We’ve long been fans of the online cycling shop Wiggle. In our experience, they consistently deliver quality products and excellent service for a reasonable price. So when Wiggle’s marketing team got in touch a few months ago to ask if we’d review a couple pieces from their house-brand dhb winter clothing line, we happily took them up on the offer.
A couple weeks later, Andrew was decked out in a lightweight dhb rain jacket, and I was testing a softshell thermal jersey.
Andrew in his lightweight dhb rain jacket, courtesy of Wiggle.
Like many in-house brands, the dhb jackets aim to strike a good balance between price and quality, and in our experience they succeed at this.
Lightweight Protection For Unexpected Showers
We were particularly impressed with Andrew’s rain jacket, which weighs just under 200g and folds up into such a small package that you can almost carry it in your pocket. Is it the most technical jacket out there? Not by a long shot. As this review points out, it doesn’t have adjustable cuffs or slash zips for extra ventilation — but for the price you can hardly complain.
And frankly, even in the relatively rainy Netherlands we rarely encounter a total downpour. More often, we just need a jacket that protects against those surprise showers that tend to come out of nowhere on a chilly autumn day. For that, this jacket is the perfect insurance policy. You’ll hardly notice it in your panniers (it would even fit in a handlebar bag), but you can count on it if it starts to rain. If you’re looking for something small and waterproof without breaking the bank, we can recommend it.
Warm and Bright
My bright pink fleece also got the thumbs up. The colour certainly stands out against the sandy-coloured Dutch seaside, where we often ride, and there are plenty of pockets: zipped pockets in front for your valuables, and three open slide-in pockets on the back of the jacket for easy access to things like snacks or a mobile phone.
Like Andrew’s rain jacket, the fit is snug but it’s warm enough that on days with a top temperature of between 10-15°C, I found it was enough to wear it with a light merino wool base layer. That said, I do have a tendency to prefer cool to warm, so those who like it hot may want to add an extra thick layer underneath, or pair it with a windbreaker over the top. In that sense, this jacket is very flexible and has turned out to be one of my go-to pieces of kit in the last few weeks.