Gorewear Spinshift Windbreaker Mens

The Gorewear Spinshift Windbreaker is a top option for keeping off the chill, with a level of breathability that means you’ll never have to worry about feeling you’re ‘boiling in the bag’. Add in the great fit, wide range of colours and quality of construction and you’ve got a jacket that definitely deserves consideration, provided you’re happy with the price.

> Buy now: Gorewear Spinshift Windbreaker Mens for £109.99 from Gorewear

The Spinshift Windbreaker is available in a multitude of sizes and colours – red, white, lime yellow, blue, black and green, and XS to XXL – so plenty of options for all tastes and sizes. The white I reviewed wouldn’t have been my first choice, partly personal choice, but also because it seems to show off grime spectacularly well.

Made in Vietnam, the garment is a combination of 50% nylon, 35% recycled nylon, 8% polyester, and 7% elastane, with elasticated cuffs and hem (with the added bonus of a silicone gripper at the back), and the front zip features a garage behind it for comfort. The only minor niggle here is the zip is on the small size and doesn’t feature a toggle, so it’s slightly tricky to operate on the move.

Subtle reflective details (so subtle it took me about five minutes to locate them on this white version) feature on the front, back and cuffs – diminutive, they might be, but they’re pretty effective.

There’s also a small zipped back pocket at the rear which doubles as a stash pocket, allowing you to fold the jacket up when it’s not in use.

The pack size isn’t quite as small as I was anticipating (I’ve photographed it next to a 330ml can of my favourite French lager, for reference), but it’s still entirely packable in a back pocket and it weighs virtually nothing – 133g in a size large.

The moment you put it on you feel instantly warm and snug, the soft fabric feeling comfortable against your skin. The fit is slim and it’s clearly been designed with ergonomics in mind, hugging your body in all the right places so there’s no flapping at the usual points at speed. Gorewear says it’s optimised for a forward-leaning position, which it is, but it also feels fine when you’re off the bike.

As I always find with Gorewear garments, the arms are nice and long and the body is a decent length, with the overall fit being what I would expect of a size large.

The neck comes up very high, offering added protection here. My only complaint about this area of the garment is that it’s on the wider side, which results in the fabric dropping slightly at the front when you’re in a forward-leaning position, meaning air inevitably gets in. That could be seen as a potential plus point if you sweat a lot, allowing some extra air to get into the chest area, or warm air to vent out.

Whatever the case, Gorewear’s claims of this being highly breathable are pretty accurate – wind blocking is solid, good enough just to keep the cold off in the morning, or when you’re descending from the top of a mountain, but you don’t get too warm. This is evidenced by the lack of perspiration build-up after a ride, even during those warmer summer months.

Clearly, you’re not going to be wearing this garment for extended periods – it’s only for occasional use, after all – but it’s still good to know that when it does go on, you’re not going to be in a rush to whip it off when things start to warm up.

The Spinshift Windbreaker also features a DWR coating, which is a nice to have, even if it’s only designed to offer a little protection from road spray (the fabric is so thin, even light rain would pass through pretty quickly).

I checked the Gorewear website and couldn’t find anything about the coating being PFAS free, which I would have assumed was the case given most decent manufacturers have stopped using PFAS DWR coatings, and Gorewear uses a PFAS-free Gore-Tex material in its Spinshift Gore-Tex Jacket, but after checking with the company direct road.cc were told that all DWR treatments on Gorewear’s products are now PFAS free.

Value

At £109.99 the Spinshift Windbreaker sit in the middle of the pack in terms of pricing – it’s cheaper than the Le Col Pro Wind Jacket, which comes in at £150 and performs very similarly, and more expensive than Altura’s Airstream Men’s Windproof Jacket, up a fiver to £65 since Stu reviewed it in 2023.

It’s fair to say the Spinshift is better value than the Le Col, given its overall performance is much the same – and there’s a bigger range of colours available – while the Altura is a solid option that offers decent performance, but is a little heavier and more orientated towards commuters than road racers.

For more options, check out our guide to the best windproof cycling jackets.

Conclusion

The Spinshift Windbreaker is a top option if you’re looking for premium performance without paying a posh price tag. It’s not cheap, sure, but you get plenty for your cash, and in my experience Gorewear products last really well.

> Buy now: Gorewear Spinshift Windbreaker Mens for £109.99 from Gorewear

Verdict

Top-performing premium windproof with excellent breathability and a teeny bit of rain protection

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