Lightweight rain jacket

Cycling Kit Kit - What to Buy
1

(Here’s a modified post from a recent Discord thread I started. I have added a further note about what I have decided.) I am looking to buy a lightweight, waterproof, “packable’ jacket. (I have resigned myself to the fact that I will have to pay a lot for that.) I am in Australia, so that has some limitations on what I can easily get. [Note that availability of S or M sizes online was limited when I posted this.]
Suggestions I received were:

  • Pedla - Women’s Deflect 2.0 Jacket
  • the mission jacket from 7mesh
  • MAAP Atmos Jacket
  • Ornot Magic Shell is great for light/medium rain. It doesn’t have a waterproof zipper, so if you’re looking for downpour proof, not where I’d look. But it’s light, packable, waterproof, breathable, comfortable. If it’s hot, I don’t think the Magic Shell would be a great idea.
  • For heavy downpours or hot weather, I have an old Gore that I wear; the current equivalent is the Glidewheel or Spinshift.

What I have bought: One of my main concerns was getting the right size and knowing what it was going to feel like when I was wearing it - especially as jackets like this are expensive. So as I was going to Melbourne for a visit I went into the MAAP store so I could actually hold a jacket, feel what it was like, and try it on. I discovered my ideal size would be between a Small and a Medium - I chose the Medium so I would be sure it fitted if I had more than one jersey layer. It was lightweight, looked OK and felt nice - so I bought the Atmos jacket (Alloy ‘colour’). Being able to try on a physical garment rather than just guessing about an online only garment was the deciding factor. (Plus I made use of the Escape Member Discount!)
Note that I haven’t used it yet, so can’t give a review. I will have to psyche myself up to actually ride in the rain :rofl:

3 Likes
2

I have the POC Supreme rain jacket. POC is selling it for 50% off now, perhaps to clear its existing stock? It’s light and it packs small, small enough to fit in the downtube storage of my MY24 Santa Cruz Stigmata. I don’t ride in the rain so my rain jacket is something that I will only use when I am caught out in the rain. It seems to be quite waterproof in the few times I used it. It’s not the easiest jacket to remove because of the elastic band on the sleeves. I wish the jacket has two zippers that allows it to be unzipped from bottom up.

2 Likes
3

Are you still able to find options in Gore Shakedry fabric?

4

I didn’t go looking for this; but I understand no-one is using this fabric, so I suspect that it might be by random that you could find one.

5

So I haven’t had too much success in testing this in downpours, but for the rain I’ve encountered, I quite liked the Albion rain jacket.
I’ve got the previous version, and I guess it’s just gotten better from the looks of it:

May not be as right fitting as a Gabba R :wink: