SQUIRREL_13163191
The Endura Men's Pro SL 3-Season Jacket’s main strength is its flexibility – it’s perfectly capable of serving as a deep-winter jacket, but also as a three-season one.
This means that, although it’s still priced at more than £200, you might only need this one jacket rather than two to see you through the colder months.
The niggles include zips that are relatively hard to work with one hand, but that's something I found relatively easy to put up with.
Endura Men's Pro SL 3-Season Jacket details and specifications
The Endura Men's Pro SL 3-Season Jacket, as the name suggests, is designed to be a winter cycling jacket that can also be used in early-spring and late-autumn weather.
This flexibility comes chiefly from its two-piece design. Inside, there’s a sleeveless liner made from Primaloft Active Evolve insulation, which can be removed via two poppers at the neck.
This is unlike the highly regarded Castelli Alpha jackets, where similar liners are stitched in.
The jacket portion also has a thermal lining that extends down the arms, plus a waffle-like fabric on the tall neck, which is aimed at keeping draughts at bay without causing sweat build-up.
On the outside is a softshell fabric with a PFC/PFAS-free DWR (durable water repellent) treatment applied.
The jacket features zipped vents on the chest and inside of the forearm to aid breathability, in addition to an always-open vent on the upper back.
The zip is backed by a draught excluder and a garage at the neck, and you’ll find a dropped tail held in place by a single silicone strip.
The cut is slim enough to work as a single layer (with the gilet installed), although Endura has left enough space for the jacket to feature as the outer part of a layering system.
Reflective strips feature on the outer part of the lower forearm – useful when indicating in the dark – and there’s a reflective logo and tabs on the rear.
It’s available in two colours (black and Pomegranate), and in six sizes (XS-2XL).
A size large should fit someone with a 104-109cm (41-43in) chest according to Endura, but I found it fitted my 99-100cm / 39in chest very well, meaning you may need to size down from Endura’s suggestion.
Endura Men's Pro SL 3-Season Jacket performance
While there are warmer-feeling jackets available for dedicated deep-winter use, the Endura Pro SL 3-Season Jacket feels impressively breathable. I’d argue it feels like a halfway house between the Castelli Alpha Doppio ROS (£350 / $399.99 / €319.95) and Alpha Flight (£290 / $319.99 / €269.95) jackets.
At £209.99 / $299.99 / €239.99, it represents a more cost-effective (but still expensive) option, but the comparison is fair given it features the inner gilet-style liner.
Because this one is removable, I found I could more easily adapt the jacket to the prevailing conditions – the neckline popper attachment adds next-to-no extra bulk, and although it hangs loosely, getting in and out isn’t a big challenge.
I used the jacket for a close-to-freezing ride with the liner installed, and one in the low teens (celsius) with it taken out, and I didn’t feel it was under- or over-insulated for either.
Because the gilet features its own waist-hem gripper tab, it doesn’t ride up when fitted – a concern I had from the get-go given the way it attaches.
I found the outer fabric usefully water-resistant and windproof, while the vents allow a decent amount of air to move through the jacket when they're all open.
I struggled to work the zipped vents with one hand when wearing winter gloves, especially on the arms, which is mainly down to the zips’ narrow aperture. I struggled to get the leverage I needed to overcome their resistance.
That said, stopping by the side of the road and using my other hand to create an anchor point to pull against made the job far easier. It's a niggle if your riding group doesn’t like to stop, but fine if you grab a moment at a controlled junction or are riding on your own.
The waffle-style fabric at the neckline is also very good – it offers some breathability without feeling draughty – and the wrists are well designed, even if they would interact with gloves better if they sat on the skin a little more closely.
The security pocket isn’t the easiest thing to pull open and shut, given you have to pull the zip across your back rather than up and down. I found it hard to gain the leverage I needed to open it with one hand, although the metal tab makes it relatively easy to find.
In the grand scheme of things, though, this is a niggle. The essential parts of the jacket are all well thought through, from the full-length draught excluder to the main pockets on the rear, which are deep enough to hold food and accessories.
You could even carry the inner liner with you in one of those pockets, if the temperature is likely to drop significantly along the way.
How we tested | winter jackets
I tested this group of winter jackets through November and December 2024. While these months have been unseasonably warmer than average, I chose the coldest days to test thermal insulation and the warmer days to assess breathability.
Testing temperatures ranged from -2ºC with freezing fog to a balmy 14ºC, and included the usual unpredictable mix of light drizzle and heavy showers. This put the DWR treatments and any waterproof membranes to the test.
I also assessed cut, overall fit and sizing, as well as details of the design such as cuffs, collars, and pocket size and access.
Jackets on test
- Rapha Men’s Pro Team Winter Jacket
- Gore Spinshift Thermo Jacket
- Sportful Total Comfort Jacket
- Santini Vega+ Winter Jacket
- Assos Mille GT Hashoogi Winter Jacket S11
- Van Rysel Men’s Winter Road Cycling Jacket Endurance
- Endura Men's Pro SL 3-Season Jacket
- Altura Men’s Endurance Blast Jacket
Endura Men's Pro SL 3-Season Jacket bottom line
The Endura Men's Pro SL 3-Season Jacket has some unenviable competition when it comes to gilet-lined jackets, but it puts up a very good account of itself.
The design isn’t as sleek-looking as jackets such as the Santini Vega+ (£250 / $299 / €269.90) or Assos Mille GT Hashoogi Winter Jacket S11 (£265 / $335 / €300), nor its lined Castelli brethren. However, it’s notably cheaper than all of them – and, importantly, more flexible given you can ditch the liner.
The execution of the zipped vents and pocket could be better, but that doesn’t detract from what is a fundamentally usable jacket across a wider range of conditions than a regular deep-winter jacket.
SQUIRREL_13163191
Product
| Brand | endura |
| Price | 240.00 EUR,210.00 GBP,300.00 USD |
Features
| br_gender | mens |
| Features | Sizes: XS-2XL Colours: Black, Pomegranate Fabric: Polyester outer; Primaloft Evolve |
