Australian brand Attaquer continues to grow and develop its clothing range with each new season and now offer sunglasses, race-specific garments, a comfort-focused line and even casual streetwear.
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The Attaquer All Day Arrow Stripe rain jacket comes from Attaquer's All Day range, which focuses on comfort and longer days in the saddle as opposed to all-out performance. As its name suggests, the jacket features a white block stripe design overlaid onto a black fabric.
Alongside the white block design, small pieces of Attaquer branding on the chest, upper back and sleeve also appear in the white finish, and while the design is reflective, the only option of a black base colour may be off-putting to some.
Attaquer's All Day range is designed 'to see you through those epic days in the saddle, focused on comfort and support'. While some features of the jacket adhere to this mantra with a soft-feeling fabric and non-aggressive, almost baggy cut on the sleeves, the jacket also has other welcome features including a high collar and low-cut rear to further contribute to keeping the elements out.
The relaxed cut of the jacket certainly adheres to its mission statement, and while the garment isn't designed for aerodynamic performance, I felt some material could have been lost on the arms to help prevent the wind flap.
Ultimately a rain jacket is designed to keep you dry when the heavens open and the All Day Arrow Stripe rain jacket performs this excellently. I have yet to experience any water ingress through the main sections of the fabric nor the seams, which have been sealed for extra protection.
This water and wind protection does come at a slight cost of breathability. In milder temperatures or humid conditions, I did begin to feel excess heat build-up while wearing the jacket and found myself unzipping the jacket for ventilation. With colder temperatures this isn't a problem and the jacket has become a permanent layer for rides up to around 10 degrees Celsius.
The breathability issue is somewhat negated by the excellent packability of the jacket. When the rain eases off, the jacket can be easily removed on or off the bike (partly due to the aforementioned baggy sleeves) and then scrunched or rolled to slide easily into a jersey pocket and this, combined with the weatherproof properties of the jacket, make a reliable addition to your cycling wardrobe throughout the year.
There's also good news for those of us looking to buy this kit from within the EU, and that's that In the past twelve months, the company has also appointed a European distributor and warehouse, allowing customers within the EU to access smaller lead times on delivery and avoid any international shipping tariffs which may previously have been applied.