Richa Cyclone 2 Gore-Tex Textile Jacket - Black

I have owned this jacket and matching jeans for a few months albeit it has been not worn that often due to my preference for leather kit if the weather is suitable. Generally I thought the jacket fitted very well, albeit I had to return my first one in exchange from a L to an XL. I am 5'8-9, 34" waist (on a conservative day) and 44" chest. The XL fits like a glove and it can be adjusted just under the ribs to provide a snug fit. I have just come back from a few days in Wales which was unusually warm with moving air, the vents did a reasonably job of keeping the worst of the heat at bay but obviously as soon as the speed drops off it was a hot jacket in spite of the quilted liner being removed. Although not torrential, I also road in persistent rain and I can also attest to the waterproofing as being good no leaks at all. I did think the jacket and trousers looked spot on and the cut is great, unfortunately this is where things aren't so great. I have a lot of Richa kit, in fact I bought a pair of leather trousers to go with the jacket to ensure the zips were compatible. My old Richa 'lined' jacket and trousers were 15yrs + old and still performing relatively well albeit the trousers leaked thus I treated myself to some Gore-Tex. After a lot of research, I pulled the pin on this and as I write I am in fact returning them. First issue which I have seen repeated in another review since if the back protector velcro is not up to keeping the back protector in place. I have probably only worn the jacket x8 times and on over half of these rides the protector has moved or been literally hanging out the back of the jacket. On another occasion it had worked down to a horizontal position across my kidneys. In Wales I went to but my waterproof gloves on and discovered the cuffs were too tight to accommodate them under the material but too bulky to have them worn over, plus the zips on the cuffs consistently worked loose and opened unless tightly fixed in place by the velcro. The neck area is quite low too and because it is quite stiff material the 'open neck' catch is not very well positioned to open the material out the same thing would be achieved by just undoing a typical button. The font pockets are very shallow so a horizontal glasses case or wallet in one, is about the extent of their capacity at most. Finally I bought the additional D30 chest protectors. The pockets of these are so tight that the mesh pockets are under constant stress and I have doubts about their longevity, if it so tight that the pockets are constantly bowed to accomodate them, and the writing on the main zipper inseam is distorted. I will leave a separate review of the trousers but suffice to say these are disappointing too. They fit fine without the quilt liners but are too tight with them, the zip never stays up, fine if you want to walk around with your fly open, and the knee seam which I initially thought was misaligned knee armour velcro, rubs above your knees in spite of leggings.
On the whole I feel like it is style over substance, some great materials just executed badly, for the money I was expecting a lot more and as such I am left very disappointed. You don't always get what you pay for.

This is a really nice jacket and comes in big sized for those of us that require them. The materials feel nice and it fits well. The ventilation works well in the warmer weather and the thermal liner was enough insulation when it was below 10C. I've not had to test the waterproofness yet.

First of all, I got this as I was watching a Youtuber riding through horrific weather in the highlands and he never mentioned water ingress once.. After having used mine for 10-15 trips over a couple of weeks, I have started noticing the almost impossible to pull apart Velcro on the front of the Jacket is starting to feel woolly and offers much less resistance to the weather flap opening. the Back protector seems to fall out of place quite easily and ends up on your left hip? just an annoyance and no real problem. I have worn it riding through an hour of torrential rain and had no water through the Jacket and just a little through the neck which the storm hood would probably stop but up to now SBS don't sell it. The lining is very effective at keeping you warm but, anything above 5C and it will probably be left at home, it is bulky but has a vented panel on the back so you wont sweat it out if the sun ever comes out. For the price point, I think its ok but there are better Jackets out there.