Lusso Aqua Pro Extreme jacket review

Lusso’s Aqua Pro Extreme is a cold and wet-weather jacket designed for British riding conditions. What’s different is that the Aqua Pro Extreme is not your traditional waterproof riding jacket and feels more like a heavier weight winter jersey. It’s designed as more of a do-it-all jacket for autumn, winter and spring riding.

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Made in Manchester, the jacket uses Italian fabrics and is well constructed with Windtex fabric that features a waterproof membrane. This has a waterproof rating of 10,000mm, which is solid but not as high as some dedicated and more traditional waterproof jackets.

It's much thicker than a traditional waterproof fabric too and has a soft, short length pile inner. It does a good job of keeping you warm and I wore it with just a baselayer underneath into low single digit temperatures, and it remained breathable into the low teens, too.

The somewhat unique styling did divide opinion, largely down to the contrasting black dimpled front and shoulder panels. These panels help to keep you warm and are highly windproof to keep the cold out. To be honest, you don’t notice the looks when you’re riding.

On the rear, Lusso has used a four-way stretch panel that features a more breathable Roubaix Repel fabric to help with temperature control. It features a DWR coating and I had very little water penetration here, even during a long wet ride. How long the DWR lasts is still to be tested, but it's been fine so far after a couple of washes.

The jacket seals well all round with wide, close-fitting wrists, a soft, tall collar and a long tail that stayed perfectly in place and offered plenty of coverage.

With the collar being higher than most, it was good to find a wide zip garage to combat any irritation. Up front it doesn’t use a waterproof zip, which helps with general breathability, but it did mean I got some seepage on big rain days. Fortunately, there’s an inner flap that helps with this, as well as drafts.

There are three easy-access rear pockets and one zip pocket for valuables, so there’s no issue with storage. The pockets don’t have any top flap coverage or drainage holes like some dedicated waterproof jackets, so some water does get in, but I only found it was an issue on longer rides in heavy rainfall.

With an all-round jacket like this it does offer the ride qualities of several cycling garments in one. As such, it’s a solid performer, but looking at this from a purely waterproof jacket angle there are compromises.

It works well in all but the heaviest, longest downpours where you do start to get some damp penetration through the rear panel and some of the seams that aren't taped. It’s not extreme though, and for the majority of most people's rides this won’t be an issue.

The Aqua Repel Extreme offers good value for a jacket of this quality, especially using Windtex fabric. It has been designed to breathe well, fight the cold and take on all but the wettest rides, which it does well. It just comes down to your personal needs and the riding you do.

One of the big trade-offs here is weight and packability, but if you want a good, do-it-all autumn through to spring jacket the Aqua Pro offers excellent value for money.