Stylish Winter Jacket - Castelli maybe?

zedders

I’m currently in the market looking for a new winter jacket. I currently own a Altura Nightvision jacket which has just about had its day after 3 years of use. After many washes the colour has faded from bright yellow has some sort of a pastel yellow, with the odd oil mark on the sleeve. & finally condemning the Altura was the flipping Dog, who raged the inner lining. (She has since learnt not to try and eat clothes off the radiator)!

The Altura was quite a good jacket. It was very waterproof and did the job nicely on cold winter days. Anything (mildish) say above 10°C with the sun coming out though, and I found I had the odd boil in the bag experience, as the day warmed up after setting off early on a crisp morning. Not nice.

I am still after a jacket that will see through very cold days (down to freezing), but am looking for something a bit more, urm – stylish shall we say, than just plain fluorescent yellow. I would like something say water resistant/shower proof, winter proof not necessarily 100% waterproof? Cos if it’s really cold and really wet I ain’t going out in it. I can handle one, but not both! I’m not looking for something that needs to necessarily stow away either. My budget is about £100, but if the misses is looking the other way I could maybe push to £150 (absolutely max), as my brain wouldn’t let me spend any more - even if the heart would!

I’m currently liking the idea of a Castelli winter jacket. I’ve since done a search on previous posts and there’s the odd one or two comments. Most of which mention sizing up. Which I know about as my Castelli shorts are sized up x2 from normally a large to XXL!! Not much mention of Castelli winter jackets though? Is this because there no good? Or because there too expensive for what they are? Is there anyone out there that will own up to owning a Castelli winter jacket? I notice there’s loads of different types of their jackets; Leggero, Respiro, Fusione, Mannaggia, & Sottile to name but a few, and I’m not sure what I should be looking for?

Anyone able to help? Cheers,
Zedders

softlad

Giordana Bodyclone FR Carbon - great jacket...

http://www.giordana.com/APG/Catalogo/Ca ... endocument

FitzM

I've not got a PBK jacket but have bought jerseys and bibs and the quality is on par with all my Castelli kit

http://www.probikekit.com/display.php?code=C2828

bigpikle

depending on size Wiggle have the cracking Castelli Mannigignangnanananannnna jacket at £159 right now which is about £100 off. I was soooooo tempted by the red/black/white one but decided to hold off for a while...

Scrumple

Assos 851 - hunt for one inside your price range.

Nothing better, though not waterproof. Get a race cape to stow in it.

sungod

i've got a castelli quantum radiation jacket

it has a removable 'radiation' liner, this is perforated to let out moisture and silvery like a space blanket to bounce heat back in

i risked getting the white one, but the coating resists minor splashes and it cleans ok, i just put a race cape over the top if it's wet out, on a sunny winter day it looks excellent

with a base layer it was fine at -6 last winter, it is quite breathable as well so i never reached saturation point

only minor criticism is that the collar could have been a bit higher, but i wore it with a balaclava on really cold days so it didn't matter so much

sizing was exactly in line with castelli's size chart, i've always found their charts accurate

i don't think the quantum is a current model, i think the insolito jacket is the replacement, it has a higher collar and a built-in hood which sounds handy, plus you can take off the sleeves if it warms up

Lagavulin

I have both a Leggerezza and a Mannaggia.

I've found the Leggerezza is quite a useful jacket. It has zip off arms to transform it into a gillet. I've used it regularly from the depths of our rather hardy (last) winter to Thursday morning. Can get a bit sweaty if the sun comes out but quite for autumn and winter use I've found it to be more than adequate.

The Mannaggia is a beautiful piece of clothing but beware it is really only suitable for the coldest of days. Even with just a thin Castelli Uno baselayer underneath the Mannaggia is over kill for all but freezing conditions in my experience. I found mine absolutely ideal for my Christmas morning ride last year but come late February and March it was over kill.
Fabulous windbreaker but over priced in the sense that unless you're in Scandinavia I doubt you'll use it enough to justify the outlay.