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review

Urban Legend Winterbreaker Jacket

9
£149.99

VERDICT:

9
10
Really great combination of style and on and off-bike functionality in a serious winter jacket
Weight: 
0g

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The first thing that immediately jumps out about the Urban Legend Winterbreaker ladies softshell jacket is that it doesn't look like a bike jacket. With a design-led fashionable cut and what looks like a broad cowl neck and voluminous hood, it looks quite at home as a jacket for wearing out and about around town.

And that's what's intended. Urban Legend hail from Budapest and the company's range of clothing neatly encompasses fashion and fully functioning bike gear for townies. All the designs are designed to both look genuinely good and perform on the bike.

The second thing that jumps out about this jacket is that it looks utterly bombproof. The windproof and waterproof softshell fabric is soft and pliable to the touch but durable and laughs in the face of even the worst weather, easily living up to its name.

A particularly innovative feature is the way that large hood and cowl neckline unfastens to create a covering for the lower face. That converts the jacket into a truly weatherproof shell for urban cycling in the worst conditions. Reflective asymmetric zips add to the cool looks of the jacket, and even the generous side pockets feature these.

In use, it's a bit tricky to get that Velcro-fastening face covering bit sorted, particularly one-handed, but once in place, it really is an effective and superbly warm proposition. The hood is large enough to wear with or without a helmet underneath, and it does cinch in to prevent it billowing without. The cuffs are long and neat, with plenty of length in the arms to give easy and comfortable wear on the bike, while the body of the jacket is cut neat enough to protect and not flap about, but still looks well-cut and stylish. It also has a nicely shaped curved tail to keep everything protected when leaning forwards. The sizing is a touch on the neat side, with the large I tried being roughly equivalent to a large UK12 or small UK14, and that's the largest available.

On the bike, it was super warm and cosy, making the most of the soft-backed fabric's insulating qualities, and shedding weather with ease. As such a warm jacket, the addition of underarm zipped ventilation was a welcome one, making it useful for all winter conditions, not just the average polar vortex.

It might just be the perfect jacket for winter use on and off the bike in an urban environment.

Verdict

Really great combination of style and on and off-bike functionality in a serious winter jacket

If you're thinking of buying this product using a cashback deal why not use the road.cc Top Cashback page and get some top cashback while helping to support your favourite independent cycling website

road.cc test report

Make and model: Urban Legend Winterbreaker Jacket

Size tested: n/a

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

Aimed at urban cyclists looking for a stylish but functional warm, protective winter jacket.

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Made from wind and waterproof (to 8000mm) softshell fabric

Assymetric reflective front zip

3 zipped side pockets with reflective zips

Underarm zipped ventilation

Large hood, big enough for a helmet if desired but cinches in at sides

Hem drawcord

Velcro fastening lower face guard that tucks out of the way when not in use.

Snug cuffs

Available in sizes S, M, L

Washable at 30

Two colour options

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
10/10

Fabulous quality fabric and really well made.

Rate the product for performance:
 
10/10

Warm, protective and comfortable to wear AND it looks good.

Rate the product for durability:
 
10/10

Absolutely not going anywhere in a hurry.

Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
 
9/10

Not the lightest but doesn't need to be and is designed to be utterly bombproof.

Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
 
9/10

Extremely comfortable. It IS an extremely warm jacket but the underarm zipped vents make it more versatile.

Rate the product for value:
 
9/10

Very good value for a jacket that will get worn pretty solidly from early November to March every year, for years, both on and off the bike.

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Performed very well indeed.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Cut, features, fabric, quality, design, comfort.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Nothing.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes.

Would you consider buying the product? Definitely.

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Only in a different colour!

Anything further to say about the product in conclusion?

Spot on for urban use throughout the cold and filthy season.

Overall rating: 9/10

About the tester

Age: 42  Height: 1.65m  Weight: 73kg

I usually ride: Boardman Hybrid Fi  My best bike is: Specialized Ruby Elite

I've been riding for: 10-20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, touring, sportives, general fitness riding, mtb,

 

Lara has been riding bikes for longer than she'd care to admit, and writing about them nearly as long. Since 2009 she has been working as part of the road.cc review team whilst championing women's cycling on the side, most notably via two years as editor of the, sadly now defunct, UK's first and only women's cycling mag, erm, Women's Cycling. 

Believing fervently that cycling will save the world, she wishes that more people would just ride a bike and be pleasant to each other. 

She will ride anything with two wheels, occasionally likes to go fast, definitely likes to go far and is always up for a bit of exploring somewhere new and exciting. 

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6 comments

Avatar
crikey | 9 years ago
0 likes

 4

Avatar
crikey | 9 years ago
0 likes

Don't you have any sheep to attend to?  3

Avatar
lukea-d replied to crikey | 9 years ago
0 likes
crikey wrote:

Don't you have any sheep to attend to?  3

It's still useful to keep dry when we're trying to sneak up on them.  4

Avatar
lukea-d | 9 years ago
0 likes

"a truly weatherproof shell for urban cycling in the worst conditions" and "the perfect jacket for winter use on and off the bike in an urban environment". Is it less suitable for rural use? Do city-dwellers (and I was one for thirty years one) not realise it rains in the countryside too?

Avatar
crikey | 9 years ago
0 likes

Looks like a well thought out piece of kit that actually addresses the needs of cyclists while providing a decent bit of kit. Some of the purveyors of 'cycling' kit might want to sit up and take notice instead of sticking a bit of reflective stuff on a jacket....

If the photo is of Lara above she looks like she's seen someone having a wee in her garden.  3

Avatar
PaulBox | 9 years ago
0 likes

It's p!ssed...

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