PEdAL ED Hikari Reflective Shell Jacket

The PEdAL ED Hikari jacket is a pretty impressive bit of kit, with a good fit and useful features. The excellent after-dark visibility and the pockets are plus points, making it more versatile than other expensive waterproof shells. It's not as packable or quite as breathable as something made out of Gore's Shakedry fabric, so if you're looking for minimum pack size that's still the benchmark, but the Hikari is still one to consider.

• Pros: Very waterproof, practical, small pack size
• Cons: Expensive, not as breathable or packable as some alternatives

This is a proper full-membrane, taped-seam waterproof, but a mix of 15% Elastane in the fabric means there's a fair bit of stretch. That means you can get away with a fairly close fit, but even if you don't the nature of the fabric means it's not noisy in the wind. PEdAL ED rates the material as waterproof to a 10,000mm hydrostatic head, which means it'll cope with some serious weather. I've taken the Hikari jacket out in properly filthy conditions, the sort where you'd only ever bother to leave the house if you had a coat to test. In constant heavy rain for two hours the jacket held up well: around the shoulders the fabric started to saturate a bit but overall I was plenty comfortable.

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Breathability is good too. Working hard in the rain gives you two opportunities to get wet, from water penetrating and from sweat being unable to escape. Riding hard in a downpour I didn't stay entirely dry, but the Hikari performed pretty well. If you go down a couple of notches from full gas it copes better; riding at a 75 per cent effort for a long time in wet conditions is about the sweet spot. Given that the jacket has been designed with races like the Transcontinental and the Silk Road Mountain Race in mind, it's perhaps not a surprise that it's best at this kind of sub-maximal pace.

Overall, I wouldn't say it was as breathable as Gore's Shakedry fabric, which is currently the benchmark. It doesn't pack down quite as small as a Shakedry jacket either, but at 265g it's pretty light, and you can roll it up small enough to stuff in a jersey pocket, so it's a good choice on days when the weather is changeable.

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The Hikari has been designed to be visible and useful. There's a reflective print across the top half of the jacket front and the lower half of the back, which makes it stand out well in car headlights. The grey jacket I tested doesn't feel that visible on a murky day but there's also a red version which would definitely be my preference.

The jacket has two sizeable mesh pockets on the back. They're big enough for my well-filled Sticky Pod and my phone and few snacks, although if you don't have a waterproof phone (or snacks) you'll probably want to find another place for it as the contents of the pockets are pretty exposed to the elements. Still, it's great to have pockets: I struggle with waterproofs that don't have them, especially on long rides. I would have preferred the pockets to be split into three rather than two, as I find that generally works better, but it wasn't a big issue.

Sizing-wise, I'm 1.89m and 92kg, with an 86cm waist and a 107cm chest. I wore an XL jacket and it fitted me more or less perfectly. That's somewhat at odds with PEdAL ED's own sizing chart, which suggests I'm nearer the bottom end of Large. Anyway, it doesn't size up particularly big, so if you think you're between sizes it's probably best to err on the large side. (It's not me in the photos.)

The sleeves are nice and long with a simple elasticated cuff, and the bottom hem is elasticated too, with a wide silicone gripper. The neck is snug and not too high, with a garage to keep the zip from rubbing on your skin. There's no double zip so you can't unzip from the bottom, which is sometimes useful for venting.

Let's talk about money. Over two hundred quid is a lot of anyone's money. The Hikari is mostly going toe to toe with a range of jackets made from Gore's Shakedry fabric; Gore makes some itself, and also sells it to other manufacturers, Castelli for instance, which uses it for its Idro jacket, and 7Mesh. You can get high quality waterproof shells for a lot less: dhb's Aeron Lab Ultralight Waterproof Jacket is £150 and an excellent performer.

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All of those four jackets scored 9/10. The Hikari overall isn't quite up to the same level in terms of the fabric performance, or the small pack size. But it does outstrip them all in regards to all-conditions visibility, especially if you get the red one, and practicality with its pockets. It's a slightly different beast in that regard, and it performs very well as a packable shell for distance riding, especially if you're going to be out after dark.

Verdict

Practical and packable long-distance waterproof with added visibility