Fall is now here and even if we have beautiful days, the mornings and the ends of the day are much cooler. The challenge of managing what to wear for a ride becomes more difficult because of the cooler mornings and the warmer days.
Often, we will dress like a bear in the morning, only to remove layers as the mercury rises in the late morning. We then reverse this process as the sun drops at the end of the day. Personally, I like not to feel trapped in heavy jackets or coats. So I was looking for a solution to go riding with as few layers of clothing as possible.
I discovered the eWool heated jacket and have been wearing it on snowmobiles for the past two winters. It kept me warm even when the temperature dropped below -30 degrees Celsius. So I took it out earlier this year to add it to my quad wear.
In mid-September, I went on a 300+ km ride where I tried this jacket for the first time. As the temperature was hovering around +5C at the time of departure and I did not want to wear a heavy coat, I opted for the eWool jacket. Here is what I wore… A polo shirt, the eWool jacket and a jersey to complete the outfit.
Right off the bat, I turned on the jacket and chose the lowest level. You can feel the heat after just a few seconds. The heat is dispersed over the entire surface of the jacket. It is very comfortable.
During our breaks, I had to turn off the jacket because I was too hot. I would turn it on when we got back on our way. Of course, at some point, I left the jacket off because the temperature was more comfortable.
At the end of the ride, as the sun was going down, I turned my jacket back on to keep me from getting cold. Throughout my day, I didn’t need to change clothes or add or remove “layers”. I was very comfortable with what might be considered too little clothing to ride a quad in the fall. Plus, I had fantastic freedom of movement.
Without going into an exhaustive description of the jacket, I must say that the materials are of great quality. The only small element to improve would be the location of the battery which is located at the bottom of the back. This means that you can feel it when you are sitting on a seat with a backrest. This point should be corrected on the new generation of the jacket.
For my part, I am conquered. It is now an integral part of my spring and fall quad “kit”. So I can say that being cold on a quad is over for me!
