A cap under the helmet does two jobs in the rain, and only one of them is keeping your head dry. The other is keeping water off your face, which matters more than most riders expect until they've spent an hour squinting through spray. The Spring Fall Rain Cap P1 from ASSOS is built around a short structured brim that catches runoff coming off the helmet shell and directs it forward and away from the eyes, rather than letting it sheet down onto your glasses. The fabric is a water-repellent treated textile rather than a thermal knit, so this is a wet-weather piece first and a warmth piece second.

Fit under a helmet is the hard part with any cap, and this one uses a low-profile crown that doesn't add bulk where the retention cradle sits. There's no seam ridge running across the top of the head, so helmet pads seat the same way they would without a cap underneath. The rear panel extends slightly to cover the back of the head and the top of the neck, which is where cold water tends to find its way in when you're riding into weather with your head down. Elastic at the rear holds the cap in place without the constricting band feel that makes a cap uncomfortable over a three-hour ride.

Shoulder-season conditions are where this earns its keep. In genuine winter cold you want an insulated skull cap with ear coverage; in summer you want nothing at all. Spring and fall rain sits in between, where the air is cool but not cold and the problem is water rather than temperature. The Spring Fall Rain Cap P1 targets that window specifically, offering enough coverage to take the sting out of a 50-degree drizzle without overheating you when the sun breaks through at the halfway point.... Read More