Jackets
Browse used kids' cycling jackets for sale from riders across the UK. They run from packable windproofs that fold into a jersey pocket, through membrane waterproofs with taped seams, to insulated winter jackets, sized by height between roughly 110cm and 158cm. These are the layer bought for dark school runs, club rides and family trips in British weather.
Waterproof, windproof or insulated?
A windproof shell takes the chill out of moving at speed and packs down to nothing, but wets out in ten minutes of steady rain. A waterproof has a membrane and taped seams, rated as a hydrostatic head: around 5,000mm copes with showers, 10,000mm and above with riding to school in the wet all winter, and it needs vents or pit zips or the child arrives damp from the inside anyway. Insulated jackets are as much for standing at the side of a cyclocross course as for riding.
What makes a cycling jacket different from a normal coat?
The cut. A cycling jacket has longer sleeves and a dropped tail for a rider leaning forward, narrow cuffs that will not catch on anything, and reflective detail placed low on the sleeves and hem where it moves, because movement is what a driver's eye picks up. A school coat used on a bike rides up at the back and flaps at the elbows. For short, slow riding an ordinary waterproof is fine, and the rest of the kids' clothing matters more than the jacket does.
What should I check on a used kids' jacket?
Turn it inside out and look along the seam tape: lifting or curling edges mean water will come through and there is no home fix. Check the inner face for the bubbled, crazed look of a delaminating membrane, and work the main zip with the fabric pulled taut rather than laid flat, since that is how it fails on the bike. Cuff elastic and the hem drawcord go next. Water no longer beading is not a fault — the durable water repellent finish wears off and returns with a wash-in treatment — but a shell that soaks through at the shoulders in a light shower has done its miles.
How much should a used kids' jacket cost?
Children outgrow these long before they wear them out, so a lightly used shell at a third to a half of new is both common and fair. Pay nearer new for a fully taped waterproof from an established outdoor or cycling brand, and less for a soft-shell, which loses its water resistance quickly. Buy new when nothing in the right size has sound seam tape, and put the child in shorts or tights underneath rather than jeans, which stay wet for the whole ride home.