When the weather looks dodgy, it’s useful to have a packable jacket with you just in case. The Morvelo Plan B jacket fits the bill well: it’s very light at 78 grams and folds into its own zipped rear pocket when you don’t need it. The folded jacket is compact and being sausage-shaped id easy to carry: at around 15cm long by 8cm across, it will fit into a jersey pocket with room to spare.

The Plan B jacket is a close fit and sheer

In use, shell jackets can get a bit sweaty, but I’ve not found this with the Plan B. The fabric is breathable and there are covered vents mid-back to help with air circulation. The upper back is two layered, with a baselayer-like inner fabric sewn in to help stop dampness.

The jacket folds into its own zipped rear pocket

The stretchy fabric, coupled to the close fit means that there’s minimal windflap when riding. It’s comfortably windproof too, so I’ve been using the Morvelo Plan B jacket as an extra layer over summer weight kit for cold starts, packing it away once it begins to warm up.

There’s adequate rain protection for a shower, although the fabric does wet out eventually. The Morvelo Plan B jacket’s tail is cut longer to prevent wheelspray while the collar is high and close to stop trickle-down from the top. And Morvelo has sewn reflective tape into the jacket’s bottom hem, cuffs and the pocket’s edging for increased visibility.

Reflective taping extends around the waistband and into the cuffs

For an ultralight technical jacket, the Morvelo Plan B jacket is not expensive. Its fabric is quite sheer, so you can see a race number through it. But it’s also fragile. Some of the seams look stretched and I’ve picked up a few small tears in the sleeves. These are probably from riding, but it’s worth being careful when packing the Plan B to avoid snagging in the zip.