Rapha Men’s Explore Down Jacket

The Rapha Men's Explore Down Jacket feels and looks fantastic, but your perception of how good it is for cycling will depend on your intentions. If you want it for extra warmth at campsites, cafe stops and car parks, for gentle spins to the pub, or simply for posing about impressing other cyclists, it's brilliant. If you want it for actually riding in, however – or you're looking for value – you're going to feel differently.

Check out our guide to the best winter cycling jackets for more options.

> Buy now: Rapha Men’s Explore Down Jacket

As you might expect, both for the price and from a high-end name such as Rapha, this is put together extremely well from top-flight materials. For down jackets, that means 100 per cent goose down; here you'll find 750 fill power down responsibly sourced (from a company called Allied Feathers) and fully traceable via trackmydown.com. Actually, it's 90% down, and 10% goose feathers.

Or that's what you might think if you only read the 'description' section online. Go find the 'details and materials' part, though, and you discover that less than 100% of this jacket is 100% goose. It actually has 'strategic goose down and synthetic insulation mapping', and the strategically synthetic bits are polyester and nylon. There's no word on the thinking behind the strategy or the mapping.

I've actually got no issue with this, as it works very well, but the goose down does feel a bit like the Sex Panther cologne from Anchorman – '60% of the time it works every time'.

The ripstop outer shell gets a water-repellent treatment to at least keep brief showers from soaking in, and it works pretty well to make rain bead and roll off. You don't want to get the Explore drenched, but it's resistant enough to stop you worrying while you get out a waterproof.

Pleasingly, it also helps keep the jacket clean; I got this pretty well spattered with gritty mud on one gravel ride, but once dry there was barely any sign of it. A couple of wipes with my hands and the remaining haze of dust was gone; only the fabric of the zip still bore the marks.

Though the Explore has some cycling-specific aspects (a dropped tail and what Rapha calls an 'articulated fit for improved mobility in an on-bike position') it's only as good for riding in as you might expect. Which is to say, not very. It's certainly comfortable and unrestrictive both in a riding position and while standing, and it's extremely windproof, but it really doesn't breathe well enough for exertion.

Cruising along on the flat or spinning downhill into a chilly wind it's lovely, but start climbing anything meaningful and the heat very rapidly builds up to excessive levels. It's only what most people would expect from a down jacket like this, but then most jackets like this don't have cycling intentions. The 'on-bike functionality' Rapha has in mind is, presumably, the brief and/or gentle commute or pleasure-ride kind.

Off the bike it's lovely, and it's light (328g) and packable in the backpack/frame bag sense. Though it does crumple down pretty well into its own stuff sack (which you'll find tethered to the bottom of one usefully large inside pocket), it's not the sort of thing you want in a jersey. It's pretty bulky.

Whatever you're doing, the cut works very well. The sleeves are a perfect length and kept pretty snug by simple elastic cuffs, while the collar comes right up to your chin for a very cosy feel. The padded hood does tend to sit pretty high behind your head when down, which can look a little odd, but it only contributes to the scarf-like feel of the collar when the Explore is fully zipped up.

It's not a helmet-friendly hood in any way, but that seems the right choice. The thickness means the hood holds its shape well and gives a good, protective overhang around your face without totally obscuring your vision, and there's a toggle on the back for snugging in its neck.

Down at the waist – a good length for regular wear at the front, dropped enough behind to be useful but not weird – there's another toggle-tightened elastic cord for snugging it in. There's also a big printed slogan on the inside, 'Go until you're lost', which quite honestly seems like the worst advice ever. Don't do that. Learn to map read. Pleasingly, there are map-sized inside pockets on both sides, which is a very nice touch.

On the tail externally, as on the chest, you'll find a big printed Rapha logo to let everyone know what fantastic taste (and quite literally what deep pockets) you have. They don't seem reflective at all, however, which again reminds us this is really more aimed at pedestrian use than anything else.

Value

The £280 ticket seems quite high. For £100 less you can get a Stolen Goat Men's Black Adventure Down Jacket featuring the same 90% down/10% feathers goose insulation, and in our review of the women's version, Anna discovered it was very good.

For less still there's the £120 Altura Twister Men's Insulated Cycling Jacket, and although that uses plastic insulation instead of goose, it does cope better with getting soaked. Also, the men's version is waist length, which solves one of the issues Caroline had with the much longer ladies' one.

Neither are particularly better suited to actually riding in than the Rapha, though, and in truth a 'civilian' down jacket would do much the same job. You can get those for under £200 – the Rab Men's Cirrus Flex Pro Hoody, for instance, is £175, though it features synthetic insulation. The also-ethically-sourced-goose down Rab Electron Pro is the same price, £280.

Conclusion

Overall, this is a lovely jacket that's easy to carry – assuming you have a bag of some kind – for extra warmth and wind protection when you stop. While you can also ride in it, it gets hot quickly if you do anything strenuous, and it's only lightly showerproof, so it's really best kept for walking about in. It's probably even better for being seen in, but you're paying quite a premium to wear those big, elegant and non-reflective logos.

Verdict

Excellent warm and light jacket for being around bikes, but too warm for anything beyond short or gentle bimbles