My daily commute is a 7-15km ride (depending on route) on open country lanes (on an old steel frame fixie rad bike) followed by 1 hour on a train then a 5 min walk.

I keep a waterproof jacket in my bag for those downpour days but it’s a boil in the bag job so it’s no good in anything else apart from torrential rain.

The last few days I’ve been wearing a merino base layer and a t-shirt/jersey on top. While it’s been fine in the evenings it was chilly this morning and I always find i’m cold on the train due to the aircon.

Can anyone recommend me a jacket/jumper/fleece thing that is:

– breathable (aka no boil in the bag)
– light
– packs small (want it to be in the bag every day)
– won’t stink with regular use
– will repel the water a bit if there’s some rain
– cheap

Any ideas?

I use an Aldi running jacket for the colder mornings (I have a very long downhill almost straight from the door). It was £4 in the discount section. Packs tiny and only struggles in heavy rain. I won’t suggest its ‘very’ breathable, but it has vents and I don’t generally over-heat in it. Along with my Northwave mtb boots its been my best purchase for a while.

Sounds like you need a windproof shell, rather than a jumper/jacket

Something like a howies dyfi or montane smock will will water resistant(ish), pack down tiny, make you feel a whole lot warmer, very breathable and very windproof

The dyfi has normal material on the back of the arms so is less water resistant than something made entirely out of pertex or similar

Check out montane featherlite smocks. They’ll pack down to the size of an apple

(on an old steel frame fixie rad bike)

Get yourself down your local charity shop then

Something like a howies dyfi or montane smock

nah, don’t generate enough warmth. OP look at Chrome Industries, or Swvre Clothing, they do some nice (if a tad expensive) stuff. Also there’s a running clothing company called Ashmei, they do a running merino hoodie thing that frankly is about the best bit of 3 season kit I’ve got right now

ALDI kit is great, use that.

nah, don’t generate enough warmth. OP look at Chrome Industries, or Swvre Clothing, they do some nice (if a tad expensive) stuff. Also there’s a running clothing company called Ashmei, they do a running merino hoodie thing that frankly is about the best bit of 3 season kit I’ve got right now

Surely that’s what makes the windshell a better option, you can still wear your layers underneath while on the train and at work (depending what you do), just stow the jacket when you’ve finished cycling

7-15km means I’d be sweating in whatever I’m wearing though!

Saw a Monntane Alpine Stretch Pull on that looked really nice but ended up snagging a columbia sweet as softshell which was very similar but full zip and 35 sheets in the sale.

will report back but it looks ideal

I bought the Aldi jacket in the recent sale that lets you zip off the arms and turn it into gillet. Win.