The Halvarssons Liden is another new jacket for 2021. This is the ladies’ version of a jacket called the Lysvik and, as you might expect, the biggest change is to the shape and cut of the jacket. It is much more waisted, with a pronounced flare to the hips. It’s a classic, throw-on, biking jacket. And what this means is that this is the ideal jacket if you want to throw something on over, say, a pair of protective jeans, to pop into town or to grab a bacon sandwich on a Sunday morning. It is not the kind of jacket you’d necessarily commute to work in. Nor is it the perfect jacket for a big European tour. It’s for those shorter excursions that Halvarssons has created the Liden, but that certainly doesn’t mean that the jacket is lacking when it comes to its technical spec.. To the touch, the jacket has a lovely, soft feel; and indeed it’s comfortable enough to wear all day. But protection is never far from Halvarssons’ thinking. And so, in the key areas, the jacket is reinforced with the company’s proprietary Hi-Art material that makes textile fabrics up to 500% stronger. Even though the jacket might be considered by some as a casual/urban style, it is approved at the same AA level as, for example, any Rukka jacket. Level 1 protectors come as standard in the elbows and shoulders. (If you wanted even higher levels of comfort, you could always upgrade to D3O’s Level 1 Ghost armour or SAS-TEC’s Level 2 Phantom armour). There’s a pocket for a back protector. For waterproofing, the jacket is equipped with a Dryway membrane. Now we are not going to get into a debate here. Halvarssons tells us that, in some respects, their membrane works better than Gore-Tex. All we can say is that we have years of experience with Halvarssons. Very, very rarely do we have any problems with waterproofing on Halvarssons; the membrane works, and it does not leak. What the jacket does not have is any thermal lining, and this doesn’t really bother us. Most people will have a mid-layer of their own that they can wear to keep warm. Where the Liden scores particularly highly is in its venting. You get two, horizontal, zipped vents on the chest, and super-long vents up the sleeves. There are also two exhaust vents on the back. As with all Halvarssons’ jackets, the Liden comes with a full-length, connecting zip. But, in reality, you’re probably not going to zip this jacket into a Halvarssons’ pant. There isn’t technically a matching pant, and really it’s just not that kind of jacket. But, if you like to zip in for extra security, you could use Halvarssons’ famous Waist Zip so that you could zip in to any riding jean. Having started this description stating what you perhaps wouldn’t use this jacket for, we still take the view that it’s a very impressive bit of kit. It’s a bit of an all-rounder and, frankly, it’s ridiculously under-priced. Rarely have we seen a jacket that offers so much for so little.
Read our Halvarssons Liden jacket review.
