9 of the best wet weather racing jerseys - find out how to stay both dry and aero

Shout out for the Galibier Sentinel jersey which does an excellent job and at a great price.  Extra kudos for the big band of (aesthetically pleasing) reflective material on the back providing additional reassurance on the night commute home.

I'm not a racer but as most dedicated commuters will know it often feels like a race when you've left it a bit late leaving the house.  I run pretty warm and often feel like I'm overheating midway through the commute in a long sleeve jacket.  It's one of those jerseys that is appropriate for a relatively low number of days throughout the year but on those days it's the Goldilocks option: "this one is just right"

I have reiterate - nothing from Stolen Goat?  I have 3 of their Orkaan jerseys.  I don't wear my Gabba and Perfetto jereseys much anymore because of the Orkaan stuff.  I'm finding the Orkaan jerseys to:

1. Breathe better than the Gabba range.  They offer good windproofing, but strike a good balance in allowing a little more evaporation from the inside. 

2. Be more comfortable - the fabric has much more elasticity to it than either the Gabba or Perfetto.  It makes movement easier and sizing more forgiving. 

3. Feel warmer.  The fleece lining helps a bit, but the slight edge on breathability keeps me drier than the Gabba.  With the Gabba/Perfetto, my sweat gets trapped a bit more, and then I end up feeling colder as time goes by.

Anyone used the planet X version?

Bought a long sleeve Perfetto for racing this past winter. Breathability is phenomenal with these new fabrics. Thought about getting a short sleeve Perfetto light or Gabba for the spring, but have used the Perfetto in temps up to 20deg and felt comfortable with collar a bit unzipped.

All of these could be expensive mistakes as by the time you've tested the jersey properly you can't return it.

Why can't shops or manufacturers have items that you can hire for say...one week for a tenner + p&p to enable us to make our decision. Blockbuster Video used to do online dvd rental. Why can't we do it for expensive cycle clothing?

Short sleeve Mossa (the one with the black band on one sleeve) with Parentini arm warmers for me. I got tired of my damned Gabba soaking me to the core in anything but the lightest rain and plumped for the legit waterproof Mossa last year.

Took a bit of getting used to in terms of how it warms up and what to pair it with but it works so well. With a mesh summer base layer and no sleeves it's good for 13C whilst with a merino long sleeve it's toasty down to 0C. The material itself is waterproof and handles any amount of rain, and unlike the Gabba you can throw it in the washing machine without fear of any repellency washing out.

Fit-wise it's definitely Italian; the short sleeve variant is nicely snug on my skinny frame compared to the baggy-in-places Gabba. The only downside is that the zips aren't as good as Castelli's. Oh, that and it's bloody expensive and hard to get hold of...

I went Full Goat this morning - Orkaan jersey and C&C deep winter tights, for a fairly damp and windy run through the Chilterns at dawn. Wasn't that cold outside, maybe 6-8C, and the rain wasn't heavy but intermittent, but windy enough to make it difficult to ride into the headwind. 

The SG clothes were great, really worked well in those conditions, with only a short-sleeve mesh base layer

yet to try it out in a full-on downpour though

That's an interesting, informative read. Very tempted...

The Mossa files.

https://roubaixcycling.cc/2015/12/29/parentini-mossa-slaying-the-gabba/

The Goat Files, part 37 ...

rode home last night in light rain in the Stolen Goat Orkaan, about 1/2C, bit of a headwind, nothing drastic. I can't say that it feels "cold" when the moving, I'll call it "fresh", so maybe its not that  windproof, but certainly nice and warm when coming to a halt

But the rain didn't get through. I wore a short sleeved soft-shell base layer, which keeps the sweat in more than a normal one, so I could tell more where any moisture had come from. My arms felt warmer not having a sweaty base layer, which is a bit counter-intuitive, to me at least, but it looks like the nice fleecy fabric inside is enough

I was going to go out again in the heavier rain this morning,  but lost the will to live ...

The Science Goat experiments continue

on Sunday afternoon, it was really horrible weather. Rain, wind, cold, absolutely ghastly. I was delighted!

So, I wore the Orkaan everyday long sleeve, with a long sleeve merino base layer - I tried the mesh version before, but felt a bit cold, so this time tried the "solid" version, for extra thickness and warmth. It was light, persistent rain for 30 mins, with a bit of wind, and about 2C

As the ride went on, my forearms started feeling cold, quite cold, when moving, and suspected that they were wet. I do sweat a bit, and the forearms do tend to get the worst of it, and I end up wet there with even a good hardshell jacket that nothing gets through. When I got back, yes, my forearms were indeed wet, along with between my shoulder blades. The arms were so wet that my thumb actually went through the material. 

However, this wasn't consistent, just where I'm most likely to sweat, which made me wonder if the coldness wasn't a failing of the jersey, but it wicking away the sweat from the base layer. I also noticed that I was wearing SG leg warmers, made out of the same stuff, with nothing underneath those and that was the warmest part of my body.

so, another experiment this morning. No rain, but cold, -1C cold. I compromised on base layers, wearing a short sleeved soft-shell base layer. Just the arms of the jersey to take on the elements

and that seemed to make a big difference. Not overly hot, but I think that's a good thing, certainly wamer than wearing either long-sleeved base layer

going to lash down on the way home tonight - really get to see what's what ...

Try the castelli perfetto short sleeve, its impressive. Great windproof on the front, breathable on the back especially, looks good, fits well. I got in on wiggle for £105 and wore it from 5c early morning rides to 22c afternoon rides. It coped from May 1st to September 30th in Scotland (no base layer). It complements the gabba 2 long sleeve.

For 2017 Castelli have boogered the names completely, so now the gabba 2 long sleeve is called the perfetto long sleeve or something!

I had never heard of stolen goat before today, so +1 for the commenters and -1 for road.cc

I have a gabba LS for winter and early spring / late autumn & perfetto for late spring and summer and early autumn (with arm warmers if needed).

When they go to retirement I will look at the SG Orkaan range. Thanks!

I had a Goat, but found the fit to be very weird, it certainly performed well enough and the reflective pockets were great, but in the end I sold it and bought a Gabba.  The Gabba has a much better fit for me, seems more windproof and crucially has a decent drop tail.  I would buy another in Gabba a heartbeat.

I wore the Cafe Du Cycliste Josette on a recent sportive that had a fair share  of drizzle, but it did end up wet through. Not sure if this was from the outside or the inside - I suspect the temperatures got above the recommended 15 degrees, so the breathability may have been compromised, especially as I had a thin gilet over the top and a thin merino base underneath (couldn't take the gilet off for reasons I won't bore anyone with).

I do like the CdC stuff on the whole, and I did get this with a good discount, but not sure I'd recommend it over the others in this list. I have had a Mossa (1st iteration) and also found that got very wet from the inside, and my old Gabba long since gave up the water-resistant ghost.

10 of the best....from reviewing how many?

Agree with the sentiments about Stoeln Goat.

If you're going to certain items then at least say which you reviewed and which didn't chart!

I own a Gabba and Perfetto. They're great. I also own a Spokesman Ghost jersey, which is better IMO. Not on the list but like Stolen Goat, I'm sure it's had a tremendous review previously!

wow - thanks for all the positive comments everyone! very much appreciated .

I can see why we aren't in this write up. Our Orkaan jerseys are indeed manufactured by Bioracer and we make no effort to hide that, in fact we are mighty proud of the fact. It enables us to focus on customer service, bespoke designs and fine tuning our business in order to keep the prices smart. Bioracer worry about garment innovation and they have 25 years of race-winning experience there

On the flip side, it's potentially very beneficial for folks to know we are out there as an option. Our Everyday Orkaan jersey comes in at £95 for example and also includes the super reflective rear pockets that the Bioracer tempest jersey listed does not. Ours also has an extra 4th zipped pocket.

We also have Orkaan bib shorts, ¾ tights and accessories to match.

You could (for example) choose a colourful, reflective and extremely effective stolen goat Orkaan jersey and Orkaan bib shorts and still have £10 left in your pocket compared to the Rapha shadow jersey. #JustSaying (dear Rapha, we're not starting a fight, honest xx)

You can read a little more here if you’re interested...

https://stolengoat.com/reflective-waterproof-cycling-jersey/

Whatever you choose, wherever you choose to buy it from, these kind of jerseys are really flipping smart. It's so nice to not be worried about every looming rain cloud in the sky! Over and out

Capo Lombardia - although I don't know if it is still made. A shame if it is not. Oh yeah, is there not a Lusso product that is supposedly very good...albeit £130

ok, goat fans, in the interests of science, I conducted an extremely thorough experiment this morning, by wearing my Orkaan in

It was a misty morning, roughly 7C, light  following wind. I averaged 17mph for 19.5 miles, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Most of it was on open countryside roads, with a little bit of town through Windsor then 10 minutes along the Thames from Sonning to Reading

I wore a mesh base layer underneath, and a gilet on top for the first 10 minutes. I had Rapha pro-team thermal shorts and SG Orkaan legwarmers - legs were lovely and cosy, full Ready-Brek effect.

The top, especially when I took off the gilet, did have a slightly cool, possibly clammy feel, which might be the mesh base layer, whilst I was moving, but I strangely felt much warmer when stopped. I was in no way cold, but wasn't quite getting the Ready-Brek glow *when moving*, whereas I do with the rapha  mesh/pro-team long sleeve in even colder conditions.   I am trundling along in reasonable conditions though, rather than giving it the full Roger De Vlaeminck in a Flemish thunderstorm

Be interesting to see how it goes with different base layers and weather conditions. I would say I should get out more, but this is what happens when I do ...

Did the editor get bored of "read our review of" by the last two?

I got a Stolen Goat Orkaan  last month on the back of reviews and comments here,  and it's still yet to rain so I can give it a good workout!   I've been wearing Rapha mesh merino  base layer with pro-team long sleeve jerseys (from the sale, Decathaletes) which have been astounding at keeping me warm but not overly wet inside even down to about 0C on early mornings (I sweat just looking at a bike, thinking about even), but on the couple of times I've worn the Orkaan, I've felt a little  bit of a chill through it when wearing the mesh underneath. Maybe a thicker base layer underneath, but I don't want to get too hot underneath ...

Looking forward to the proper scuzzy weather, I always prefer riding in that, but no "waterproof" has ever really worked out, can't wait to see how the Goat holds up. I got some arm and leg warmers at the same time, I wearing the legs most days, nice and cozy (but also yet to prove themselves in the deluge)