportful Supergiara thermal Jersey - chest.jpg

On the back, around the lower stomach and below the bicep there's a light Roubaix two-layer thermal fabric which does an admirable job of keeping warmth in and the wind at bay, without being an actual windblock fabric. I, of the notoriously-crap circulation, was warm of hand while working reasonably hard in 5-degree windy temperatures with just a 100gsm merino base underneath.

Sportful Supergiara thermal Jersey - sleeve.jpg

The Supergiara's party piece is the opaque chest panel, which is a completely windproof layer sitting over the top of a non-thermal two-layer breathable fabric. This curls around to the back and over the shoulders, affording complete protection from the wind. I'm guessing the thinking here is to stop the wind while allowing the fabric underneath to breathe, unencumbered by the necessity for a windstopping membrane and instead relying on the physical air gap present between the fabric and front panel as you move around on the bike.

Sportful Supergiara thermal Jersey - front panel.jpg

Going below 5°C, I found myself needing a proper windblock layer – the Thermal Jersey pairing nicely with a light, almost gilet-grade fabric stowable race cape, but becoming pretty sweaty if paired with a proper hardshell jacket. Out on a 3-4°C offroad blast under a loose-fitting mountain bike hardshell, I found the thermal jersey a bit sweaty for my liking – not sopping wet, but not as breathable as you'd want a layer to be.

So far there's nothing screaming 'gravel' about the Supergiara Thermal Jersey, but what about the stowage that marked out the bib tights? You get three pockets across the back, just like every other cycling jersey. The two outer pockets are 14cm ('iPhone X') deep, the middle one about 18cm – so plenty long for a decent mini-pump, and I had no issues stocking a decent ride's worth of wintry kit in them.

Sportful Supergiara thermal Jersey - pockets.jpg

What did surprise me after the promise of Gravel-Specificity, was the lack of any kind of retention flap or artifice in the pockets, as I enjoyed recently on the Assos Mille GT Jacket. Indeed, the inner fabric of the pockets I found so slippery, I was fearful to stow my phone less an unexpected jolt see it ejected rearward, never to be seen again (at least in one piece). I feel Sportful really missed a trick here, and it's an odd omission given its work on the bib tights. Also, there's no zipped security pocket for car keys, cash or card.

So how 'gravel' is the Supergiara Thermal Jersey? Depends on your lens. If you equate 'gravel' with needing perhaps a thicker jersey than normal, one with a separate layer that blocks that biting hoolie coming down the glen as you mash the SPDs through peaty burn after peaty burn, winching yourself higher over the bealach to the promised bothy and a cup of hand-ground coffee, brewed in the enamel mug jauntily hanging off your seatpack, then maybe 'gravel'.

Sportful Supergiara thermal Jersey - shoulder.jpg

Marketing aside for a moment, the idea of making a warm jersey that blocks wind is nothing new. We covered a roundup of the best in our Winter Jersey Buyer's Guide, below, and Sportful already has a contender in the Bodyfit Pro Thermal Jersey. Reflecting on Stu's review (he's All Gravel, him) I couldn't help but feel the Supergiara Thermal was a jersey looking for a meme, and saying something's 'gravel' doesn't necessarily make it so. Had Sportful made the pockets of better kit retention, maybe a longer drop at the back to ward off mucky spray, maybe building in arm zip vents to assist thermal regulation when winching oneself up gravelly inclines the like of which no council roading engineer would ever dare tarmac, then I'd get it.

> Buyer's Guide: 20 of the best winter cycling jerseys

Price-wise, it's on a par with other technically loaded winter jerseys. It does a good job of regulating temperature in single digits, in or out of the wind. I don't think I enjoyed it as much as the Assos Mille GT, but that's £170. Back in 2016 I loved the dhb Aeron Full Protection Softshell; that has the same rrp as the Supergiara Thermal but is currently available from Wiggle for £60.

Overall, the Supergiara Thermal Jersey is a nice bit of kit. It's plenty warm, windproof where it mostly counts, fits snugly (the Large tested was spot on for size) and breathes as well as you can expect. Storage could be better but it's one to consider – even for gravel.

Verdict

Good choice for riding in cold winds, far from home, but storage could be better

road.cc test report

Make and model: Sportful Supergiara Thermal Jersey

Size tested: Medium

Tell us what the product is for

It's for people wanting to ride in cold, windy conditions.

Sportful says:

"A NEW BENCHMARK FOR WINTER RIDES

"We asked ourselves, how can we turn our gravel thermal jersey into a super-jersey? We examined all its features and took the jersey to the extreme, with a double-layer thermal fabric and almost perfect front protection. The front layers are separate, with the outer layer serving as a windproof barrier. There, now we've got it."

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Sportful lists:

PRODUCT FEATURES

2-layer thermal fabrics

Silicone gripper elastic on waistband

3 high-capacity back pockets

Full-length YKK® zipper

Reflective highlights

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
7/10

Well put-together.

Rate the product for performance:
 
7/10

Certainly stops the wind. Keeps you warm into low temps.

Rate the product for durability:
 
8/10

Early days, but no sign of any mechanical stress.

Rate the product for fit:
 
8/10

Pretty snug, certainly one for slimmer builds.

Rate the product for sizing:
 
9/10

Spot on in Large.

Rate the product for weight:
 
4/10

It's pretty heavy.

Rate the product for comfort:
 
6/10

Some sweatiness aside when under a shell, it's not bad.

Rate the product for value:
 
5/10

It's on a par with other technically loaded winter jerseys.

How easy is the product to care for? How did it respond to being washed?

Still looks new after a few months.

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Pretty well – and that's from someone with rubbish circulation.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

The fit. It's snug.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

The pockets need some sort of retention, and I'm really not sure about the looks.

How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?

I'd say the Thermal Jersey is on a par with other technically loaded winter jerseys such as the dhb Aeron Full Protection Softshell (£110 rrp but on sale for £60). It does a good job of regulating temperature in the single digits, in or out of the wind. I don't think I enjoyed it as much as the Assos Mille GT, but that's more expensive at £170 rrp.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? Not sure.

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Maybe

Use this box to explain your overall score

If the pockets had better retention, and maybe the hem was a bit lower, it could gain another half a star. As is, it does the job required to keep you warm in cold winds – but is it 'gravel'?

Overall rating: 7/10

About the tester

Age: 46  Height: 183cm  Weight: 72kg

I usually ride: Merida Ride 5000 Disc  My best bike is: Velocite Selene

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: A few times a week  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: cyclo cross, club rides, general fitness riding, mtb, Dutch bike pootling.

Living in the Highlands, Mike is constantly finding innovative and usually cold/wet ways to accelerate the degradation of cycling kit. At his happiest in a warm workshop holding an anodised tool of high repute, Mike's been taking bikes apart and (mostly) putting them back together for forty years. With a day job in global IT (he's not completely sure what that means either) and having run a boutique cycle service business on the side for a decade, bikes are his escape into the practical and life-changing for his customers.

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1 comments

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Freddy56 | 4 years ago
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That is a mess of a jacket. Trying  to do too much. That jacket's facther would tell it to relax and go to your room.

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