As above I’m thinking about a new winter jacket for mtb. Don’t really want to spend more than £100. It needs to be wind / waterproof but doesn’t need any warmth to it as I’ll layer underneath it.

I currently have a Royal Racing jacket from a few years back which I’ve generally liked – other than it having a hood on it. I’ve never liked having a hood up over a helmet and it just fills up with air if you go fast / ride it on the road bike.

So things I’d like:

* No hood or detachable hood
* waterproof
* breathable if possible – but appreciate the budget and mtb use doesn’t lend itself to it not being sweaty when grinding uphill
* Looks nice
* Tough – my mate has a shake dry kind of jacket and it seems fragile (as well as expensive)

Ideally the Royal Racing jacket hood would come off, but it doesn’t 🤷‍♂️

If you do Strava, Stolen Goat are doing a 25% voucher that I just spent in their £149 Climb & Conquer jacket.
a little over £100 but I the right ball park

Far from me being some kind of fashionista – but that isn’t a good looking jacket imo- screams roadie!

I do have Strava membership if that’s what’s needed for discount but there’s nothing made by that brand that I fancy unfortunately!

Yeah it looks roadie.  When it’s proper cold on the bike I don’t care. That said my wife has made comment on the looks – not entirely positive.

Bioracer will do the same jacket in more subtle colours I suspect.

Apologies, I also failed to read this bit.

It needs to be wind / waterproof but doesn’t need any warmth to it as I’ll layer underneath it.

More a wet weather jacket, than a cold weather jacket.

If you’re small – £110 down from £220 in theory.  My son likes his

https://www.jejamescycles.com/product/40952/aussie-grit-aussie-grit-flint-men-s-bike-shell-2018/option/

The Endura MTR Shell fits that description pretty well. Packs up small as well so easy to stuff in a small rucsac / bumbag or even an old water bottle with the top cut off.  There is a hood but it’s detachable.

Polaris Summit jacket.
Currently £95, looks ok, has a hood, but it stows away.
https://www.polaris-bikewear.co.uk/category-s/121.htm

That Aussie Grit jacket mentioned above is my go to. Great jacket. What a great PSA that was when they were going out of business! Surprised to see anywhere with stock.

That Aussie Grit one looks alright – unfortunately I’m not a small. 40” chest I think – although been gradually losing weight and down to about 11 stone 12 from 13 stone 4 in March. I don’t think I can get much more weight off now as I weight train a lot and don’t want to give up a bit of upper body bulk just in pursuit of faster climbing.

Will have a look at the Polaris jackets – I’d forgotten about that brand.

Also saw a grey Shimano one on Sport Pursuit that might be a contender.

Shimano Transit Hardshell – Ordered the blue in medium and grey in large to try both sizes.

I want the grey one really (for colour and because it’s £20 cheaper)

https://www.sportpursuit.com/catalog/product/view/id/2104604

Chaos
The Endura MTR Shell fits that description pretty well

I’d disagree, it’s a great jacket but not a winter jacket, & definitely not tough. I’d suggest the singletrack would be better & can be found from under a £100 (odd sizes/colours). The hood isn’t detachable but does roll up into the collar. I have both one for summer & the other for winter, wish I bought them sooner

Omm kamelia smock.

Brilliant kit.

The Endura MTR Shell fits that description pretty well. Packs up small as well so easy to stuff in a small rucsac / bumbag or even an old water bottle with the top cut off. There is a hood but it’s detachable.

Great jacket for anything short of a full-on wet day. I wouldn’t call it tough, although I’ve not tested that. It’s 70gsm thick; thinner than standard printer paper which is 80gsm.

I’ve got an endura MTR shell and I wouldn’t really recommend it.
Yes it’s lightweight and has a detachable hood but the waterproofness quickly disappeared. Ive used nikwax tech wash etc to try and recover it but the jacket seems to soak in the water rather than repell it.
Also no pockets, which seemed not be be much of an issue when I bought it but when you’re in an uplift queue or stopped somewhere having somewhere to put your gloves is handy.
Ive had a couple of (admittedly pretty big) crashes and the jacket has torn very easily.
Looking to replace it now and will go for something a bit more robust. Probably away from endura too.

🙂 that’ll be Endura MTR Shell suggestion  minus 3

I’d agree though that the lack of even a snack/phone pocket is annoying.  i expect being based on the South Coast I have different requirements. Jackets only get put on when it actually starts to rain so the packability trumps most other features. I’m almost always too hot otherwise.  The rare moments of deep winter call for the walking/mountain jacket.

-4 for MTR.

I use a singletrack one instead now that I picked up in a sale for £50.

I did see the Singletrack and thought it looked better than the mtr shell. But then I’d read bad / underwhelming comments about the mt500 too – so thought maybe best to avoid endura altogether.

It seems they make some good stuff and some bad stuff – but not much in the middle. Their cycle shorts (baggy) have lasted me a really long time so far – but their gloves these days just seem to disintegrate in literally minutes.

My Shimano jackets have both been dispatched so will report back on what they’re like once they’ve arrived. If they’re a horrible fit / feel nasty they’ll be returned and I’ll try something else!

Wondering about the Fjern jackets on Sports Pursuit – they had some recently for £125 made of event material which ought to be half decent – just depends if the fit works on a bike or not.

My 2p.

I’d recommend a Nukeproof Blackline softshell, which meets most of your requirements. Can be had regularly for 1/2 price at crc.

I also have a singletrack hardshell which doesnt get much use now unless it’s biblical.

Anyone tried one one of these decathlon jackets, tried one on in the Leeds store today and it felt excellent quality, pit zips, and a longer cut at the back, 4 colours to go from, but non instock online,
Think I’d overheat in a merino T-shirt under it in winter

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/men-s-waterproof-mountain-walking-jacket-mh500/_/R-p-301681

My pal has the Decathlon one and really rates it. It looks a quality piece of kit. He isn’t an athletic build though so best to try on before buying.

I use a Gore C5 trail jacket which has been excellent, and is also a cracking fit on the bike with minimal rustling. Although it has a hood but it isn’t an issue if you pull the draw cords tight as the hood opening then aroun the back of your neck. Not cheap though and is also more of an ‘athletic’ fit.

So the Shimano jackets arrived. The large is too big even though my chest size should be right for the large. Got excess material across the back and below my chest. It seems ok made and has small pit zips / useful looking pockets. All the seams inside are taped and it looks like it’ll be waterproof.

On the downside it sounds a bit like a plastic bag / ripstop kite like. Totally feels like it’ll be boil in the bag. I think I’m not even going to bother trying the medium on and send it back.

Shame that OMM jacket listed above has such dodgy colours on it – don’t fancy that.

Not sure what to try next…..may go slightly over budget and try something a little fancier out of Event material 🤷‍♂️

Edit – actually the Polaris Summit jacket in black with the blue zips looks ok from the link higher up this thread. Might consider one of those….

I went with the Endura Singletrack Jacket, decent waterproofing, cuffs that can be closed up, a nice fit and not too expensive. Whilst it’s not overly baggy, you can easily layer up underneath for cold days as it’s not too thick. I used throughout the last winter in strong winds, heavy rain, snow and -5 icy weather and it was great.

Ended up returning the Shimano jackets and was in the verge of buying the Polaris one mentioned above but their website was doing something funny with pricing. Listed as in the sale at £84 but then you went to checkout and it zipped up to £97.

I did a last minute swerve and bought another Royal Racing Matrix jacket as my last one has done over 4 years and isn’t in too bad condition. Had to re-DWR coat it last year as in really heavy rain it started seeping a bit on the front of the shoulders and the zips are a little faded but other than that it’s in pretty good shape.

Plus the RR jacket looks really nice.

RR Matrix jacket arrived and it’s so much nicer than the Shimano one. Looks really cool on (for a bike anorak) and feels nice.

It fails on the hood requirement I ideally had but I’ll just make sure I never ride with it on my road bike where it fills with air at speed. Not an issue on the mtb generally as speeds are so much lower.

Decathlon mh900 or mh500.

Both have good pit zips.

I went in thinking I’d go mh500, but I preferred the more athletic cut of the mh900.

Anyone tried the All Mountain Jacket from decathlon? Heard some good reviews here a while ago but it wasnt in stock then

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/all-mountain-waterproof-jacket/_/R-p-309673

Bumping this for the same reason as the last poster

I buy all my my outwear for hiking/cycling from Decathlon. I can actually go in and try it on. If it’s anything more expensive than underwear and t-shirts I like to try it on before buying. So few clothes actually fit well so mail-ordering without having tried the gear on doesn’t make sense to me.

Anyone tried the All Mountain Jacket from decathlon?

I picked one up a couple of weeks ago now. First impressions are that it’s well put together and has kept me perfectly dry in the showers I’ve been in with it so far. I’m not 100% sold on the hood yet as there isn’t a good way of storing this when not in use and it is sized very big to fit over your helmet (which isn’t too helpful if you don’t have a helmet on). The cut is more generous than my decathlon soft shell jacket but that should mean I’ve got plenty of space to layer up if needed, though I might have gone with dropping a size if I’d had them both at hand to try before buying. The off centre zip is taking a little getting used to as well, my brain keeps telling me I’ve put the jacket on wrong somehow.

Overall I’m pretty happy with it and I’ve certainly not seen anything as good for similar money.