Test 2016: Insulated cycling jackets for road cyclists - Primaloft & Polartec Alpha: 6 insulated cycling jackets put to the test

When brand names become generic, the manufacturers were either the first with their product or simply had the better product compared to the competition. There are plenty of examples of this. Instead of paper handkerchief, we say Tempo, and if you blow-dry your hair, you probably don't even know that the verb fönen was derived from the model name "Foen" of the first hair dryer from Sanitas in 1908. And when cyclists mean windproof and waterproof material, most people probably say "Gore-Tex".

The situation is very similar with the new synthetic fibre iso jackets in this test. Primaloft usually refers to a light, warm jacket or a sleeping bag with a minimal pack size. The fact that the Primaloft brand from the USA is so well known today is actually due to a military mission. At the beginning of the 1980s, the Americans were looking for lightweight winter clothing for their soldiers. They presented an ultra-light, water-repellent, compressible synthetic fibre fleece that was just as warm as a layer of down, but was much more vapour-permeable and compressible and, unlike down, did not soak up water.

New genre for cyclists

Primaloft jackets have long been popular in the outdoor scene, but the genre is still young in the cycling sector. That's why our current test field is still very small.

The test results of these six insulated cycling jackets can be found below as a PDF download:

- Castelli Cross Prerace Jacket
- Endura Urban FlipJak
- Gonso Boundary V2
- Mavic Ksyrium Pro Thermo Jacket
- Sugoi RSE Alpha
- Vaude Men's Primapro Jacket

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