Rapha City Wind Jacket

www.rapha.cc
A wispy jacket that can be scrunched up and stashed in a pocket, you’d be forgiven for accidentally putting this out with your plastic-bag recycling (big mistake, though, given the price tag). In fact, this jacket may qualify as the biggest example of looks can deceive. Our tester managed to put this piece to the sword on fall and winter bike rides when conditions would fluctuate from balmy to windy to wet. The lightweight jacket—designed after the transparent rain capes worn by pro cyclists to allow for visibility of sponsors’ logos and race numbers—is surprisingly warm and comfortable. In fact, our tester even wore this out during a late-night bar hop and was pleasantly surprised to be the recipient of multiple compliments and requests to finger the lightweight micro ripstop nylon (yeah, we know, the sacrifices we ask our gear testers to make here at Gearzilla…). But cycle-specific detailing like  the elastic cuffs, a drop tail, laser-vents, reflective logos, and a burly DWR laminate do keep it firmly in place on the saddle.