gore-tex jacket owners.. any good..?

I know there’s a debate over cycling jackets that could fill a forum all of it’s own.. so I would like to hear some positive first hand experiences..

will I really boil to death?
will I really have to bin it the first time it touches a twig?

or is gore-tex a common sense no-nonsense solution to modern outdoors living..?

I’ve moved out into the countryside.. given up most of my vices and I’m living a healthy outdoors lifestyle.. surely it’s time that I bought a goretex hardshell to layer up with rather than bowing to my inverse snobbery and relying on £10.99 millets rain macs or old ski jackets or plain old toughing it out..

I know that there are probably better materials for cycling use.. but I’m looking for a decent compromise for all round use and gore-tex looks sensible..

what do you know..?

I would get a cheaper jacket for cycling in – otherwise you will be crying when you take the arm off on a fall.

I’ve had one for 7 years, still going strong in all weathers and attacked with twigs, rocks and thorns

yeS.

I have a GAlvin Green Goretex paclite which I got at an auction and its great. I’ve had it for about three years and Paid £40 for it and got leggins.

And a shitload of brand new golf balls…. anyone play golf need some balls.

OK, my thoughts so here goes …

Only wear Goretex jacket when it’s raining and it’ll work brilliantly, provided you are wearing a wicking base layer.

When it’s not raining or it’s just a light shower, wear Gore Windstopper.

Goretex is not durable, mine’s has to be repaired after off’s. Paclite one.

HTH. 🙂

I have a gore-tex (gore cross jacket) and its very tough. Had it for years and fallen several times on road and rocks and not a single tear. Sometimes gets a bit sweaty but never that bad and comfortable to ride in all day.

eVent is a more breathable material, I bought a DHB Wickham eVent jacket before Christmas and it’s ace.

As above, only wear it when it’s actually raining hard, don’t use it as a windproof while exercising hard, because you will get wet inside it.

My top tip is to use a paper hole punch and punch a series of holes down the inside of the sleeves, all the way from armpit to wrist. There are few more unpleasant sensations than lukewarm sweat running down the inside of a jackets sleeves and wetting your gloves.

I’ve got a Paclite jacket and will only wear it when it’s raining when I set off and will continue to rain all day. Otherwise I’ll use a gilet and just get wet.

Goretex = Ford
Paclite, pro shell etc = model, e.g. Fiesta

Not all Goretex is created equal….

(and my shiny new bargainlicious Montane Meteor In Entrant DT was awesome today – great cut, simple, light, really dry (as should a new jacket) and surprisingly not as sweaty as I expected)

http://www.montane.co.uk/products/men/shell/meteor-dt-jacket/237

I’d go for eVent, it’s just more breathable. Paclite is delicate, nasty stuff. Been using a new fabric called Gore-Tex Active Shell that’s not on sale until autumn 2011 and it’s light years ahead of other Gore-Tex fabrics I’ve used for breathability and is nice and light as well.

General Gore-Tex fabrics like Performance Shell are fine for general wandering about, low exertion stuff, but you will boil if you use it on the bike or for running or hammer it up some alpine peak.

Or if you run cool and don’t mind your kit looking like a sack of spuds, Paramo works very well. Though not on the bike, where it’s too warm.

Zip vents under the arms and adjustable cuffs

thanks for your thoughts everyone..

I’ve beeen looking at stuff with good underarm zip vents etc.. I bought a budget softshell during the cold snap.. but as soon as the temp rose above zero it’s like being cooked alive.. I was finding myself drawn towards paclite stuff for obvious reasons.. but if it’s nasty maybe I’ll hold off from buying anything until the Active Shell comes out in the autumn..

I want to make a wise investment cos this isn’t the sort of thing that I have ever been able to justify spending a large amount on.. hence the multi-purpose compromise..

I’ve got a Gore Alp-X Paclite jacket and it’s very good.
As others have said, wear wicking layers and slow down a bit, you’ll be fine.

I haven’t got any Windstopper jackets and have used it as a windproof overjacket on dry, cold, windy days over winter – you won’t drown in your own sweat as long as you leave the hem loose and unzip the front a little.

Was very expensive though, and a cheap Aldi waterproof I’ve had for years, whilst not as breathable, is still pretty good and gets used when it’s very, very muddy.

I only ever wear goretex, except when I’m on the bike. For that my trusty altura altitude has been brilliant for years. Sure it isn’t as breathable but it’s not something that has been an issue in nearly 4 years. Tough as old boots too, which is more than can be said for the paclite jacket I had for a while…

My top tip is to use a paper hole punch and punch a series of holes down the inside of the sleeves, all the way from armpit to wrist. There are few more unpleasant sensations than lukewarm sweat running down the inside of a jackets sleeves and wetting your gloves.

While your at it crikey can you get me a long weight and a glass hammer?

😉

paramo is the business through the winter nice cut for the chunkier of us.Gore windstopper fabric found in their phantom jacket can be worn year round for all but the most horrific of days. Also sleeves pop of for spring and autumn rides. Dont need another jacket especially gore tex the areas under a pack become intolerable.

See, if you ride your bike a lot instead of testing sofas, you learn little tricks over 20 odd years…

Close up….

I have a Goretex Paclite jacket which is indeed light but is still inclined to lead to overheating. I accept I am not a lightweight but I do get an awful lot of condensation inside if it’s not really cold. It is also very flimsy. I had to patch an area on the back where my pack had worn a small hole. Efficiency also decreases markedly when dirty which apparently you get when mountainbiking. It costs me a fortune in specialist washing stuff and reproofer. I would try something else but I have spent so much already I am sort of locked into Goretex ownership. I also own a phantom and that is really brilliant but not entirely waterproof.

It costs me a fortune in specialist washing stuff and reproofer.

No suggestions for the reproofer, but soap flakes from Boots are as good as any expensive tech wash and much, much cheaper.

I have some of the very lightest weight Paclite in bot walking and cycling jackets. Both are around 5 years old and are used extensively. The walking jacket has been on most of my Munro trips – including the gabbro of the Cuillin – and has yet to suffer any damage.

If you use soap flakes as standard and only a specialist washer occasionally, you’ll be spot on. Before you use either, you should put your washing machine through a hot, empty wash to remove any traces of detergent.

If you want a wee bargain. . . [/url]

I use a northface gore-tex xcr jacket for downhill racing when its pants weather. I have had lots of crashes and the jacket was fine, it lasted 3 years until I out grow it. Only thing that went wrong was the draw string above the storm flap snapped.

Not sure what you guys do to them, I suggest not buying cheap crap, or ebay fakes. You pays you money and you gets what you get, buy cheap buy twice.

I bought a new one by the way, it cost me £350, and included softshell windstopper.

If ya going to eat dirt and then shake like a crapping dog afterwards ie uplifts, get yourself to oxfam. could you imagine the bike porn you could buy with the money to replace a new bells an whistles shell.

You’ve punched holes in a Goretex jacket? 😯

What’s the point of wearing a jacket then?

My Paclite is at least 10 years old and is still waterproof. I consider that value for money. 🙂

gore tex is far to hot for big lads and steep hills.

Not sure what you guys do to them, I suggest not buying cheap crap, or ebay fakes. You pays you money and you gets what you get, buy cheap buy twice.

There you have it folks, if you’ve fallen off your bike and ripped your Gore-tex jacket you either bought cheap crap or you got it off eBay… it had nothing whatsoever to do with catching it on sharp rocks/chainrings/brambles etc. 🙄

Bit of gaffer tape on a Gore-Tex/Down jacket just shows you’ve been using properly.

Not exactly the height of fashion anyway, are they? 🙂

My Mountain Equipment Morpheus is really good, very waterproof and fairly breathable. It was a warranty replacement for a pac lite which leaked through the material from new, i wouldn’t have had it otherwise.

£4 for a golf ball! to scared to rip it!!!!

Not sure what you guys do to them, I suggest not buying cheap crap, or ebay fakes. You pays you money and you gets what you get, buy cheap buy twice.

It kind of works like this – there a quite a few different types of Gore-Tex, some are tough and tend to be heavier some are light – Paclite for example, is marketed as an ’emergency waterproof’ – and tear a lot easier. Pro Shell is their top-end mountaineering stuff, what replaced XCR and is generally quite abrasion resistant (though it depends on what face fabric’s used), Performance Shell is kind of ‘normal’ Gore-Tex, heavier, a little less breathable, still quite tough, Paclite is stuff it in your pack in case it rains kit.

Paclite tears pretty easily on contact with sharp objects and isn’t the most abrasion-resistant fabric out there because the face fabric – the bit on the outside – is specced to be light rather than strong. I snagged a Haglöfs Oz Paclite smock on a wire fence, just very lightly, when out running and it tore a neat two-inch ‘L’-shaped rip effortlessly, Pro Shell would have just shrugged it off.

Abrasion in normal use? Unless you’re a pretty poor climber and fall off lots or do lots of thrutching up cracks on rough rock you’re more likely to get wear from pack straps, gear hanging off your harness – ice screws tend to trash trousers quite fast – waist belts, bandoliers – alpine jackets get trashed on the front believe it or not – and from poor design, say where a drawcord runs under a pack belt, rucks up the fabric of the tunnel and the high points get abraded.

Paclite on a bike? Depends what you fall off on, I wouldn’t want to snag it on sharp undergrowth or rocks. Same’s true of the new Active Shell stuff, I think, again it’s very light, but it’s also way more breathable than other Gore-Tex fabrics ime anyway. Are you bored yet? I am… night 🙂

any waterproof jacket will boil you/get damp inside when riding a bike.

get zipp pits to help.

Having tried goretex & event, I prefer my cheap altura nevis, most of the time.

ok.. so as an everyday MTB jacket.. not so good.. I’m quite rough on kit and get a bit warm..

how can top end jackets justify such high prices if.. in reality… they are a poor solution..?

what should I do.. I just want one do-it-all nice cool-running tough functional jacket that I can wear everyday rain or shine..

I’m a big overweight cyclist/ hillwalker and I find the only thing that breathes enough but still retains decent waterproof qualitys is Goretex. For me it seems to have the right balance between breathability and being waterproof.

Paramo is the only option, makes gore-tex feel like a bin sack!

I would recommend Goretex if the weather is very bad and your journey long. I have a Berghaus Mera Peak, which was conscripted into mountain bike use after a miserable and pretty soggy all day experience with an Altura Night Vis. In peformance there is just no comaparison – Goretex wins hands down – but then it’s £60-70 dearer.

For shorter ventures I have found North Face Apex fabric almost perfect. It’s not totally waterproof, but only after a heavy and sustained downpour. Example – Cwm Carn Twrch Trail – pished down all day, but kept me dry except for damp (not wet) patches around the shoulder seams. TNF Bionic jackets are about £80. Or you can get TNF McKinley for £110.

Also – always Google shop and buy online – don’t pay high street prices. The Mera Peak cost me £150 (vs £260+ on the High Street). The TNF McKinley cost £100 vs £130+ on the high street.

McKinley

Mera Peak

I got a Nike Gore-Tex Paclite jacket from TK Max about 5 years ago for about £45.

I used it as my main walking jacket for years and to be honest I did get a bit sweaty in it at times. Its only in the last year that some of the detailing started coming off the jacket (nothing to do with the Gore-Tex) that I replaced it.

I now use it on the bike and to be honest its fantastic and I wish I had used a good bit of kit on the bike before instead of cheaper bike specific shells I used before. However it would be too hot if it wasnt for the under arm zips which completely open up. All the GoreTex jackets I’ve ever had have taken lots of abuse and never ripped.

For walking etc I have now got a Rab event jacket. It breathes better than the GoreTex did, but feels cheaper as a fabrix and isnt as soft.

BadlyWiredDog – thanks for your comments. Presumably Pro-Shell is too much for bike duties? I used to have some XCR trousers and was very impressed with them, now using Paclite though.

So in other words there’s nothing to beat the light weight of Paclite, apart from new Active shell fabric. Anything else will be just heavy?

BadlyWiredDog – thanks for your comments. Presumably Pro-Shell is too much for bike duties? I used to have some XCR trousers and was very impressed with them, now using Paclite though.

So in other words there’s nothing to beat the light weight of Paclite, apart from new Active shell fabric. Anything else will be just heavy?

You’re welcome. Pro Shell is mostly used for top-end mountaineering jackets and while it would make a potentially tough bike jacket, as far as I know, there isn’t one. And Active Shell won’t be out until September or so. So kind of.

Personally Id maybe be looking at a lightweight eVent jacket in preference to Paclite, though obviously people’s opinions differ and some folk are quite happy with the latter. Depends on how hot you run, how much you crash on potentially jagged things and so on.

thanks for coming back to this subject CG… I’ve been locked onto google for days now trying to figure out a solution.. and wanted to ask pretty much the same question..

Should I sell the wife and kids and buy Pro-Shell with good pit vents..?

I’m not too worried about weight or a cycling specific cut.. although I guess packability could be an issue..

EDIT: I suspect I will be mulling this purchase over and over until waay after the new Active Gore-tex hits the market… 😕