Greetings fellow Fat-Bikers, I hope you have been enjoying the summer heat. In Minneapolis it’s been a fun combination of suffocating heat and glorious light shows brought to us by some pretty crazy summer thunderstorms. What better time to test out a rain jacket, right?
Seeing as it’s summer and whatnot, having a jacket that doesn’t feel gross and clammy next-to skin is pretty important, and if you recall my first look I chose the XS which is a pretty roadie cut and has been great in preventing that awful “flappy” noise when zooming around. I am happy to report that the SAS Riding jacket feels really nice on bare skin, and you can tell that this is a luxury jacket the moment you slip it on. I couldn’t beleive it was such a soft rain jacket! It also has some nice stretch to it which is important if you’re buying a body-sheath like I did, and size up if you’re wanting to add more layers come winter time, as I can already tell this will make an excellent winter shell.
As we all know, breathability is KEY when you’re exerting yourself in a rain coat and I feel like too many of us are familiar with the sensation of having rain dump on you, meanwhile creating your own personal sauna within your rain coat; it’s a lose-lose generally. I am happy to say that when I’m wearing technical fabrics, as the under-lycras wick away to the SAS jacket and I stayed a very comfortable temperature when the rain cooled everything off. I will mention that I managed to dampen up my cotton t-shirt on a day I was commuting post rainstorm, but I’m going to blame that on the fact that cotton is one of those fabrics that absorbs sweat like a sponge and not knock any points off of the SAS because that was totally a choice I made. We are all learning here friends.
On the outside of this baby water beads up and rolls off real nicely and although they told me this is not a monsoon-worthy jacket, I have not sprung any leaks after some pretty intense downpours. Seattle, this one may not be for you per-se what with your weather, but for midwest climates this jacket has handled all of the precipitation that’s been thrown at it so far this past rainy season and I trust it. That’s a good feeling.
One of the things I love about this jacket is that it has one HUGE pocket, which has been great for sunglasses storage, my beloved snacks, and other goodies. I didn’t really miss side hand pockets or anything like that because the back pocket was pretty ample.
Another plus is storability. I took this puppy with me pretty much everywhere and didn’t even notice it. It came with me on the boat on the big lake super early on a chilly morning over the 4th of July, it was stuffed in my purse everywhere I went (disclaimer, I kept it in the separate front pocket free from any stabby pens and whatnot), and it rolls up nice to fit into a jersey pocket. I love portability y’all.
Last but not least, this is a pretty classy looking jacket. I am zero percent embarrassed to be wearing such a techy jacket off the bike because it looks slick as hell. Well done SAS, you get 5 out of 5 crispy bacons, my highest rating to date for a truly exceptional jacket.
For more of Search and State’s awesome gear, or to pick up a jacket of your own, head over to their website for more goodies.
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