Spring’s here and on and off for a while now, we’ve seen glimpses of what summer is like again. It seems that every winter I lose touch with just how good riding a bike in London during the summer is. That feeling you get that draws you outside, puts a smile on your face and encourages you to go for a ride, enjoying flying around town, meeting friends and slipping through traffic.
Though I also remember what it’s like when you get either one of those rare days where it’s so hot you just grimace at the thought of putting on a bulky jacket to protect yourself, or the days when traffic is thick and you have to filter through slowly, and at the same time, slowly bake in your jacket as the bike temperature starts to go over 100 degrees and you can’t wait to stop and get a breather.
It doesn’t need to be like this though. The number one rule of biking is to always be prepared, like most things in life I guess. Riding a bike in London as we all know is about cold, rain, heat and unfortunately the odd accident. How do you prepare for this? Get a versatile jacket that will protect you from the road and rain, and something that won’t act as baking foil like it does for the roast chicken you left behind before going for a blast on Sundays.
For a couple of years now I’ve had jackets that are adaptable and allow you to get the balance right so you can follow your whim or still feel protected. This is where the Rev’It! Typhoon summer textile jacket comes into play.
The Makers
REV'IT! (yes, it’s meant to have to look like that) is a Dutch company that’s been around since 1995, and are working hard to bring us Brits a more continental approach to biking, one that balances style with protection. This is perfect for us Londoners who like to look good whilst riding, as well as being protected against the seemingly inevitable. You don’t care about style? Really? I don’t believe it. Better stop reading here if that’s the case.
The Jacket
The £159 REV'IT! Typhoon summer textile jacket is a lightweight, but technical jacket that is adaptable in that it comes with a removable Hydratex inner lining that’s waterproof and breathable. In my experience, this isn’t common-place amongst summer jackets, with most just having an additional warming layer you can remove, not one to protect you against rain.
It’s a summer jacket first and fore-most, so it’s light and has huge mesh panels across the chest to draw air in and through to keep you well ventilated on the hottest days. There’s also these mesh panels along the length of each arm, so hopefully you won’t end up with sweat marks all over your t-shirt when you get off your bike. The back is also nearly one big mesh panel to draw the air out the back.
Appearance wise you’ve got to admit that the styling is a step beyond the traditional, and tired all-black biker clothing range we’ve had thrown at us for the last fifty years. You only have to look at what Italian bikers wear to realise there’s more to bike clothing than just dirt-hiding black clothing.
On the day I first got to road-test the jacket though, it was a cold April morning, so I had a t-shirt and thin fleece on underneath the jacket and left the lining in place. After pulling on the Velcro straps to customise the fit for myself I found the jacket just the right shape. Some of this is down to the Spica stretchable fabric they’ve used to give it a more flexible shape in terms of body shape and riding position and the rest is down to good overall design.
I was worried I wouldn’t be warm enough and took a neck-tube with me, but after five minutes riding it was obvious I was worrying about nothing and the jacket was warm enough so I took the neck-tube off to stop getting too hot. That’s +1 for the Typhoon in terms of suitability for London!
Even with a thin fleece on underneath the jacket and the jacket tightened to fit, there was still enough movement possible to ride the bike properly. Come the summer when you're wearing less, you can just tighten up the adjustment points and be just as comfortable.
Utility
The jacket is simple, but it cuts the mustard, it’s well thought out and has just enough pockets and features to make it more than just a good looking jacket, but an every-day usable one as well.
Two outer, zip-up pockets with rain-resistant flaps and one zip-up inner pocket store enough to hold your wallet, house-keys, ear-plugs, mobile phone, get-out-of-jail card and an mp3 player (for when you’re waiting for your latte at the cafe, obviously).
The inner lining doesn’t have any pockets, so at first look it seems you lose the use of the inside pocket, but Rev’It! Have thought of this though and secured the inner lining not with a zip like others have, but with poppers, so you can just undo one button and get access to the pocket. Smart.
Another simple feature but one I love is the adjustable collar button pusher. You can tighten it up on regular days and then on colder days when you’re wearing a neck-tube, you can loosen it off so it fits.
At the back of the jacket on the inside there’s a couple of standard features and one I particularly like; a pouch for the removable inner membrane (lining, to you and me). This means that on a longer ride, you can take the lining with you in the pouch and be comfortable and then if it rains, whip it out and put it back in to stay dry. Simple, but it’s this sort of thinking that makes the difference between an average jacket and a really good one.
A downside here though is that there’s no water-proof pocket, so you need to find somewhere else to keep your sensitive items like phone and wallet dry.
The other two features in the back are a 180 degree waist zip so you can attach the jacket securely to some trousers, and a pouch for a back-protector. I’ll talk more about this protection side of things next.
Protection
There’s no point buying a bike jacket for £160 if all it’s going to do is look good and keep you dry. It needs to stop you needing skin grafts and other horrible things that you can see on YouTube when people don’t wear the decent protective clothing. So, whilst this jacket is light to ensure it’s cool in the summer, it’s equipped to protect you if someone does something stupid like pulls out in front of you or you’re too busy checking out someone on the pavement and not noticed the lights have changed to red in front. Whoops.
The Typhoon jacket comes kitted with proper Knox CE-approved armour in the elbows and shoulders, and then some softer protective material in the back. Most brands just buy in the cheapest thing China has to offer, but Knox is a very well known protective-clothing element company, so you get a piece of mind here as well.
Rev'It! have done their homework and studied what happens when jackets go down the road. From this they've made sure that all sensitive stiching isn't in any of the high-risk areas where abbraision is going to tear it apart. They've included a technology they call Superfabric which has extra abbraision resistence qualities (five times better than leather) to the elbow and shoulder areas which are typical crash points.
The jacket comes with a pouch at the top, rear of the jacket for a separate back-protector; presumably from Knox. I would strongly recommend buying one of these to anyone who doesn’t have one, or who’s interested in this jacket.
The foam padding in the back isn’t high-tech and won’t save your back from a series accident, I think it’s there more for abrasive resistance. This jacket over-all is designed as a summer urban, or shorter-distance jacket where speeds are lower. If there is a weak point to this jacket it’s in the protection department as it won’t protect you from faster or more severe accidents.
Though with this in mind you have to remember that this is a summer jacket and is designed for really hot days where you might otherwise be tempted to wear even less effective protective clothing, or perhaps even known as we’ve all seen before, i.e. riders in t-shirts and jeans, or at worst, shorts (ouch!). So, you’re still doing better than those situations.
Riding around London, I felt protected enough though and I like my body the way it is, so don’t take this as saying the jacket falls short on value as it doesn’t, it’s just that you have to bear this in mind if you’re prone to more ‘spirited’ riding.
Quality
REV'IT! Is a brand that holds its own quite easily against the competition, never being grouped together with budget brands, but still offering both style and features that you’ll find in more expensive brands. With their 2008 range Rev’It! Seem to be punching above their weight and taking names. This jacket gives a lot of confidence in the brand.
The jacket is well made, both functionality and technically, offering all the right figure hugging style features, adjustable waist, arms and neck points, proper stitching that either isn’t going to fall apart in a couple of months or tear into two if happens to perform the protective task it’s designed for. There’s nothing ‘cheap’ with the jacket either.
There’s a lot of smaller points about this jacket which in my experience before with jackets are the sort of things that mean the jacket lasts for years and you retain trust in the brand, or you get so frustrated that you just end up giving it away. Things like the way the jacket is long enough at the back to keep you warm and protected when slung over a sports-bike, the replaceable zip pulls (I’ve had pulls come off a £1000 one-piece leather suit before and render it virtually useless) and the simple sleeve Velcro adjusters which mean you can get gloves over or under them easily. One thing to bear in mind though with the sleeves is that they can accomodate medium-length cuff gloves on the inside of the jacket, but not full-length ones, i.e. track ones. This may sound obvious, but there's a growing trend for long-cuff gloves. This came to light as we're also testing the Rev'It! Stealth gloves. These were better suited over the jacket sleeves, not under. They do go under, but they're a little fiddly to get on and off quickly.
Conclusion
Overall, this jacket performs great. Price-wise, it’s neither cheaper nor over-priced compared to the competition. Technically it does a great job, being both comfortable in all areas, adjustable, cool for the hottest days, warm on colder ones and dry on wet ones. As mentioned, if it has any weak points, it’s with the lack of better back protection and a dry pocket for if it rains. Both of these points though sit outside the core of what this jacket’s about though; a light and cool jacket for summer days where you might otherwise wear less clothing, or suffer in too much. All in all, REV'IT! have managed to pull off a feat; combining style with practicality and value for money.
Related Links
» www.revit.eu
