Sportful Matchy Cap

The Sportful Matchy Cap is a comfy, warm and water-repellent cap for cold-weather riding. It has a good amount of stretch, fits well under your helmet and can cover the top of your ears if you want. It does cost £21, though, which makes it more expensive than most other options.

As someone who hasn't felt the need for using a skull cap in the past, I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I have enjoyed using this – it fits under my helmet easily and comfortably and shrugs off water impressively.

Sportful classes this cap as medium temperature wear, for temperatures over 10°C, but for me this is a cap for colder days than that where just wearing a helmet leaves you a little chilly, or for wet days where you want to keep your head as warm as possible.

The polyamide and elastane cap features Sportful's 'No Rain' technology, which I found very extremely effective. Sportful describes No Rain as 'a proprietary nano-tech water-repellent fabric, with high durability and no water absorption'. And it works a treat – I found that water beaded well on the material, keeping my head dry when it rained.

The Matchy is available in black, 'red wine' and 'beetle', which I'd call dark green, colours Sportful has gone with to match its other winter cycling kit. I really like the green, though black is always a good option to have, as it's unlikely to clash with your kit. The construction quality is good too, with no stitching that could cause itching.

I've found this cap versatile too. I was able to wear it under my helmet for its primary purpose, keeping my head warm and dry, and also threw it in my bag when I went bike-packing for night-time use. It folds down small and weighs just 21g, which makes it a very handy extra.

> How should you dress for winter cycling?

Breathability was also impressive. I wore this on a few days where I wouldn't normally have worn something as warm as a skull cap, and surprisingly I didn't overheat too badly.

It also scored very well for comfort. The one-size-only cap covers most of your ears, or you could tuck it in behind your ears if you prefer. It came down to above my eyebrows and to the edge of my hair line on the back – giving you all the coverage you need.

I also paired it with the Oladance headphones I've been using without any issues, just popping the cap over the top. I can't comment on Shokz and similar headphones, but there are no issues with more conventional earphones.

Value

At £21 the Sportful Matchy is quite expensive, with the similar Altura Skull Cap that Matt liked coming in a little cheaper at £18.

The Lusso Thermal Skull Cap is a bargain at just a tenner, especially as this is the same price it was back in 2015 when Iwein rated it for its warmth and simplicity.

The Pearson Hard As Nails Head Warmer is a little more expensive than the Sportful but Steve found it warm in spite of it being thin.

Conclusion

I've enjoyed using the Sportful Matchy skull cap – and it's a product I'd definitely recommend for winter riding to keep your head both warm and dry.

Verdict

Comfortable and warm, with the bonus of a highly effective water-repellent layer