Northwave North Wind windshell jacket

The Northwave North Wind jacket is made from a lightweight polyester fabric with ventilated mesh panels under the arms which extend to the sides and a further mesh panel under a flap over the upper back.

There’s also a flap with high vis ribbing allowing access to your jersey’s rear pockets and high vis lettering on the top of the shoulders. There’s a full length zipper at the front with a windproof strip behind it and a zip garage at the neck to prevent skin irritation. The zip is easy to use when on the bike, with a puller which can be operated okay with gloves on.

The jacket folds up into a banana-shaped integral pocket, where it is held in place by an elastic strap. This arrangement works well, although the resulting package is quite large and not all that compressed, so that it takes up most of a jersey pocket.

The fit is quite large, so there’s plenty of room inside, although the collar and cuffs are pretty much draughtproof and the elasticated hem keeps the bottom of the jacket from flapping. There’s good rear-end coverage too.

All that ventilation means that this jacket runs quite cool and keeps it from becoming sweaty. However the looser fit, particularly on the arms, results in significant windflap at speed.