Rapha Brevet Insulated Jacket Review

This jacket from Rapha is somewhere between a windproof and a thicker winter jacket.

There are a few different elements to the construction. There is insulated material on the chest, back and arms, a breathable polyester under the arms and a thin showerproof fabric on the lower back and the lower torso. The fit is close and it’s quite short at the front, but it works well on the bike. There are a variety of colours and I like the visibility on the yellow version. There are no rear pockets as it’s designed to be worn over a jersey.

All this adds up to a jacket that is suprisingly breathable whilst able to shrug off the odd shower. This really adds to the usability of the jacket and I’ve found that I’ve used it more than I thought I would. However, one thing I have noticed is it’s not as warm as you might expect on really cold days. The insulated fabric is good at keeping you warm at the cafe but doesn’t really stop the cold wind from getting through. An extra base layer sorts out most of this issue and to be fair Rapha don’t market this as a full-on cold weather jacket.

It scores high on style points: the insulated parts of the jacket look cool and are not something you usually see on cycling jackets.

It’s very light, and that adds to the unrestricted nature of the fit. At a push you could fold it down to fit in a jersey pocket, but the insulation is quite thick, so this is really a jacket to put on at the start of a ride and keep on.

This is not one of Rapha’s most expensive jackets, and for style and the range of temperatures you can use it in I think it’s good value and I’ve had a lot of use out of it.

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