Spidi Thermo Liner jacket for ladies in off white

We have taken on Spidi's down-style, thermal jacket because we have come to the view that a baffled, destination jacket is one of the most effective, and certainly one of the most convenient, ways to stay warm on the bike.

 

These jackets work by trapping heat generated by the body. Now the Spidi one doesn't use real duck or goose down. It is filled with some kind of hollow-form fibre like Primaloft or Thinsulate. In fact, the weight is 80gs/sq.m. That might not mean much to you, but that's quite respectable for a winter jacket. You wouldn't climb Everest in it, but it's going to keep you warm in most conditions. In the margin, a genuine, down jacket might hold on to heat more efficiently but, at £79.99, the Thermo Liner jacket is going to be much cheaper than a proper down jacket. 

 

The only genuine down jacket we offer for ladies is Rukka's Down-Y. Now it's a monster; it's amazing. But it might be a little too bulky to work with some outfits, and at £210 it is furiously expensive. If you're commuting through the winter, fair enough, but for most people the Rukka is just OTT.

 

Klim does a female version of their goose-down Maverick jacket, but it has a hood, and that doesn't work on the bike. If it gets wet, all the down will shrivel up and die until you resurrect it in the dryer. 

 

The Thermo Liner, frankly, will not be as warm as the Rukka Down-Y, but for most people it will be warm enough, and almost certainly it will be warmer than a fleece or a traditional, hollow-form, thermal liner.

 

Of course, one of the reasons we really like jackets like this is that you can continue to wear them off the bike. You can clip this jacket into a Spidi outer jacket, but the trend these days is to wear a thermal like this separately. You don't zip in or clip in. You simply wear it when it's cold, and not when it's warm. And when you're not wearing it, the Thermo Liner will compress into a tiny package that can easily be tucked away in a pannier or top box. The poppers on this jacket, by the way, tuck into pouches to conceal them when you're off the bike.

 

There's not much more to say about the Thermo Liner. It is very much shaped for ladies, with nice cinching at the waist. You get a main zip, and just one internal pocket. That's about it. But we still reckon it offers a lot for the money.