What’s the deal with down jackets for mountain bikers, I notice a few folks have been after them?

They’re too hot to bike in.
I can’t imagine they’re any good in the rain.
And they’re not cheap.

After ride faffing about I’d guess.

However there’s an old guy up my way who bikes through the year in one, crazy!

Need to sleep anywhere apart from your bed & thery’re great. Like wearing your own duvet. Suppose mtbers want them for bivvys or camping.

Crap for activity, wonderful for mooching.

: P

Most of the stuff mountainbikers have they don’t really need.

What mountainbikers want is a whole other matter though!

Yes, not really bikers attire I suppose, I presume it’s a crossover, outdoors types? Does it really bother you that much?, if so, you’re very sad!, sorry, can’t think of anything much better to say, they’re not likely to ride in them, too warm.

Camping. Dog walking. Dogging.

Anywhere you expect to be chilly and not doing much.

I bike in a Rab down gillet sometimes. Fits in the comeback for most of the ride and gets shoved on if I have to stop, but mostly its there for the 20min downhill road ride back to my house. Especially good for night rides, I now no longer take hours to warm up when I get back to house. Brilliant. I also have a Rab down jacket which I use for the same when winter walking.
Never worn for posing…

Mine is great for 24 hour events together with some big trousers (I use snowboarding ones) for inbetween laps.

My down jacket (despite being both a ‘fashionable’ brand and a sensible dark grey) just attracts ridicule rather than looking ‘poseable’ in.

Rab is essential wear for those extreme trips to the corner shop for Gentleman’s magazines.

….what, so your curtain twitching neighbours don’t recognise you? 😆

Perfect to throw on after a cold winter ride. Pack small to carry as warmth for when stopped etc

Perfect winter post-ride bothy/bunkhouse/camping wear.

I wear mine when climbing in winter all the time.

Couldnt imagine anything worse to ride in though! Would get far to warm!

Toasty warm for general crap weather arsing about. I’ve got a Fat Face gillet, and between Nov-Feb it is pretty much the only coat worth putting on for none riding duties, unless it is pissing down in which case a waterproof is much better.

the point of down is that it’s light, and compressible. it really is fantastic stuff.

if you’re not carrying your down jacket up to a mountain base-camp, then you bought it for fashion reasons – which is of course absolutely fine.

it’s rubbish if you get it wet.

the ‘shell’ of the jacket should be very thin – and therefore delicate, it’s only a matter of time before your expensive down jacket is held together with gaffa tape.

how many geese do you think die so that we can stuff a jacket with their feathers? – i’m not really bothered by this, but my daft GF would never wear fur, but will happily wear her down jacket…

worse than useless in the rain.

i have rab down coat and a phd down gillet. the rab down coat is falling apart due to bad workmanship, second rab garment to do this, there won’t be a third. the phd is excellent in the dry. i also have a phd belay parka which is synthetic insulated with a goretex shell and it’s fantastic. not quite as compressible as down but not by much, it’s great, and half the cost. I know where my loyalties lie now.

phd designs made by little old ladies in sheffield. ace

So assuming you’re going to get wet, what would you use instead of down?

Primaloft

“So assuming you’re going to get wet, what would you use instead of down?”

Montane/Buffalo?

Not that I own one but they are warm and light and marketed to outdoor types. Kayaking is the same, nearly everyone has one to pull on after they get off the rive.

If you don’t want down then some softshell jackets are exceptionally warm (If they are deep pile) and can handle a bit of rain that are you are likely to get walking between the car/cafe/pub/bikeshop.

I have a pile and pertex montane jacket which I live in through winter.

basically when cycling in the wet you have to accept that you are going to get wet. either from sweat inside a waterproof (it can’t breathe when covered in water and/or mud) or from the outside via rain through non-waterproof clothing. so it’s about staying warm when wet. this means wool or an advanced synthetic baselayer. i favour merino as it doesn’t make you smell.

cycling – combination of : merino wool baselayer, range of weights of cycling jersey from gossamer weight motocross to thick offroad winter jersey, lightweight softshell on top if it’s really foul.

non-active – primaloft insulated jacket, shower or waterproof. Hagloffs make a good showerproof insulated jacket , I have one, i think it’ the ‘barrier hood’. very good (but the hood is too small for a climbing helmet incidentally, so not for use as a belay jacket as they advertise) and then there is the phd stuff I mention above, I have the zeta belay goretex, in all-black (special colour in the winter sale). it’s almost too warm for ordinary use. phd’s sizing are vast – warning.

the key issue becomes (again) a psychological one. we are subject to marketing that promotes isolating us and “protecting” us from our environment. generally our environment here in the uk is very nice, friendly and safe. bit wet, sometimes chilly, but that never killed anyone. you can dry off when you get home, because one way or another you are going to get wet in the rain. enjoy it and enjoy being part of nature not protected from it? become one with the moisture man.

just don’t buy pile/pertex buffalo. you will look like a c*ck and everyone will laugh at you.

sometimes chilly, but that never killed anyone.

Uhhmmm….

trailertrash – Member
just don’t buy pile/pertex buffalo. you will look like a c*ck and everyone will laugh at you.

Who cares what the shivering people think?

i wear my rab jacket on location shoots which involve standing around in the cold all day. never worn it on the bike as it would be a sweatfest.
15 years old and the down still holds it’s loft.

It’s warm it’s light and therefore great on cold crisp winter mornings, I like mine and to be honest I’m never BOT (Bang On Trend) according to a fashoinista freind, but then I buy clothes based on practicality, and intended usage, looks is normally secondary, then again most of my non practical or work wardrobe is jeans/tshirts/shirts so I wouldn’t listen to me

ahwiles – Member

if you’re not carrying your down jacket up to a mountain base-camp, then you bought it for fashion reasons – which is of course absolutely fine.

hmmm… or have it for all the other outdoor activites mentioned – stuffed in a bag for camping/bivvying (as you said – light and compressable), packed in a car as a useful jacket to keep you warm pre/post ride (my goretex TNF jacket keeps me nowhere near as warm as my down one does – therefore its not a fashion choice).

i’ve never been to basecamp, but i’ve used my alpkit down for 5 years, and use my rab primaloft jacket an aweful lot…

but my point is; if you’re not carrying it up a mountain, you don’t need the lightweight-ness of down.

down jackets cost more than synthetics.

they’re more delicate – no point wrapping all that light down in a heavy rugged jacket.

you can buy synthetic jackets that are just as warm, they’ll be a bit heavier, but cheaper and less sensitive to care.

down jackets/sleeping bags shouldn’t be stored compressed – cos you’ll knacker the feathers, you need to store them hanging, exposed to the air. (don’t store your £200 down s’bag in it’s stuff-sack)

Down is great stuff, but it’s not perfect. Synthetics offer more for less for almost everyone, and they’re warm when they’re wet.

if you’ve got a down jacket and you like it, then great. keep it and use it. preserve our resources, etc. but don’t think that a warm jacket has to be down, it probably does if you want to take it up K2, but for everyone else there’s the cheaper option of a more robust synthetic jacket that will be warmer in the rain that you’re more likely to see on a hill in Britain.

I started wearing down jackets when I lived in Banff (Alberta, not Banffshire)…when it’s as cold as -41, they’re the best thing to wear and near enough everyone had one or several.

I wear a Penfield Outback down gilet for much of the year, I also have a Finisterre Etobicoke (Primaloft) which packs down small, repels showers well and is deceptively warm.

Its basically like having a sleeping bag for the upper half of your body. They’re great for standing around in the cold for extended periods or for being comfortable in the cold without bothering with loads of layers.

“just don’t buy pile/pertex buffalo. you will look like a c*ck “

But a nice warm and comfortable one. They are definitely a case of substance over style.

I got my down jacket for a hiking and camping trip in Nepal, as bag capacity was limited. I was glad of it. At top camp it was minus lots and I was in that, a thick woolly jumper I had bought in Namche, and my 3/4 season sleeping bag.