Albion Men’s All Road Pertex Shield Rain Jacket

The Albion All Road Pertex Shield Rain Jacket is excellent, with great waterproofing and high breathability, very low weight and good packability. It's let down ever so slightly – for taller folk, at least – by having slightly shorter sleeves than expected. It's not the fastest-drying fabric either when it starts to wet out.

For more options, check out our guide to the best waterproof cycling jackets.

> Buy now: Albion All Road Pertex Shield Rain Jacket for £195 from Condor Cycles

For road riding, gravel riding and bikepacking, the Albion is ideal. At the risk of repeating myself, it's not only light, it's also quite packable, and the wet weather performance is also great, but it's the breathability that really stands out.

The three-layer fabric has a PFC-free membrane (without the toxic chemicals used to make waterproof clothing) sandwiched between a soft inner and outer, and a C0 Durable Water Repellency (also free from per fluorocarbons) to shed water on the face fabric. Fully taped seams feature throughout, and the material has a bit of stretch to it.

Albion claims a fabric performance of 20,000mm for waterproofing, and 20,000g/m2/day for breathability. According to the literature, that puts it just beneath the most-breathable Gore-Tex fabric, Gore-Tex Pro, which is 28,000mm for waterproofing and 25,000g/m2/day, but above Paclite or Performance.

Somewhat bothersome, Gore doesn't state the performance of its Gore-Tex Shakedry Race fabric, though anecdotally I've seen other testers claim a waterproofing and breathability rating of 27,000mm and 27,000g/m2/day. I've owned a Shakedry jacket, and I found it unsurpassed as far as waterproofing and breathability goes.

As I said earlier, though, the Albion jacket still shines as far as breathability is concerned. I wore it at a Glorious Gravel event around the Salisbury Plains back in May. It was around 18°C, a bit wet and windy, and occasionally sunny, but I kept it on most of the day because the weather was so changeable, and had no issues with overheating. On some of the longer uphills, I would simply vent the jacket using the lower zip (more on that in a minute).

As far as waterproofing goes, it's very good – the membrane will keep you dry even in an hour's worth of a deluge (tested on my commute to the office, naturally). Unsurprisingly, the DWR eventually loses out, and I did notice the fabric wetting out eventually in some areas – most notably on the cuffs, where they see the most impact. It's not got the face-fabric performance of the Shakedry membrane, nor does it dry out as quickly.

It's worth noting that Shakedry is unique in that it's a two-layer fabric with the membrane on the outside, whereas the Albion All Road Pertex Shield is a more traditional, but still very technical, three-layer fabric.

The advantage of the three-layer system is that it doesn't have that worrying fragility; it feels nicer on the inside, and it's not crunchy loud while you're riding.

Three-layer jackets are usually heavier than their two-layer counterparts, but the Albion came in at 200g on the road.cc scales for an XL, which is seriously impressive – especially given the much less substantial Gore Shakedry Race weighed 174g in a large (an XL Albion is about the same as L in Gore) when we tested it. The Albion isn't quite as packable, but will still scrunch down to just a bit bigger than the size of a tennis ball. I managed to fit it inside my frame bag easily, along with food and a bunch of other tools and spares.

Something I've not seen anywhere before on a rain jacket is Albion's Triple Zip system – it's rather unusual. On the main zip it's a conventional up and down zipper, nice and chunky, but to the side you've another two smaller zips in line with each other.

The upper one is the shorter of the two, giving you access to a small Napoleon pocket, which just about fits a modern iPhone…

…while the lower one is the longer one, which when pulled up from the bottom gives you loads of ventilation.

The idea here is that rather than trying to operate two pullers on a single zip, they operate independently of each other. Though it feels like an overly fussy design on the outset, after a while of trying it I soon came to appreciate it. It allows you to either vent or fully open the jacket depending on your requirements.

Given the often changeable nature of the weather in the UK, Albion has cleverly added a simple but useful feature at the cuff area: quick-release Velcro. Combined with a pull tab, the cuff diameter can be quickly opened to help you in getting the jacket on and off (especially useful for watch wearers). Though the cuffs are on the slim side, the stretchy fabric allows them to accommodate a wider variety of wrists.

At the rear of the hem is a silicone gripper to keep the jacket in place, and rather than an adjustable hem, Albion has chosen to go with an accordion stretch panel around the back, presumably to keep weight low (no doubt offsetting the extra weight of the Triple Zip system). Getting the right fit is crucial, then, because you don't want it to be too loose around the waist.

On that subject, I tend to find that Albion products made in Italy are a bit longer than those made in China. This jacket is the latter, and I found that the sleeves come up both a bit shorter and slightly larger than I had expected. I have very long and slim arms, it's worth noting.

Elsewhere, the overall fit is pretty much the same. That is, slim in the body, with a close but not race cut. Good for me with a small waist, but others might find it a bit tight around the midsection.

For safety, there's a single reflective Albion logo at the rear which admittedly isn't loads, though the two colour choices – a bright blue and orange – certainly help you stand out during the day. The usual Albion logo features on the left arm.

Value

Albion typically offers good quality kit for the money, and the All Road Pertex Shield Rain Jacket is just such a case. Sure, you won't get the value for money of something like the Galibier Tourmalet 4, which is over £110 less, but if you want that higher level of performance then prices quickly ramp up.

For £15 less than the Albion, the Pactimo Men's Torrent Stretch Waterproof Cape we tested last year received a road.cc Recommends for a very similar performance (though good luck finding it in stock anywhere). It's lighter and appears to excel everywhere else, with a much higher level of breathability.

At the upper end, you've got the aforementioned Gore Wear Race Gore-Tex Shakedry Jacket, which in many respects is better than the Albion jacket, although I don't think it's as nice to wear, nor is it as hardy. It's £105 more, too, and sadly, soon you won't be able to buy a Gore jacket with the Shakedry fabric.

Conclusion

Albion's ability to produce high-performance garments continues with its All Road Pertex Shield Rain. If you want a jacket that offers great all-round performance, notably top breathability, waterproofing and packability, then you could do a lot worse.

Verdict

A top-quality waterproof jacket that excels in many areas, with just some very minor shortcomings in respect of the fit