Stolen Goat Climb & Conquer Winter Cycling Jacket

British brand Stolen Goat make big claims about their first winter jacket, the excellently-named Climb and Conquer. It's "the last winter jacket you'll ever need to buy," they say. They've made use of innovative and high-performance fabrics to deliver a warm and impressively weather-resistant outer layer with the added night-time bonus of Pixel pockets.

The jacket is made in the Bioracer factory in Belgium, like the Lionheart jersey that we reviewed last summer. The main body of the jacket is made from a combination of two fabrics. Iceberg100 is a light stretch heat-regulating fabric which repels wind and water; the 100 stands for a claimed 100% waterproof barrier. Tempest is a thermal material with a fleecy inner layer and special threads woven into the material to repel the water. Stolen Goat say that using this technology as opposed to a subsequent surface treatment means that the water-repellancy won't wear off.

The fabric feels great: hardwearing on the outside and super cosy on the inside. As recommended by Stolen Goat's sizing chart I tested a medium. Sizing runs from small to 2XL and the medium fitted me well, with plenty of length in the sleeves. The cuffs are lovely: soft, stretchy and quite long. They're cut quite tight around the wrists so no drafts get in, and it's easy to overlap with gloves. The jacket has a classic performance cycling shape, so the back is dropped enough to look right when you're riding, but there's not a bum flap to keep the spray off when you're riding without mudguards.

If you're used to winter jackets that are a bit flappy then this will be a revelation; the cut is close-fitting and pretty aerodynamic. There's plenty of stretch, though, so it's not at all restrictive and you can fit more layers below it than you think. I had no difficulties fitting a couple of layers underneath but this was really only necessary when it was really chilly; the insulation against the cold is superb. To give you an idea, I found I could get away with just a decent base layer underneath on days where it was barely above freezing, even if I wasn't going full gas. Lately it's often been sub-zero on my way to work and I've been quite happy with just a base layer and a thin jersey like this underneath.

Riding into a cold wind or down hills you'll appreciate the excellent windproofing on offer here. Being picky, I'd have liked to see a storm flap behind the zip, as I reckon that a little cold air gets in there. Pleasingly, the windproofing isn't at the expense of breathability. Even when I deliberately dressed too warm, I found that it never really got uncomfortably humid inside, which certainly isn't true in most waterproofs.

Waterproofing is very good, better than most soft-shells I've used and not far off what you could expect from a sealed hardshell. Seams aren't sealed here, so a little water can get in, but I've worn this through some pretty foul weather and stayed dry. The close-fitting collar and cuffs help here too. It's surprising how many waterproof jackets get these details wrong.

Around the back is where things get a bit surprising. Stolen Goat have made use of a clever fabric called Pixel 100 to make the whole of the pocket section. Its unique feature is the ability to reflect artificial light without looking like conventional reflective material. Stolen Goat have used the same material in their bibtights and the Orkaan Race Tech jersey which we're also reviewing.

Experiments with torches and headlights found that the pockets did indeed reflect strongly provided that the light source was at a similar angle to your eyes. What this means in practice is that it works really well to give drivers advanced warning when they're still a way off down the road. Bioracer have a (rather tedious but convincing) video showing this in action on some of their kit. The pockets extend just about far enough round to the sides (at least on this Medium) to give you some lateral night-time visibility, but I'd like to see some Pixel fabric used on the sleeves too; turn signals can be invisible to drivers at night time.

The pockets themselves are well-placed and of decent size. In addition to the normal three, there's a zipped pocket on the right hand side made of a thin waterproof material. It's big enough for a smartphone and there's a little opening to run a headphone cable out inside the jacket.

In terms of negatives, there are really not many. One simple detail that I missed was a loop in the collar for hanging it up. You don't generally get this in a jersey but it's a strange omission in a jacket.

The styling of the Climb and Conquer is simple and classy in a timeless sort of way. It's a subjective area, obviously, but if you're buying the last jacket you'll ever need to buy, you'll want to be fairly confident that you'll still like it a few years down the line. You can have it in the red/white/dark grey that we had, or there's a lime version available too.

Verdict

Great fit and protection from the worst that winter than throw at you, plus clever reflective pockets