The best cycling jackets for winter riding should not only protect you from the elements, they should also be able to cope with the heat and sweat that you produce when you want to ride at a decent pace. After incredible developments in textiles over the past decade or so, there's no reason to wear the wrong cycling clothing any more. Here's a selection of the best winter cycling jackets that'll keep you warm and comfortable in the colder months, starting with our top six and plenty more recommendations to cover almost every budget and use case.
Best overall winter cycling jacket: Castelli Perfetto RoS 2 Jacket
Best budget winter cycling jacket: Galibier GrandTour Jacket
Best unisex winter cycling jacket: Gobik Jacket Unisex Thermal Armour Vanta
Best winter cycling jacket for versatility: Endura Pro SL 3-Season Jacket
Best winter cycling jacket for commuting: Showers Pass Men’s EcoLyte Elite Jacket
Best money-no-object winter cycling jacket: Castelli Alpha RoS 2 Jacket Men’s
There is a jacket designed specifically for every type of weather you might encounter. The most common conditions you’re likely to face in a typical British winter where road.cc is based are rain, wind and cold, down to freezing or sometimes just below.
Winter cycling clothing for your top half can be broadly distilled into three types: waterproof jackets, windproof jackets and soft shell jackets. Add in variations on those and cross-over jackets designed to perform multiple functions, and you’re suddenly looking at a huge choice.
In this guide, you'll find winter jackets with insulation to provide warmth and protection against the cold, wind and light rain. You'll find our more specific guides to waterproof and windproof jackets linked above, and we've also got an overall guide to the best cycling jackets if you want to see a broader range. If you're in need of something warm for your bottom half, then be sure to check out our guide to the best winter bib tights too.
How we review winter cycling jackets
road.cc reviewers know what they're looking for in a winter cycling jacket, and will live with the product for a month or more before writing up their findings. Jackets are assessed on their quality of construction, performance, durability, waterproofing, breathability and fit. Sizing, weight, comfort and the all-important value for money are also considered.
We'll judge a product fairly based on its price point and features list, and compare apples to apples as much as possible. For example, if a jacket claims to be water-resistant, we're not going to mark it down for not being fully waterproof if that's not what it was designed to do.
Why you can trust us
All of our reviewers are experienced cyclists, as are those of us who put together these buyer's guides, so you can be sure our guides are far from pesky AI-generated listicles designed to make you by stuff you don't need!
The winter cycling jackets included in this guide have all scored highly in road.cc reviews - ideally at least an 8/10 or better - and a number of them have been awarded road.cc Recommends badges too. We'll only include products that deserve to go in from our vast reviews archive... it's as simple as that.
First Published Feb 23, 2024