Review: Review: Northwave North Wind Vest

An effective and extremely packable gilet, thankfully fluro isn’t the only colour!

6/10 in this colour 8/10 in ANYTHING else!

As a great block of colour – I don’t like fluro. There i said it, it may be the ‘in’ colour of 2013 but as a colour scheme, especially as the main colour, I really don’t like it.

I don’t particularly like the effect it has on my eyes, but more importantly I don’t like what it stands for!

To me fluro, and especially the non-wearing of hi-viz, is just an excuse for lazy driving, it’s victim blaming at its peak. Every time I see someone wearing a fluro jacket in the day-time my soul cringes, as it yet again reinforces the idea that cycling is inherently dangerous and we should all be wearing fluro colours – to the extent that cyclists are judged to be unsafe if they are not wearing it – and this judgement is coming at us from car drivers in what colour cars? Grey, and black, and cream – so the exact opposite of what we need to wear to be seen! it vexes me!

But on a positive note – this is SO bright that I could see it coming before I put it on!

But anywho, back to the North Wind Vest….

Other than the colour, this is a splendid little vest.

Little in that when not being worn it scrunches down and can fit into your rear jersey pocket with ease.

It’s a simple windproof design, with a solid wind blocking front and a mesh rear to get rid of the heat thats normally swept away by the wind.

I found the medium to be a little tight around the arms, I’ve been chopping a lot of wood this winter so I am feeling pretty buff, but I suspect it may be that the top itself is quite svelte around that area – so if you are muscular, or indeed chunky, you may prefer to pop up to a large size.

The rear mesh comes down as far as the top of your jersey pockets, where it’s a trip back to fluro land again, but with a whopping big flap to allow hands to go reaching into your jersey pockets – handy.

With the printing being reflective, and not too garish in nature, and the piping on the rear being reflective as well – coupled with the eye burning nature of fluro yellow – it’s an incredibly visible top – you WILL be seen in this.

It’s wearable, stowable, and visible – just not my cup of tea!

If it’s yours you can pick up the NorthWave North Wind Vest for £39.99 (or a bit less if you hunt around!)