Altura Blitz Waterproof Women's Jacket

In an arena where increasingly the sky seems to be the limit for price the Altura Blitz, a fully waterproof, lightweight, cycling specific jacket for £59.99, has got to be worthy of serious consideration. And it's purple.

The Blitz is a good looking jacket with plenty of nifty features. It's fairly light, weighing a pretty respectable shade over 400g, and it's tough. Altura have thought carefully about which features are necessary on a jacket and have included most of the ones you could need, such as reflective areas and piping, rear zipped pocket, side zipped pockets that double as ventilation, chest pocket and a soft fluffy fleecy lining to the collar. Wrist cuffs are partially elasticated and Velcro fastening and the whole jacket is mesh lined. The fit is on the generous side for the size, which makes it ideal for layering for cold season use. It's also a decent length in the body, and with good length sleeves, so taller women shouldn't be put off.

In use, the jacket is a comfortable style to wear, contoured but roomy, and allows for easy freedom of movement. Rather strangely, the tabs to fasten the cuffs are incredibly long, so unless you have very chunky wrists indeed, or habitually wear your cuffs over your gloves, you're going to find quite a lot of extra flapping tab here.

While the mesh lining does improve the comfort of the waterproof fabric next to skin, it also has the unfortunate effect of making the jacket warmer too. This isn't a problem in colder months obviously, but with a jacket of this weight and style, it would be handy to be able to use it all year round, and it's designed to be a versatile jacket. The combination of the mesh lining with a level of breathability of fabric not on a par with more expensive jackets (as you would expect) means that the Blitz does run warm and does leave you feeling a little on the sticky side after a vigorous ride. The side pocket ventilation does offset this a little, but it still means this jacket is better suited to slightly chillier conditions than to a full British summertime downpour. Mind you as the UK can do chilly for a fair portion of the year that doesn't necessarily impact on the amount of wear you can get out of it.

Available from a size 8 to a size 18, this is a jacket that will please most sizes and shapes of female rider, and the £59.99 price tag really does mean good value for money, especially for those not intending to be out riding hard for a protracted period of time. It comes in hi viz yellow and, did I mention, purple? Why would you ever look beyond the purple?

Verdict

Great value for money, well featured waterproof jacket. Best suited to cooler conditions or less sporting rides. Available in purple.