I don’t have a turbo trainer, a smart bike, or even a dusty set of rollers in the loft. For some reason unbeknownst to me, and to the annoyance of my equipment, I’d rather spend time riding in the rain than on a simulation of cycling on a laptop. This means that I’ve been putting a giant stack of waterproof jackets through their paces in some particularly foul conditions to create my guide to the best waterproof cycling jackets.
The bulk of my testing took place over a particularly squally winter holed up in Cornwall in the far southwest of the UK. As the first place any Atlantic storms make landfall gale force winds and driving rain were commonplace, with some rides so wet they managed to kill a brand new front light in under an hour.
If you want to know a bit more about what I learned testing so many jackets I put together a piece on the six things I learned testing waterproof jackets, so you can learn along with me and not make some of the mistakes I did.
You may be a little surprised to find that the jacket I rate most highly is perhaps the least cycling-specific of the bunch. While there are a great number of very good waterproof jackets cut for road riding and aggressive gravel, the differentiation between them is smaller. The outright best waterproof jacket for cycling for me is the Albion Zoa Rainshell, not only because it’s excellent on the bike, but also because it’s a great option off the bike too.
The winners
Best overall
As ever, the acid test for me for what I deem the best overall for any category is what I reach for once testing has concluded. When the skies darken, the wind rises, and the horizontal rain starts battering the windows there’s no jacket I’d rather ensconce myself in for a day out.
As I alluded to in my piece on what I learned when testing these jackets, breathability is, in most cases, more important than the outright waterproof rating. The Pertex Shield Air membrane strikes a wonderful middle ground that keeps you dry but pushes back the point at which you get really sweaty much further back than many other options on the market.
Don’t be put off by the fact that it’s not Gore-Tex either, as all
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