This was my Dad's advice. "Pay as much as you can afford, never buy the first revision of everything; let other people find the bugs".
I should have listened when I bought a rain jacket for riding the bike. After the bike itself its the most expensive bike kit I've bought at £195.
I have been holding off writing this. It makes me sound "all the gear and no idea".
Now, normally, I'm Man At Aldi. I've a couple of soft shells, cost £14 and £19 each. The shorts, shoes and jerseys aren't bad. The shoes last 2 years at least of every day commuting, the shorts and jersey have reflective stickers that barely survive two washes, but you get what you pay for and for the price they're brilliant.
I have been holding off writing this. It makes me sound "all the gear and no idea".
Now, normally, I'm Man At Aldi. I've a couple of soft shells, cost £14 and £19 each. The shorts, shoes and jerseys aren't bad. The shoes last 2 years at least of every day commuting, the shorts and jersey have reflective stickers that barely survive two washes, but you get what you pay for and for the price they're brilliant.
It's not BAD per se. It's just got some great innovations that unfortunately don't quite work.
Let's start off positively, it's a tidy jacket, good fit, good cut for on and off the bike. Almost stylish for me. Nice detailing of magnetic closures over the zips. The pockets don't appear to get wet. The zip doesn't appear to leak. I've tried the keys on the karabina in the right forearm pocket; good idea but it's fiddly to do one handed and just feels a bit odds having your keys banging about on your forearm.
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| Nice detailing, if a bit overcomplicated. Love the green |
It's marketed a Rain Jacket. Made of a treated cotton called Epic Cotton, it's breathable. That bit works. However it's not water resistant enough, especially on the forearms (at the vanguard of getting wet) even after 'reactivating' it in the washing machine. My commute is 40 minutes. If it's raining, I might get 10 minutes of dry arms out of it. Maybe I should have tried Goretex instead. Maybe this is as good as it gets. But it's not Good Enough
After not many washes the colour is bleeding from the wrists. It's not massively important but it's a £195 jacket, I expect more..
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| The sleeve. Note colour bleeding |
The reflective tab on the back, apparently for holding a rear light, tore. It's never been used for holding a light, I caught it with my thumb whilst riding. Now it looks tatty. People keep noticing it. "Did you know your reflective tab is broken?". I'm going to have to cut it off. I can't imagine it lasts very long with an LED on it. If it goes when you're riding, you've lost your rear light. A more secure cotton loop would have been better, with a reflective strip sewn to it?
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| Tatty reflective light holder (unused) and magnet, showing colour bleed |
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| Rain flap with additional rare earth magnets and original flap magnet |
Under basic initial testing these problems should have been spotted, reported and fixed. Every time I wear the jacket my Dad's advice rings hollow in my ears.
