The Velocity DT is an absolutely 100% dedicated cycling jacket, designed with a cyclist’s needs in mind and trying hard to address as many of them as possible.
Fully waterproof, it’s ultra lightweight, weighing just 225g, and easily scrunches down into the tiny stuff sac that comes with it. This makes it a great choice for taking along whatever the excursion, be it commuting, touring or indeed any kind of riding at all. The fabric is surprisingly breathable and therefore comfortable to wear no matter how hard you’re working, even though its streamlined design does not feature pit zips.
The cut and fit are excellent, with good length in the body, an unobtrusive dropped tail , decent length sleeves and a contoured fit that doesn’t gape or ride up during energetic use. The collar fastens nice and neatly to keep out drafts, and is lined with soft fleecy fabric for comfort.
There’s a good sized water resistant zipped chest pocket with headphone cable outlet and a huge rear cargo pocket, both of which together are sufficient for toting stuff like gloves, Buff, snack bars, phone, keys or the kitchen sink.
One of the best features of this jacket though, aside from its sleek design and light weight, is the miles and miles of reflectivity on it. Montane claim there’s over 3m of reflective piping, and also various reflective dots and logos where you need them most. If you’ve gone for the Fluoro Yellow/Carbon option the combination of the two make for a huge increase in after dark and low light visibility.
For those who don’t favour the eye wateringly bright but super effective hi viz colour option, this women’s version also comes in red. The men’s version comes in hi viz, red and also black.
It’s an ultra lightweight jacket, and therefore one with all year round use, but only if you layer up under it in winter. The slim fit might make this less feasible though, if you want to maximize streamlining the rest of the year.
Verdict
An incredibly well thought through cycling specific waterproof jacket. Light, comfortable to wear and practical.
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road.cc test report
Make and model: Montane Velocity womens jacket
Size tested: UK12
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?
The manufacturer says:
‘Designed for the high energy cyclist who demands contemporary technical features and ultra low weight in a fully waterproof shell.’
I’d agree with that. It’s well designed, genuinely useful and isn’t bulky and intrusive to wear or carry.
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
Over 3m of reflective piping as well as reflective dots in useful positions such as at the cuffs and tail.
Super light fully waterproof breathable fabric.
Chest pocket with water resistant zip
Generous tail pocket
Soft fleecy lined snug fitting collar
Streamlined fit and cut so no excess fabric to get in the way
Comes with its own stow sack
Water resistant front zip with generous storm flap specially designed to channel water away.
Comfortable and unobtrusive in use.
Really light. Easy to pack into bag or pannier for any ride.
Very reasonable price for such a light, well considered technical jacket
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
Excellent performance.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
Fit, shape, features, reflectivity- liked everything!
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
Nothing
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes
Would you consider buying the product? Yes.
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes- one with slimmer upper arms
Anything further to say about the product in conclusion?
A great value for money, technical wet weather riding jacket with all the right features and none of the wrong ones.
About the tester
Age: 37 Height: 1.65m Weight: 67kg
I usually ride: My best bike is:
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, general fitness riding, mtb,
3 thoughts on “Montane Women’s Velocity DT jacket”
Fundamental to the
Fundamental to the performance of any waterproof jacket is the fabric, yet you don’t say what this is (although I can see by looking at the photos). For what is serious money, I’d expect something as good as eVent but, from looking at Montane’s site, I see that it uses Entrant DT, which breathes to 8000g/m², which is not particularly good. eVent claims 25000g/m² and Endura’s new fabric. PTFE, claims an even better rating than that at 28000g/m². I have an Endura Flyte jacket which uses the PTFE fabric and I’m very impressed by its breathability – even working hard when climbing, this fabric doesn’t get overwhelmed or even damp and I arrive home with dry base layers. I also have a Gore Paclite jacket and its better than that. The Flyte is £20 less than the Montane (although they don’t as yet do a ladies version).
Technical info is important
Technical info is important but you can be blinded by it too – and probably the biggest load of flannel concerns technical fabric which is all pretty much a slight variation on the same theme.
Endura their Ladies Stealth jacket (£159.99) on their website
Waterproofness: 10,000mm
Breathability: 5,000gms
Bits of that are made with Entrant too
http://www.endura.co.uk/Product.aspx?dept_id=120&prod_id=247
I’d much rather know what a jacket is acutally like to ride in. if the riding the reviewer did matches up to the sorts of thing that I do then I reckon it’s worth considering. Course there is the question of whether they are as sweaty as me – that’s a bit harder to gauge 🙂
My experience of the Entrant
My experience of the Entrant DT fabric that the Velocity DT is made from has been very positive. In use in hilly conditions it didn’t leave me feeling damp and sweaty, even without the addition of pit zips which I would normally prefer.
That said, ANY fully waterproof fabric is going to make you sweat in warmer conditions if you’re working hard. No matter how ‘breathable’ a waterproof fabric claims to be, there’s always going to be a certain amount of stickiness. Even the latest, most expensive branded waterproof fabrics cannot compete with the moisture generated by an athletic rider working hard in warmer conditions.
The key point I was making is that the Velocity DT is extremely lightweight, and was comfortable to ride in under most conditions, which is ultimately the important issue for a waterproof cycling jacket.
And as Mr Sock says, it’s a very personal thing how warm you run, and how much sweat you produce. I’d like to think I’m fairly middle of the road on that.
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