Giving some serious thought to getting one of these as my full on winter jacket but given the expense I’d like to be 100% sure first.

Has anyone here had one of these for a decent amount of time yet? I’d really love to know how they hold up to use with a Camelbak because my last jacket’s shoulders and back got utterly wrecked by the straps / rubbing.

On a more general note, will this suffice as actually “waterproof” rather than just resistant? I want this to be the jacket I put on when it’s cold and tipping it down.

Cheers. 🙂

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and here for 20% off using coupon:

http://www.tgstore.eu/

For a few years now I’ve been using a Gore Windstopper jacket. It’s a heavy fabric, think it’s a Fusion but probably different to what you’re looking at. No marks from backpack that’s used pretty much every ride.

My concern though, if it’s thin, is durability. For example, I have a Goretex Paclite waterproof that’s very light but when I’ve crashed, the fabric has torn and needed repair.

Windstopper will repel rain for a good few hours. Goretex will repel indefinitely. I would rather ride in Windstopper than Goretex.

Water resistant not water proof. I use a fusion (probably a version 1) on most of my road rides with a merino base layer and jersey under – it works well. I wore it for the Fred Whitton this year and I was very wet after the 5 hours of pissing rain. If I know its going to rain or I’m setting off in the rain I’d ware a waterproof for all other (cold-ish) rides I’d wear the fusion.

Having said the above I can’t decide if the gore phantom I had before was a better winter jacket/top. I just used to wear that and it did the same job as a windproof and thermal top….

OK, found it on Wiggle website. Newer version of Paclite I guess.

There’ll be no warmth as it’s a shell. Another option is to wear a Windstopper gilet (this will see off light showers) and keep that in your pack if it rains.

Ah – which Fusion are you talking about? What I have written above is for the Active Shell windstopper one – not the gore-tex one which will be water proof (confusingly they have similar names)

This one is GORE-TEX. Specifically GORE-TEX Active, which seems to be a different revision of the tech.

http://www.gore-tex.co.uk/product/gore-bike-wear-fusion-20-gore-tex-active-jacket/1354662014034/

Also : http://www.gore-tex.co.uk/remote/Satellite/content/outerwear-technologies

hi, I have one and been using it for about a year now.
It is very waterproof and is pretty breathable as well.
It has no signs of wear from shoulder straps (I ride to work in it with a backpack, off-road with a Camelbak), the fabric is pretty robust, it is lightweight too and stretchy in places, tho if you ride somewhere with lots of snagging trees/brambles/bushes that type of thing then I guess like all lightweight fabrics it will potentially tear.
I have fallen off a couple of times and nothing bad has happened other than it getting dirty.
It’s a great shell, rolls up small, fits well and stretches in the right places, as people have said above it is just that tho, it is not warm, it is waterproof and windproof but definitely not warm.
It also does not come with a hood, you can buy one separately, so water will ingress down the neck if it is totally p*ssing down, but to be honest a hood will not be that much help then anyway.
the rest of it will be dry tho.
It is expensive but it is a good cycling jacket and I use mine a lot so have had my moneys worth out of it.
plenty of reflectives on it as well so good enough for a commuting jacket as well as an mtb one, so only need one jacket for both.
wish they had done it in the green when I bought mine, was only black or red last year.

badlywireddog is the go-to man for knowledge of fabrics and durability, hopefully he will see this thread. 🙂

wish they had done it in the green when I bought mine, was only black or red last year.

Probably just boring old black for me.