Review: Review: Assos IJ.TIBURU.4

Throwing down £185 on a jacket is always going to be a nerve-wracking experience, in any currency that’s a serious chunk of money, but thankfully the ASSOS IJ.TIBURU.4 Jacket rewards that faith with a fantastic level of performance.

Constructed from 14 patterns, 4 different textiles, and 12 components you get a sense of where your money is going with this. It feels super techy, when you are hunkered down on the hoods the fit is superb, the jacket seemingly ‘clicks’ into position.

The TiBuro is a 3 season top, which means it will see you well from autumn through to spring time – with only a change of base layers required, and the addition of a waterproof for the worst days.

It uses a mix of what Assos are calling RX and RXQ panels. the former on the leading edge to block the wind, whilst the latter enables heat to vent without being stripped by the wind. In practise it’s well worked, the combination works well, and the body temperature is nicely regulated without anything building up too dramatically.

On aesthetics, I like it. The main body is a block colour (in this instance I went for green), whilst the sleeves have a more vibrant pattern to them which resonated for me well. On others that I’ve seen on the lanes it really stands out, the contrast is very striking (in a good way).

The jacket features what Assos call a rear stabiliser panel design, what this means in use is that loaded pockets stay put and don’t stretch the top when loaded up – this also works when there’s a bit of weight in them.

On colder days I’ve been wearing the jacket with the Assos skinFoil base layer, and the combination has seen me happy down to low single digits, the wind blocking nature of the jacket really helps to keep the cold at bay, playing a massive part in keeping the body’s core at a sensible temperature.

Sizing on the jacket is pretty tight on this, so it’s certainly worth bearing this in mind if you are packing some winter insulation, size up if so!

The only downside of the skinFoil top is that it doesn’t keep smells away particularly well – so it’s certainly a wear-once, wash once item.

Overall I’m very impressed with the Assos IJ.TIBURU.4, it’s fantastically hard-working, doing an excellent job at temperature regulation and keeping the rider in comfort. Yes it’s certainly expensive, but overall I feel the price is almost certainly justified, I would hazard a guess that you’d get a decade of usage out of this!