Great vest overall. It packs down small but it still works very well at keeping you warm without overheating you, and giving you legit, fully functional pockets to boot. The colors look pretty feminine but if you can get over that its a great vest.

My one beef with this item is that I hate hate hate the zipper. It has a double zipper and I can't help but wonder, what is the point? It makes it harder to zip up on the go, the bottom zipper just doesn't catch as well as the bottom of a regular zipper. Plus, the bottom starts to unzip its way upwards sometimes. I can't think of a situation where it would be functionally beneficial to unzip this article from the bottom up, leaving it tethered at the top of the zipper, vs. just zipping it down. The top zipper is also of the very large chunky variety typical with Capo and has a tendency to suck up the windflap behind the zipper and get stuck. I much prefer Castelli style zippers that are small and not robust enough to suck up rather thick cloth and get stuck.

The zipper drops it from 4.5 to 3 stars for me. If you like Capo zippers, this probably won't bother you. Other than the zipper this is a phenomenally functional piece.

I don't know how good these actually are, but the top of the line chamois is not the one in these bibs. I figured it wasn't going to be giordana's top of the line chamois based on the excellent price so I took the risk when I bought them. I'll let everyone know how they are once my GF tries them out, which probably won't be until May, given that the 17 degree forecast for today in Minneapolis seemed balmy compared to the negative highs we've had in previous days.

That being said, I can't speak from experience with women's specific chamois, but Giordana makes great men's chamois (my favorite, or second favorite depending on the day). I have shorts with both the top of the line Cirro and the bottom of the range MC3. Both are comfy and do not chafe. I would say the main difference between the two is that the Cirro is comfortable forever, and the MC3 is only comfortable for the first 1-2 hours, although definitely wearable after that and far superior to other bottom of the range chamoises.

Overall the construction looks solid--just like all of the Giordana men's shorts I own--and for women who desire a decidedly neutral, non-feminine color palette, these shorts look great. Black and white matches any other gear and you don't risk any of the dreaded see-through factor. For $50 I don't really think you could do better.

I'll update on my GFs opinion on comfort, fit, etc. once she has received them, perhaps tried them on the trainer, as they are a gift not yet given.

I don't really know if it gets better than this as far as bib tights go. I'm 6'1", 185 with a 32" waist and a 32.75" inseam and L fits awesomely. If you have longer legs, it may be worth your while to size up, but they work for my relatively short legs.

The material is soft, breathable, and warm enough to deal with late fall riding in Minneapolis. The chamois is probably the best one I've ever tried--now that I've ridden this, I'm a bit bummed that I don't have any Castelli bibs for the summer.

My one qualm with these is the transition of the interior brushed fabric from black to red. The effect is very cool around the knees; not so much around the crotch. If things move around in a certain way, you end up with your dong outlined nicely in red. It's not really an issue unless you forget about it and start walking around, although this feature could be a plus to the Mario Cipollini's of the world.

I must start off by saying that I returned this jacket, it just didn't fit me right and it slotted in poorly with my particular needs. That being said, it is probably one of the three nicest articles of cycling clothing I have ever donned.

My reason for return were twofold. 1st, the cut was a more relaxed fit than I was looking for. 6'1", 185, 32" waist and the midsection of the jacket was too loose for my liking. The arms also seemed a bit short, but I have long arms. I would have also liked more of a droptail in back. 2nd, I was planning on using this jacket as my warm jacket in the "visible jacket" category, but it wasn't warm enough for the 2.75 mile trip to work in Minneapolis on 20 degree days. I was hoping it could do double duty as a winter trainer/commuting jacket (since I don't have the money to have separate jackets), but it didn't quite fit the bill.

That being said, if you were going for a longer ride where you had time to get warmed up, it would be absolutely perfect. At least by my standards, it seems like over a longer ride it could go down pretty low temperature wise if you wore a good wool baselayer. The material is better than that of any other jacket you are wearing (especially at $75) and would be great at preventing "cold by sweat" that happens on longer rides in the cold.

Although this piece didn't work for what I wanted, I have to give it a great review because the quality is absolutely stupendous. I think the similar Xenon is what I'm looking for in fit after a bit of researching. Unfortunately, it can't be had for this price.

Arm warmers are not meant to be a glamour item. Their simple job is in their name, yet many fail to live up to it. The ArmSkins are easy to put on/take off on the bike, fit snugly without slipping (L/XL on 6'2'' 185lbs with longish arms), pack away well into jersey pockets, and most importantly, succeed in keeping your arms warm. There are no annoying grippers and the non-wrist cuff portion seems to have been engineered to not even have a seam which could possibly be a source of irritation. I can wear these with a short sleeve jersey and base layer down to ~40 and be comfortable (but living in Minnesota probably has me more used to being a bit chilled than most). They are not windproof, but I generally find warmers that are too windproof a bit disconcerting (the feeling of having my arms windproofed while my torso remains unwindproofed is a feeling that really bothers me). I haven't tried them in the rain. If you like extremely technical gear these may not be for you. If you want something simple that works, pull the trigger.

This product excels at putting large Castelli logos on your feet, and little more. It's not really apparent what these actually do as far as function goes. They certainly do not add any warmth to your feet or even do that great a job of keeping your shoes clean. To get them over your shoes, the fabric is stretched so thin that there's no way they are providing any real amount of insulation or even good shoe protection. If the fabric looks thick in the picture, that is only because the bootie appears to be worn over a foot versus a shoe.
They are starting to develop several holes already, and not just where toe/heel touch the ground. The Castelli logo appears to be a weaker stitch as there are starting to be several holes there as well as a small (but growing hole) where the bootie covers the buckle closure thingy.