Chapeau Men’s Club Windstopper Jacket

The Chapeau Men's Club Windstopper Jacket does a great job of keeping cold and/or damp air off your chest and arms while offering enough breathability around the back to be suitable across a wide range of temperatures. It's cut slim and well made.

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The Club Jacket is made mostly from two types of fabric. The front panels, shoulders and arms – the most exposed areas – are made from a windproof/waterproof laminate material with a fleecy back, while the sides and rear panels are made from a more breathable thermal stretch fabric with a soft brushed lining, a lot like you'll find used in winter tights. It's an approach taken by many other cycling brands and it works really well.

The front panels are the ones doing the heavy lifting here, stopping cold air from getting in and chilling you, and also keeping any drizzle out. A storm flap behind the full-length front zip helps, and the collar is close fitting without being tight, so there's no way that cold air can get channelled in there.

Chapeau has used the laminate fabric for all of the sleeve panels whereas some manufacturers opt for a more breathable fabric on the less exposed underside of the arms. I can't say that I even noticed a difference in use, although heavy sweaters might, I guess.

The rest of the jacket has a certain amount of water resistance to it – enough that any road spray from your rear wheel will roll off rather than soak in. If you get caught out in anything heavier than a brief shower, though, you'll need to put a waterproof jacket over the top. Being low bulk, that's never difficult.

The tail isn't as long as on some other jackets out there, such as the Lusso Aqua Repel V2 that we reviewed recently. That said, if you pull it down it tends to stay in place thanks to a silicone gripper on the inside.

I've not been using this jacket on super-cold rides. When it's down in low single digits I prefer windproofing all around, although you might be different. From about 8°C, though, the level of protection on offer here is about right for me.

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Chapeau's size chart told me that I needed a medium, based on my chest measurement. I'm tall for a medium (1.89m) so it's always a bit of a gamble as to whether a jacket/jersey will fit elsewhere, particularly in the arms, but everything was tickety-boo here. I found it to be a close cut but the stretch in the fabrics means you can have a snug fit without any tightness. (It's not me in the photos, that's Adam, but we're a similar build.)

You get three pockets in the lower back plus a water-resistant fourth one that measures 9 x 15cm. I couldn't get my phone in there, though, because the zipped opening is too small.

Chapeau has stuck another water-resistant pocket on the chest, and this one is a touch larger (12 x 17cm) with a longer zip. My phone fitted in here fine, but a couple of others that I tried didn't. Although the dimensions of the pocket were large enough, it was again the size of the opening (about 10.5cm) that was the limiting factor (your phone might well be waterproof anyway).

The Club jacket is available only in black but there are a few reflective features to help get you noticed: little badges on a rear pocket and the chest, and logos on the tail and each arm. These look grey in normal daylight and shine brightly when caught in car headlights. There's also the larger striped patch on the back.

The Sportful Fiandre Strato Wind Jacket that we reviewed recently is broadly similar to the Club jacket in approach, with Windstopper panels on the front and sides, and extra breathability at the back, and it's a little more expensive at £155. There's no windproofing on the arms of that jacket, though, and reviewer Dave Arthur said that at times he wished he had a little more protection there. I'd definitely want arm protection on a jacket of this kind.

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The Lusso Aqua Repel is a bit cheaper at £134.99 and offers good value for money. I'd still say that the Club jacket offers above average value, particularly since Chapeau gives you free crash replacement cover if you register your purchase. This is exactly what it sounds like: come off your bike and damage the jacket and you qualify for a free replacement.

Conclusion

There are a lot of fairly similar windproof/waterproof-fronted jackets out there, but what I particularly like about the Club are the slim fit and the high build quality. This is a great jacket for many conditions from the start of autumn through until the end of spring.

Verdict

Windproof front/arm panels and a slim cut make this a very good three-season option