This is embarrassing but I've got to admit that after reading
John's review of the Cadence Sprinter fleece I wanted one. Now I hate buying bike specific clothing, I realize that sounds dumb but dudes who pay $150 for some "cycling knickers" have always seemed to be trying way too hard for my tastes. I'm way more of a thriftstore Dickies kind of person. So right away buying a hipster bike specific fleece was a hard one for me, then to top it off I'm buying it because I read about it on Prolly, which also made me feel lame. Not that Prolly's blog is lame or that John is lame, because I happen to be big fans of both. Like everybody else in the fixed gear world I check the blog a bajillion times a day and consider John to be a friend and ally. It just made me feel like one of those 16 year old fanboys who's only cycling reference is
Prolly is Not Probably (aka Sheldon Brown 2.0).
Anyway, after seeing John's post I had to have one because it reminded me of an old cycling jacket that I love but that doesn't fit very well.
They've got similar windbreaker fronts
and breathable backs
forgot to grab a pick of the back of the Cadence fleece
The Cadence fleece adds a hood and front pockets, but does not have the windbreaker material on the arm. I'm not trying to compare the two in terms of features since obviously Dustin was not trying to duplicate my old jacket, but I do think it's worth noting the differences between what I'm used to and this new piece. Between the two pieces of outerwear though, I've got to give it to the Sprinter, the cut for riding hood, the front pockets, and the magnetic back pockets definitely give it the edge in terms of functionality.
Since John already
wrote a very thoughtful review I'll send you over there for that, what I would like to add is that it came with a water bottle, keychain, stickers, and a nice booklet of the whole collection. The extra stuff was awesome but my favorite add on was that it also came with a thank you on the box which is always a nice touch and helps you feel good to support a rider's company.
I will say though that I find the name of the jacket to be a misnomer as usually when something is called a fleece you'd expect it be made of fleece material and this is not. (at least what I've always considered "fleece" to be. You know that soft snuggly fabric that Patagonia has made millions off of). It's more of a thick cotton.
The other thing that I was shocked at was the price, $74. When I bought it I was blown away that something made by Cadence was only $74, as there are very few quality things you can buy made in America for a reasonable price. When it arrived though the mystery was solved as the tag revealed that it was in fact made in China. Now I'm not trying to take shots at anybody, hell I work at a bike company who's bikes are made in Taiwan. The reason we do this is so that the things we design and sell are attainable and affordable, I assume this is Cadence's reasoning too. It's my mistake for making an assumption, and I always assumed that Cadence's stuff was all sewn in the U.S.* For $74 it's still a hell of a nice garment and a bargain regardless of the country of origin.
*after consulting the catalog that came with my fleece, some of their stuff is U.S. made and some is overseas
For those of you who may be thinking about one you should know that it's cut slim, I'm a fairly wide dude and it's a little tight in the shoulders and the sleeves are just barely long enough, but it will definitely work (I have long arms as well). In case you were wondering, I purchased a large.
I'm stoked to own and eventually ride the crap out of it. It's affordable, has nice details like the magnets on the pockets and reflective piping, looks swell, is from a rider based company and is a nice cool weather weight.
![billydeesign[1]](http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5002/5281387636_a7528b13b4.jpg)