Alé Klimatik K-Racing Rain Jacket

Italian clothing brand Alé has a cold and wet weather range called Klimatik, which includes this K-Racing Rain Jacket. The clue is in the name: this is a coat designed for fast training and weekend rides or race day. It fits well and is very breathable, but the weatherproofing isn't as good as I'd hoped.

Its outer construction is a mixture of polyamide (72.5%) and elastane (27.5%), and it has quite a bit of stretch for a close-fitting but unrestrictive fit. It is designed for racing, after all, so you don't want any material flapping around ruining any aerodynamic advantages.

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Complementing that fit is a dropped tail, and by a good few inches too, to still give your rear plenty of coverage when crouched right over into the drops. It's held in place with a two-pronged attack of elastic and a silicone gripper, and they work: I never found the jacket riding up.

The sleeves are cut to a decent length too, to take into account the stretched out position you're likely to be spending a lot of time in. Again, elastic keeps the cuffs in position. At this money I'd expect to see the arms cut with a slight bend in them to stop the fabric bunching up at the elbow, both for comfort and aerodynamics.

Up top the neck is a nice length, or should that be height? Whatever, it sits tall, stopping any wind shooting down, but the full-length zip doesn't have a garage to park it in, which seems a bit of an omission. There is a storm flap behind it, though, which is always welcome.

The Alé is rated as waterproof to a standard of 15,000mm. What this means is that the fabric has been stretched tight under a 1in diameter sealed tube of water. It's then observed over 24 hours to see how much water it takes to saturate the material. A rating of 15,000mm is classified as rainproof and waterproof except under high pressure, so moderate rain basically. To achieve its rating, the Klimatik uses a polyurethane membrane and taped seams, and looking at the way the water beads on the outside I'd say there is also a durable water repellent (DWR) coating applied.

I wasn't overly impressed with the waterproofing, I must admit. An hour in heavy drizzle saw water seeping through the material on the arms and in steady rain I'd say it lasts about 20 minutes before you are wet.

Even if you are wet, though, the Alé keeps you warm – and, more importantly, it is good when it comes to breathability, so you never feel clammy.

I've been to the Alé factory and seen all of its clothing being handmade right there, and the level of quality control and expertise is shown here in this jacket. The seams and fabric are absolutely perfect. That, in some ways, goes towards justifying the K-Racing jacket's £135 price tag.

Looking back at other jackets we've tested, there is little like the Alé, with most being aimed more towards the actual waterproof general jacket rather than something you'd stick on over your kit for race day to get you through the worst of the weather. The top scoring Endura FS260 Pro SL is an obvious contender: at roughly the same price it scores highly in breathability and, more importantly, waterproofing. Spend another £85 and you can get the new Gore One GTX, weighing half the price of the Alé while also excelling at the moisture in/moisture out ratio.

> Check out our guide to the best waterproof jackets

Overall the Alé is pretty good at what it does; okay, the waterproofing could be better, but it is very good at keeping you warm so you don't actually realise you are wet until you stop to take the jacket off – but it is up against some stiff competition.

If you're racing and in the thick of it, the Alé does enough to keep the worst of the weather off so you can keep your mind on the job. The cut and fit is spot on for racing and this is where the Alé makes up its marks; that and the fact that it can be rolled up and stuffed in a rear jersey pocket.

Verdict

Breathable, light and packable race day jacket with okay waterproofing