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Polaris Vortex jacket
What an incredibly warm jacket! This is a jacket for those cold day when the weather is really set in!
The Vortex feels light weight despite offering exceptional warmth. The freedom of movement it allows through the Thermastretch back and elasticated trim make this a good option for longer rides.
Four good sized pockets plus a a zipped pocket for stuff like credit cards and mobile phones, means there's plenty of storage for the bits and pieces you need to take on a ride.
While black is not a great colour for road riding the reflective piping works well. The windproof sleeves and front panel offer excellent weather resistance, in fact perhaps too good for mild winter weather, the Vortex really comes in to its own when it is considerably colder. The wind proof and main jacket polyester feels smooth against the skin of bare arms and doesn’t snag on base layers.
The cut of the jacket is excellent. The length is great, offering effective splash protection to the seat area, while being short enough at the front for reaching into the drops. The collar comes up high sealing you from the elements.
When it does get dirty the Vortex washes well at medium temperature, retaining its shape and drying quickly.
This is a jacket for the bleak mid winter, when training, commuting or even riding with your friends is a difficult choice to make. One thing is for sure, when you are competing for road space with the eponymous white van man, at least you will be warm.
Time tested: 2 weeks / mixed weather
Size: XL
Plucked from the obscurity of his London commute back in the mid-Nineties to live in Bath and edit bike mags our man made the jump to the interweb back in 2006 as launch editor of a large cycling website somewhat confusingly named after a piece of navigational equipment. He came up with the idea for road.cc mainly to avoid being told what to do… Oh dear, issues there then. Tony tries to ride his bike every day and if he doesn't he gets grumpy, he likes carbon, but owns steel, and wants titanium. When not on his bike or eating cake Tony spends his time looking for new ways to annoy the road.cc team. He's remarkably good at it.