The Giro Frisco Jacket's design owes less to the neon, garish inclement weather kit you see in the pro peloton and more to the military tradition that brought the iconic trench coat out of the trenches and onto metropolitan streets. The Frisco's DWR cotton shell is a marriage of that classic styling and contemporary technology. It improves on the elemental protection that the British officer corps relied on in 1914 and adds a moisture-managing, gentle-handed, synthetic mesh liner that would be counted a luxury in a pre-nylon era.

The rear cape vent provides some reprieve if the jacket's protection proves as resilient as the defensive lines at Liége. If even this isn't enough, the full-length front zipper lets you quickly dump excess heat. On days when the elements bring out their own Big Bertha artillery, the zipper's storm flap, adjustable cuffs, and billed hood are a convincing deterrent to any would-be offensive. A reflective strip on the cape vent flap keeps you visible in the low-light, foul conditions when you'll most appreciate the Frisco's considerable elemental defense.