Rapha Brevet Insulated Jacket £112.50

Rapha describes the Brevet Insulated Jacket as an extremely lightweight yet insulating jacket that packs down easily and provides breathable protection from the elements. The Brevet range is designed with a more relaxed fit than Rapha’s Pro Team garments and is intended for long days in the saddle.

It looks great, the quality is superb, the hi-vis features are effective and stylish and it even comes in a cool pouch bag.

As the name suggests, it is indeed very insulating and breathable. Unfortunately, that’s where our praise ends. The sizing is inconsistent with other Rapha kit, with the size small tested coming up too short on the waist: it wouldn’t fully cover a corresponding size small Brevet Jersey. Furthermore, the jacket only has one tiny valuables pocket making you reliant on your jersey’s pockets. Unfortunately, the short cut of the jacket means it struggles to fit over full pockets. And if it did fit over full jersey pockets the Brevet Jacket has no access hole, or flap, meaning that access to jersey pockets is hampered.

In theory an insulating layer that can be packed away doesn’t necessarily need pockets, but unfortunately the Brevet doesn’t pack down small enough. We would suggest that if it doesn’t pack small enough to fit into a pocket, it really needs pockets of its own.

We really wanted to like the Brevet Insulated Jacket and it’s not in doubt that it looks and feels great. However, the fit is off and in cycling jacket terms it is neither fish nor fowl — it is bulky when packed into a jersey pocket, and doesn’t have pockets of its own.

Rapha has recently reduced the price from £150 to £112.50 so if you’re short in the body grab a bargain.

Weight 225 grams