Vulpine Men’s Ultralight Quilted Jacket

The Vulpine Ultralight Quilted Jacket will keep you toasty and dry on and off the bike, and is ideal for a weekend bikepacking trip or a midweek evening at the pub, even when the rain is teeming down – but for me it lacks a couple of touches that would make it perfect. For more options, check out our guide to the best winter cycling jackets.

The fit is great, though one size up from what I would usually wear, and the jacket provides both warmth and protection from the rain as well as looking stylish, but for me it would be useful if there were also a hood, and perhaps a way of stowing it neatly away in luggage when not in use. I think it could also benefit from reflective tabs, particularly on the cuffs, which have featured in other clothing I have tested from the brand.

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The size tested was a large, and while I am much more of a medium these days, it was the ideal fit for me; going down a size, especially with, say, a baselayer and winter jersey underneath and possibly the windproof gilet I swear by for longer rides, it may have been a bit too tight for my liking.

Recent weather here has given me the opportunity to test the jacket in the cold and the wet, and sometimes a combination of both, not only when riding for up to seven hours at a time, but also while going for a walk in the local park, and on each occasion it has passed with flying colours.

This winter, while doing a shift on the cargo bike, I've tended to wear multiple layers, but found that the extra warmth this jacket provides compared to others I use means I can dispense with a couple and still not feel the chill, with the additional bonus of not overheating, which can be an issue when I've left the house to go to work doing an impression of the Michelin Man.

So far as the rain is concerned, even after a proper drenching, the inside of the jacket – and by extension anything I happen to be wearing underneath – stays dry. It is also pleasing to note just how quickly the outer shell dries once the rain stops.

Having lost far too many items, valuable or otherwise, over the years, I do like to have zipped pockets on my cycle clothing, and here the jacket is well served with a roomy one on each side – also perfect for keeping your hands warm when not riding – and an internal one on the left breast, accessed via a vertical zipper next to the main zip in Vulpine's signature green.

That breast pocket has ample room for even the biggest smartphones on the market these days, as well as, say, a charging cable and power bank, to keep them secure and dry on your ride – although to get at them you do need to unzip the jacket, a minor hassle, but one that wouldn't bother me unduly given the knowledge that my phone was securely stashed away.

There's also a small pocket on the rear of the right of the jacket, secured with a press stud that can be a bit fiddly to close in my experience. The pocket will take my phone – just – but I'd envisage using it for perhaps a multitool and puncture repair kit, things I would want to take with me on a ride but hopefully not have to use.

One nice touch is that the zip fasteners on the side pockets, as well as the one on the main zip, each have a leather tab on them, making it easier to unzip them or do them up when wearing gloves, definitely a plus point for a garment you'd be wearing in chillier weather.

So what do I think is missing? Well, a hood, for a start. I'm not a huge fan of them when riding a bike, I often find that they flap around annoyingly, or restrict my vision when checking over my shoulder, but it's a different matter once I'm off it and the rain is lashing down.

A concealed hood that can be folded into the collar, with or without a zip, and deployed when needed would be a big plus here in my opinion, and I think Vulpine has missed a trick by not including one. A detachable hood might be an alternative, although if you're like me, anything that can be removed does have an unfortunate habit of getting lost.

It does pack down to a reasonably small size once folded and rolled, but thinking of bikepacking trips in the spring and autumn when the days might be warm enough to ride without a jacket but you need one in the evening, it would be helpful if the jacket came with a compression bag it could be neatly stashed in, or even a large internal pocket that could serve the same purpose.

I'd also have welcomed reflective tabs on the cuffs similar to those found on other items from Vulpine that I've reviewed, just to provide some additional visibility to road users behind me at night when I'm indicating that I am going to turn.

Perhaps those points are nit-picking on my part, and I'm well aware that additional nice-to-have features such as these do entail extra cost, but they would be on my wishlist.

And while it's not a huge deal for me, for those who like to listen to music or podcasts while they ride and still use wired headphones, the absence of little tabs to keep the cable tidy, such as those found in Rapha jackets, may be a minor annoyance but no more than that.

Again, it's something that would entail additional cost to serve what must be a dwindling segment of the potential customer base given the near-ubiquity of Bluetooth-enabled devices and absence of headphone jacks on many modern smartphones.

Value and conclusion

Talking of cost, it's pricier than some padded jackets we've tested, but I think the quality of construction, protection against the elements plus features such as the zipped pockets more than justify it.

Yes, you can find cheaper options – the Galibier Colombière that we tested in 2021 comes in at just under half the price (£68.22), for example – but Rapha's Explore Down Jacket that Steve reviewed recently is almost twice as much, at £280, and the Lightweight version not much less at £240. Of course, we are talking very different materials here – in the case of the Rapha ones, those feathers don't come cheap.

Overall, I do think this Vulpine jacket provides decent value, its price a fair reflection of its attributes and performance. I certainly cannot fault the way it has kept me warm and dry these past months.

Verdict

Keeps you toasty and dry and your belongings secure, but could do with some additional features