Winter jackets
With the Beast from the East only paying us a couple of short, sharp visits a year these days, British winters are milder than they used to be. Often keeping warm in wet weather is more of a priority, and that’s why a winter jacket that offers a good level of protection against the wind and rain as well as the cold is possibly more useful than one that you can wear in sub-zero temperatures.
The traditional winter jacket was made of a basic polyester mix known as ‘softshell’, but manufacturers are now using more technical third-party fabrics from Gore and Polartec, to increase water resistance and windproofing, and durable water repellent (DWR) coatings are common, even if a jacket doesn’t have taped seams and other foul-weather features
The use of more technical fabrics means winter jackets can be made less bulky.
Such is the performance of some of the best that it’s possible to wear just a base layer underneath in freezing temperatures.
As with other cycle clothing, different producers have varying approaches to the winter jacket, and then each rider will have their preferred way of dressing for winter – whether that’s layering up under a lighter-weight windproof jacket or choosing a single ultra-warm jacket. We’ve chosen three women’s and three men’s winter jackets that we think cover all winter eventualities
