I ride in soft shells in winter / spring, and find they do me right 95% of the time. What I would like, though, is some sort of hard shell that fits in the back pocket and only comes out when it’s properly raining – stair rod time.

Anyone else ride with this sort of set-up? I guess with it going on over the soft shell then breathability is meaningless, I just need something impermeable for the rain to bounce off of, but light enough to pack down small.

Montane lite speed or Rab spark.

Gore rescue jacket .

most of the Showers Pass stuff. pack down tiny…..even the fat bloke range that I use. 😀

I’ve got an endura pakajak for emergencies, the fact that the stuff sack isn’t attached is a bit of a ball ache but other than that it’s a good emergency option, too sweaty for regular use. Wiggle had them for £17.50 recently.

Seen the Alpkit ones? Impressive weight for the spec

Thks – some great suggestions there. That gore rescue jacket looks perfect for what I want, although I’d need to save the pennies – it’s a big price for something I’d wear rarely.

Montane lite speed

Not a hard shell. Very little water resistance, let alone water proof. Will offer very little, if any, extra protection against proper rain than the softshell you are already wearing.

Check out Berghaus hyper hydroshell jacket for maximum packability with full water proofing.

Endura MTR Emergency Shell – fully waterproof, packs tiny, good kit.

on the contrary, i put my montane featheright over my hagloffs softshell the other day. the featherlight is not waterproof ( but does bead pretty well as i keep it treated ), but it made a noticeable difference to my comfort level and i was glad i had it. it just kept off the worst of the wind and the rain.

if you can take the colour OP montane are selling their minimus ‘cheap’ in orange.

edit: posted in response to AD.

I’ve been looking for something similar – Sportful Hot Pack Norain is currently at the top of the list.

on the contrary, i put my montane featheright over my hagloffs softshell the other day. the featherlight is not waterproof ( but does bead pretty well as i keep it treated ), but it made a noticeable difference to my comfort level and i was glad i had it. it just kept off the worst of the wind and the rain.

The OP asked for a ‘rain jacket’. It isn’t one. I own one, it’s a great jacket (I use it mainly for walking), but it’s next to useless in anything other than light drizzle, even when freshly treated, if you want to keep dry. Why wear 2 layers of water-resistance? The softshell alone should do that. A packable water proof to go over the softshell when it is really bucketing down (which will go right through a lite speed) makes a lot of sense.

Slightly changing the topic, what soft shells do you all use?

I use an outdoor research jacket. I can remember the name but it’s a very light and decent waterproof .

Montane Pertex something. Very wind and water resistant, packs down to the size of an apple.

I have a Montane Minimus (fully waterproof) for the same reasons, it’s been great. Not too pricey and packed is about the size of a coke can.

On the softshells I MTB with a gore phantom usually – seems a popular choice, tried and tested. Like the detachable sleeves for spring as I run quite hot.

I have an aldi one for the commute which is decent – similar design at one fifth of the cost, just a bit of a baggier fit and a garish red colour.

This is the jacket i use. I rate it highly.
Here

I keep a Berghaus hypersmock 2 in my commuting bag. It’s the lightest waterproof in the world. It’s tiny. It’s not much bigger than the sea to summit ultrasil I also keep in my bag. Same size as the featherlite smock

I wouldn’t risk it for proper riding offroad though, it’s pretty fragile

For the described requirement a cheap “cag in a bag” would be perfect which are under £5 in loads of shops and extremely light and packable. I don’t see a good reason to spend a fortune on what is effectively a tailored bin bag to be used once or twice a year. It would be different if you want to regularly use it for rainy riding, and I’m certainly on board with spending money for quality where it counts but it doesn’t sound like it does here.

For the described requirement a cheap “cag in a bag”

+1

But do you really need a waterproof? If you are going fairly quickly and don’t expect to be stopping then a merino top with a softshell over the top works great, you get a bit damp, but stay perfectly warm.

The montane featheright isn’t even close to waterproof, heavy rain goes straight through it in a few seconds.

I got a nice little packable from Lidl. Fits over my Gabba or Jersey in a heavy downpour.