Rukka ladies Downride-R jacket in gold

The reason that Rukka first produced a down jacket was as a premium-quality, thermal liner to go in the Suki jacket when it was launched almost 10 years ago. That first down jacket worked fine in our view. It was quite short, so didn't catch in the connecting  zip. It was also quite shiny, enabling the Nivala to slide over it easily when putting the jacket on. But the jacket was a bit short for wearing off the bike, and some felt the shiny material made the first Down-X jacket, as it was called, look cheap. As I said, we didn't care about these issues. We just thought it worked. The shape for ladies was very good.

 

When the Lady Nivala came out, Rukka produced a new, ladies Down-X jacket. Now this one we didn't like. It was somewhat longer, and had a matt finish, but we found it too bulky; and it had to be folded into itself when zipping together.

 

Now with the new Lady Nivala 2 around the corner, Rukka has re-designed their down jacket again. They've even given it a new name: the DownRide-R.

 

It sits, quite predictably perhaps, somewhere in between the two previous incarnations.

 

There's a sheen to the outer fabric, but you wouldn't call it shiny. And the length is just about right. It sits at about the same height as the similar offerings from Klim and Belstaff. It will work on the bike, but it's also just the right length off the bike too.

 

The down mix is 90:10. The fill power is 750. And the amount of down is 135 g/m2, which we think is just about perfect for biking.

 

Rukka talks about baffles created using a 'continuous woven channel technique'. We're not quite sure what that is, but having separate baffles is important to stop the down migrating all around the jacket. They say they have achieved this without using 'stitching'. And that's good because stitching weakens the fabric, can let air enter the jacket and can make it easier for the feathers to escape!

 

Rukka doesn't mention the material being windproof, but the Polyester outer fabric will provide at least some protection from the wind. 

 

You get two, external pockets and two internal ones.  The jacket comes with its own branded stuff sack for storage.  There's elastication at the ends of the sleeves, to ensure it doesn't get caught when putting your outer jacket on. 

 

The jacket comes in a black, and a nice goldy colour which goes rather well with the Rukka Kemi. Actually, we really like the latter. It looks very stylish, although it's a bit out there for Rukka, who normally specialise in shades of black!

 

The one thing Rukka doesn't tell us is what kind of down they're using. Before this version they always stated 'duck' down. Does the fact that they say nothing cause us to believe we're talking about chicken or turkey down? Does this even exist? Truth be told, I'm not sure it matters. The important think is that Rukka tells us that the down is ethically sourced; and that's very reassuring!

 

We like the Lady DownRide-R. We think Rukka has got this one spot on.

The only way of being warmer, we think is to move to something like a Warm&Safe heated jacket and, with respect, on a longer journey, on a colder day, no down jacket is going to measure up to an electrically-heated one!