It’s impossible to overstate the effect on cycling clothing produced when the red scorpion of Castelli met the blue argyle of the team formerly known as Garmin-Cervelo. Named after the cyclist who first requested an item like it, the Gabba Jersey has become a staple in the peloton, regardless of clothing sponsorship, and set a benchmark that other manufacturers are scrambling to reach. With the Fawesome 2 Vest, Castelli brings the updates of the new Gabba 2 Jersey to the line’s sleeveless counterpart. The Fawesome rocks the same Windstopper X-Lite Plus fabric on the front and shoulders, where body meets wind. Windstopper X-Lite Plus has 1. 4 billion impossibly small pores per square-inch that guard your microclimate jealously. They don’t let wind or rain in, but they do let water vapor out. And when the marketing materials claim this fabric is windproof, you can actually believe them. A given material’s wind resistance is measurable in a rating called CFM, which stands for cubic feet per minute, used to measure the volume of air that passes through a fabric in, you guessed it, one minute. In order to be considered truly “windproof,” a fabric must register a CFM of equal to or less than 1. 0. All fabrics bearing Gore-Tex’s Windstopper branding meet or exceed this rating, so they are literally windproof. The vest’s back is made with Nano Flex Light instead of Windstopper X-Lite Plus, which — besides the lack of sleeves and pockets — is the Fawesome’s only apparent variance in construction from the Gabba Jersey. As far as we can tell, this is also the reason why it’s the Fawesome 2 Vest and the Gabba 2 Vest. Nano Flex Light is a flexible, thermally insulating material that’s been coated with countless nanofilaments in order to add water-resistance. It gives flex across your shoulders and ventilates better than the vest’s front, helping to regulate your body temperature for rides where the full Gabba 2 would be too warm. The Fawesome 2 is also packable, so you can…
