O2 Rainwear Basic Cycling rain jacket

The O2 Rainwear Cycling Jacket by Rain Shield is a remarkable garment. It has the best performing waterprooof/breathable (WPB) fabric of any jacket we sell, with one significant limitation—it is a bit delicate. But the price is so low that its fragile nature is easy to overlook for most users. Read on and you might well decide what many others have, that the great performance and low price of this jacket make its delicate fabric worth living with.

The secret to the O2 jacket’s nature is the material it is made of. Rain Shield didn’t come up with a fancy marketing label for it, but just calls it “breathable microporous fabric”. It is a laminated sandwich of three layers of polypropylene, made in a process that yields an extremely breathable but waterproof and windproof fabric that is also very inexpensive compared to similar WPB fabrics made with teflon or polyurethane coatings. The fabric is also remarkably light.

The jacket design follows along in the spirit of the fabric’s nature. It has no pockets, to save weight, cut costs and eliminate potential leak points. It has no “pit zips”—the fabric breaths so well, you normally won’t miss them. The fabric doesn’t need a protective inner lining the way many other WPB fabrics do, so the jacket does not have one, again saving weight and bulk. The jacket does get all the essential cycling-specific design points right, though: long sleeves, extended drop tail in the back, high collar, sealed seams, a waterproof zipper, and of course a highly visible yellow color.

The one weakness of this garment is also due to its fabric—it is not very abrasion or cut resistant. It would not be a great choice for mountain biking along trails where you often rub up against tree branches or crash onto rocks. (You can do it, just take some duct tape or patching fabric with you to make field repairs if necessary.) But for all other riding situations it holds up just fine, and at a light 5 oz. it is easy to take with you any time you ride, “just in case.”

The O2 Rainwear Basic rain pants match this jacket. If you want a garment with more features and more durability, check out the O2 Rainwear 3Flow Performance rain jacket.