Santini Coral 2.0 jacket review

Boasting full warming and wind-stopping capabilities down to sub-zero temperatures, could the Santini Coral 2.0 jacket be the best women's-specific winter jacket on the market?

Santini Coral 2.0 Jacket
Cycling Weekly Verdict

The beautifully made women's-specific Santini Coral 2.0 jacket is perfect for winter rides with its thermal, wind-stopping and water-resistant properties. It does come up shorter than most jackets, so is best suited to riders with shorter arms and torso. 

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Women's-specific fit

  • +

    Warm in single-digit tempreatures

  • +

    Exceptionally breathable

  • +

    Lined cuffs

  • +

    Reflective detailing

  • +

    Four rear pockets

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    Short arms

  • -

    High pocket openings

  • -

    Short back

You can trust Cycling Weekly. Our team of experts put in hard miles testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

Now that we're riding headlong into winter, a good winter jacket is imperative if you want to keep cycling through the coldest days: with a claimed temperature range of down to -8°C the Santini Coral 2.0 jacket could be just the job.

Construction

Made from the much-respected Gore Fuga fabric, the Santini Coral 2.0 jacket promises to offer complete wind stoppage as well as warmth. The wind-stopping properties of Gore's multi-layer fabric system are well known and trusted and are often considered the market's gold standard, with many cycling clothing brands using Gore's technical fabric.

As well as windproofing and water resistance the Fuga version adds a thermal quality to the fabric,while allowing the jacket to still remain low profile. While the Fuga fabric in itself is reasonably breathable, the Santini Coral 2.0 jacket has a stretchier polyester/elastane mix at the back and sides which should allow further breathability, making it a great piece of winter kit in terms of technical performance.

Santini Coral 2.0 Jacket

The double cuff helps prevent chilly glove to jacket gaps
(Image credit: Cycling Studio)

The Santini Coral 2.0 jacket has been designed with a double slimline cuff for tucking into gloves, a high 4cm thermal collar and a tight-fitting elasticated waist to ensure that no cold draughts make it through to the rider.

>>> Do's and Don'ts of winter training 

Santini Coral 2.0 Jacket

The four rear pockets include a zip-secured one for valuables
(Image credit: Cycling Studio)

At the rear there are three good-sized pockets and one zip-secured pocket for valuables, as well as a reflective strip positioned in the centre.

Ride

As with all things Santini, the Santini Coral 2.0 jacket is beautifully made, with all stitching exceptional. However slipping the jacket on it was clear that the sizing comes up short on the arms and body length. The double cuff did work really well when teaming with gloves but I personally needed to ensure I wore extra-long winter gloves to prevent any wrist gaps appearing.

The jersey back also measures a handful of centimetres shorter than most jackets at 64cm.  There's not danger of any gaps appearing at the back, especially if you team with the corresponding Santini Coral 2.0 bib tights, which have a super thermal high back. However, it does position the rear pockets pretty high, which for me meant it was slightly tricky to use them on the fly. That said, they are all well proportioned and I had enough space for ride nutrition and spares.

The torso does fit well and the stretchy breathable fabric at the back and sides of the Santini Coral 2.0 jacket gives it a lot of shape, preventing excess fabric from flapping in the wind so overall the women's-specific cut and racy fit would be perfect for shorter riders who normally drown in an average jacket sizing.

Testing the Santini Coral 2.0 jacket in single-digit temperatures on hilly routes gave me the chance to test all the technical qualities and it performed really well, providing great wind blocking on the descents while remaining surprisingly breathable. I think I'd need to up the base layer significantly for anything below zero, but even with extra bulk underneath, the overall jacket will remain pretty slimline.

Value

Technically speaking, there's a lot going on with the Santini Coral 2.0 jacket: it's windproof, water resistant and impressively breathable, so the £134.99 price tag seems to offer good value for money. It's a shame the cut is not 100 per cent right for me, but fit can be a real personal thing. If it does fit you it's a great buy and will see you through the most of winter.

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Hannah Bussey

Hannah is Cycling Weekly’s longest-serving tech writer, having started with the magazine back in 2011. She has covered all things technical for both print and digital over multiple seasons representing CW at spring Classics, and Grand Tours and all races in between.


Hannah was a successful road and track racer herself, competing in UCI races all over Europe as well as in China, Pakistan and New Zealand.


For fun, she's ridden LEJOG unaided, a lap of Majorca in a day, won a 24-hour mountain bike race and tackled famous mountain passes in the French Alps, Pyrenees, Dolomites and Himalayas. 


She lives just outside the Peak District National Park near Manchester UK with her partner, daughter and a small but beautifully formed bike collection.