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Is this the more environmentally-friendly cycling waterproof we've been waiting for? A first ride in the new Santini Magic rain jacket

One of the new breed of PFAS-free waterproofs as cycling moves away from products such as Gore's Shakedry, the Magic uses Polartec's recycled polyester membrane tech

Santini has released a new waterproof cycling jacket which is made with a new 100% recycled polyester membrane. The Magic jacket is one of the new breed of jackets moving away from PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) based membrane technology, as used on now discontinued cycling waterproofs such as the popular Gore-Tex Shakedry range. PFAS are now banned in clothing in many areas worldwide, and that has meant that most established membrane fabrics need to be replaced.

To make the Magic jacket Santini has teamed up with Polartec, and the new jacket uses the new Polartec Power Shield RPM 2-layer polyester fabric. RPM in this case simply stands for ‘recycled polyester membrane’, and the membrane itself is made from 100% recycled consumer plastic. 

> How green is your waterproof cycling jacket?

Santini Magic Jacket 1

It’s an interesting fabric. Most of us will have some kind of membrane outer layer in the cycling wardrobe, and often they’re quite a rigid fabric, with not a lot of stretch.

The Magic jacket is quite the opposite. The fabric has a soft feel, and it’s very stretchy in both directions. The upshot of that is that it’s quiet on the bike, and well-fitted. You can pick a size that’s small enough to be close-fitting when you’re just wearing a base layer underneath, and it’ll stretch to accommodate more layers as the temperature drops.

At the launch Santini was suggesting that you could think of it more as a jersey, and certainly there are similarities with gear like the Castelli Perfetto, which was well received here when we reviewed it back in 2022. That’s more of a showerproof than a full waterproof though, and with a 10,000mm hydrostatic head the Magic jacket rates as a proper raincoat.

Breathability is even more impressive. Polartec claims a rate of 30,000g/m2/24hrs for the fabric, which is very high for a full waterproof. At less than 100g/m2 it’s also a very light fabric, and the jacket is extremely packable, folding into its single pocket for easy stowage if conditions improve. A medium jacket weighs just 155g.

Santini Magic Jacket in the rain

I’ve had the opportunity to ride in the jacket once, at the launch, on a short loop which was helpfully partly dry and partly rainy. With plenty of hills to work up a sweat, it does feel like the Magic jacket copes very well with transferring moisture, and once the rain set in there was no evidence of it making it through the fabric. It’s also a very comfortable jacket to wear, and quiet on the bike. These are all first impressions, and you can look out for a full review on the site in due course.

The jacket is available only in black at launch, in sizes from XXS to 3XL. It’s a 2-layer fabric though, so you’re not tied to black like you are with fabrics like Gore Shakedry; some brighter colours are coming to the range in the spring. The Magic jacket retails for £180 in the UK.

santinicycling.com

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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39 comments

Avatar
Keesvant | 1 week ago
0 likes

Had the same to bad only black though at first..
I wear a white poc helmet with reflective decals, with a light on the back.
You can wear whatever you like, if drivers look on theire phone and not at you
Wich seems to me is the case with 90% of drivers ..
Colour does not help.
Other issue is the back ground, put on all the lights you want but that light gets ' lost" in a back ground of rear or front lights from cars around you in traffic.

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wtjs | 1 week ago
3 likes

PS- a lot of my stuff is black, because that's what Aldi sells and it doesn't show the dirt and oil!

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paulrattew | 1 week ago
1 like

Well, I for one am counting myself very lucky that I still have two goretex shakedry jackets. None of this latest generation of PFAS free fabrics come anywhere close, sadly

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BBB | 1 week ago
0 likes

I've had a Polartec Magic Jacket (coincidence?) by Ornot marketed as waterproof and it was useless. The sleeves would wet out after 15min of moderate rain and you'get cold.
Waterproof softshells are a good idea for the marketing departments but not so great for the end users.

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Sriracha | 1 week ago
10 likes

These sorts of jackets only reveal their worth after a few months or more of use. They all start out as magic, the water rolling off them as off a duck's back, but I've never had one that didn't start to wet-out after some regular use. They tell you to follow various rituals employing magic potions, but even these lose their effect. At that point, well before their price would suggest, they become - at best - either breathable or waterproof but not both at the same time.

Maybe this one will be different? But it will take several months of testing at least to know.

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webbierwrex replied to Sriracha | 1 week ago
0 likes

If it's got a membrane then wetting out is no problem, the membrane will still stop the water coming through

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rjfrussell replied to webbierwrex | 1 week ago
6 likes

the membrane stops the water coming through from the outside, but a wetted out jacket stops any breathability

(though, in wet conditions, no jacket has much breathability because there is de minimis difference in humidity inside and outside the jacket)

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Spangly Shiny replied to Sriracha | 1 week ago
3 likes

In my experience all the waterproof breathables, from the original Gore-tex on, are either one or the other, but at different times. If it's honking down they don't really breathe, they only really breathe when it's dry and you are working hard. Maybe this one will be different, but I ain't holding my breath.

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ktache replied to Spangly Shiny | 1 week ago
0 likes

Yup, sort of makes my carrying a gortex active in the bag for the big rain a bit pointless, means I'm getting damp whatever.

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fizrar6 | 1 week ago
6 likes

Great idea to make it black, especially now the dark nights are upon us.

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Rendel Harris replied to fizrar6 | 1 week ago
2 likes

fizrar6 wrote:

Great idea to make it black, especially now the dark nights are upon us.

Assume you think the same about black cars?

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ktache replied to Rendel Harris | 1 week ago
8 likes

Or the grey ones. The way that some of them can blend into various shades of tarmac is quite incredible. It is a strange fashion.

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cardch replied to Rendel Harris | 1 week ago
4 likes

Have that argument with the black car once it's hit you when wearing this jacket in the rain. 

It's ridiculous to wear black on a bike in ANY weather, let alone in rain.   

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NotNigel replied to cardch | 1 week ago
7 likes

I tend to have the argument with the driver rather than the car.

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Rendel Harris replied to cardch | 1 week ago
4 likes

cardch wrote:

Have that argument with the black car once it's hit you when wearing this jacket in the rain. 

It's ridiculous to wear black on a bike in ANY weather, let alone in rain.   

I would have the argument with the driver rather than the car, and if the driver has hit a cyclist because "they didn't see you" that would be because the driver had not looked properly, no matter what colour the cyclist was wearing. A driver who makes the proper checks will see a cyclist in daylight, raining or not, no matter what colour they are wearing, a driver who doesn't won't. 

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Another_MAMIL replied to Rendel Harris | 1 week ago
1 like

When I'm driving, I find it helpful when cyclists wear bright clothes.

Even one of the country's highest-trained drivers, former police pursuit instructor Reg Local, commented that he found it helpful when cyclists wore bright colours.

https://youtu.be/UPN_XvaYU2k?feature=shared

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NotNigel replied to Another_MAMIL | 1 week ago
6 likes

I prefer having small bright blinking lights on my bike then I can wear what I like. Making myself visible from as far a distance is my priority...if motorists then cannot plan or make the right decisions once they are nearer to me, what I'm wearing makes no difference what so ever.

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Hirsute replied to NotNigel | 1 week ago
4 likes

Lights and reflective stuff on ankles and knees is the best way to go.

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NotNigel replied to Hirsute | 1 week ago
2 likes

That pretty much sums up my set up, especially now the nights are drawing in...reflective bands on my ankles...a couple hanging off my bag and a couple of lights front and rear...touch wood, I've never been in a collision yet.

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Another_MAMIL replied to NotNigel | 1 week ago
0 likes

I find it helpful when cyclists wear bright clothing—even if they have lights—when I'm driving. 

While I use lights when I'm cycling, I recognise they can be lost in a sea of car headlights.

When I'm in the car driving seat, I find cyclists who combine lights and bright clothing the easiest to spot early, aiding my forward planning.

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NotNigel replied to Another_MAMIL | 1 week ago
6 likes

I find when I'm driving, what really helps me notice cyclists and pedestrians is having a mindset of expecting to see cyclists and pedestrians without them having to resort to hi-vis and crazy colours and patterns...you know, actively looking for other road users other than motorists.

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Another_MAMIL replied to NotNigel | 1 week ago
0 likes

NotNigel wrote:

I find when I'm driving, what really helps me notice cyclists and pedestrians is having a mindset of expecting to see cyclists and pedestrians without them having to resort to hi-vis and crazy colours and patterns...you know, actively looking for other road users other than motorists.

Me, too. Nonetheless, I find it helpful when cyclists wear bright colours (ideally combined with lights). 

Let's not dismiss bright clothing when someone like me—I cycle most days and hold advanced driving qualifications—finds bright colours helpful. Moreover, the police advanced driving instructor I mentioned—someone with exceptionally well-trained observation skills—said the same thing about a little bright colour being a lot of help.

Let's consider the opposite situation: how to avoid being seen. Colour is one of the things—alongside shape, shine, etc.—used in camouflage. There's a reason I didn't wear bright orange in my infantry days.

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Rendel Harris replied to Another_MAMIL | 1 week ago
7 likes

Another_MAMIL wrote:

When I'm driving, I find it helpful when cyclists wear bright clothes.

Several studies have shown that visibility, as one would expect, is highly dependent on background: in different circumstances white, coloured or indeed black clothing shows up best (e.g. against the backdrop of a white building a rider in black is more visible than one in white or yellow). I do think there's an element of confirmation bias in drivers' perceptions of different colours: if they spot a cyclist wearing bright colours they think they've seen them because of that, if they spot one wearing dark gear they think they've seen them despite that. Equally, if they make a mistake and miss a cyclist in dark colours it's the dark colours that are to blame, not the fact that they didn't look properly. The fact remains that anyone who looks properly during daylight hours will see a cyclist no matter what colour they're wearing and those who don't, won't. I have a couple of dark jackets and several with fluorescent/reflectives and ride 8000-10,000 kms a year, 90% in heavy London traffic, and I can honestly say that I get exactly the same number of SMIDSYs in the bright gear as I do in the dark. Completely different question at night of course where I wear Proviz and am lit up like a Christmas tree (three lights front, three back, two side and light on helmet), but in the day I honestly don't think it makes that much difference and certainly not the amount that the anti-cyclist (for the avoidance of doubt I'm not suggesting you are one) brigade claim. 

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wtjs replied to Rendel Harris | 1 week ago
3 likes

The fact remains that anyone who looks properly during daylight hours will see a cyclist no matter what colour they're wearing and those who don't, won't

Happened to me this morning in bright sunlit daylight, on my way to the nutter food shop in Lancaster. Roundabout in the centre of Garstang, I was already well round it, dimwit on loud rubbishy Harley type bike with feet out front, would be a Trump supporter if he was American, coming in from the entrance I'm passing, looks to his right but doesn't slow so I'm suspicious and, sure enough, I had to take evasive action. Useless old bugger, but younger than me. People like that don't look and don't see.

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Mybike replied to Another_MAMIL | 1 week ago
3 likes

maybe you should pay more attention on the road.

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Another_MAMIL replied to Mybike | 1 week ago
0 likes

Mybike wrote:

maybe you should pay more attention on the road.

Let's not dismiss bright clothing when people with well-trained observation skills find it helpful.

I actively look out for cyclists as I cycle most days, plus my driving observation skills have been trained and tested to a more advanced level than most car drivers. Nonetheless, I find it helpful when cyclists wear bright colours. 

The police advanced driving instructor I mentioned—someone with exceptionally well-trained observation skills—said he found a little bright colour a lot of help. 

Let's not dismiss bright colours when even highly-attentive and well-trained car drivers find them helpful. We should help the drivers who are looking out for us when we cycle.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Another_MAMIL | 1 week ago
4 likes

Another_MAMIL wrote:

Let's not dismiss bright clothing when people with well-trained observation skills find it helpful.

I actively look out for cyclists as I cycle most days, plus my driving observation skills have been trained and tested to a more advanced level than most car drivers. Nonetheless, I find it helpful when cyclists wear bright colours. 

The police advanced driving instructor I mentioned—someone with exceptionally well-trained observation skills—said he found a little bright colour a lot of help. 

Let's not dismiss bright colours when even highly-attentive and well-trained car drivers find them helpful. We should help the drivers who are looking out for us when we cycle.

I'm not worried about the drivers with good observation skills when I cycle, the problem is with distracted drivers not looking. I usually go for bright green cycle clothing (usually with black shorts/tights) myself, but I really don't think it makes much difference to my safety on the roads.

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Rendel Harris replied to Another_MAMIL | 1 week ago
2 likes

Another_MAMIL wrote:

Let's not dismiss bright colours when even highly-attentive and well-trained car drivers find them helpful. 

A highly-attentive and well-trained driver should be able to spot a cyclist in broad daylight whatever colour they are wearing. Anyone who's incapable of spotting a cyclist in normal daytime conditions, be they wearing black, brown, yellow, white or pink, or any combination thereof, shouldn't be driving.

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Mybike replied to cardch | 1 week ago
0 likes

buy a  light just like the blk cars have lights so you can see them in the dark

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jasperdog replied to fizrar6 | 1 week ago
3 likes

Agreed - a jacket designed to be worn in conditions where visibility is lower and the launch colour is black seems daft (unless of course there is a decent amount of high vis on the back).

To then talk about black cars smacks of whataboutism.

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