Pinkbike Awards 2015: Best Gear or Accessory

Best Gear or Accessory Winner


Endura MT500 Waterproof Jacket II

Best Gear or Accessory is a new category, which is intended to showcase standout products that play an important supporting role in the mountain bike riding experience. Winter set in hard and fast shortly after we announced the nominations, which probably led to the almost unanimous vote for Scotland-based Endura's MT500 Waterproof Jacket II.

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UK riders are infamous for shrugging off miserable weather, and this is also where one of Pinkbike's largest concentration of members hail from. Our winning jacket is designed and tested in Scotland, a country that surely holds the worldwide patent on bad weather. Mother Nature, however, does not recognize human law nor political boundaries. Any rider who has been forced to endure a long pedal under dark skies, freezing temperatures, and torrential rain or snow has wished for a jacket like the MT500. It costs a bundle ($299.99), but how much would you be willing to pay to enjoy ride after ride in conditions that would send almost everyone else running for home?


Piinkbike's winter gear reporter said: "I wore this in some fairly nasty weather, and it’s safe to say that this is the kind of jacket one could almost comfortably venture out into a hurricane with. The breathability was unbelievable. On extended climbs, both the pocket vents and the pit zips allowed for core cooling without sacrificing too much defense against whatever Mother Nature was throwing at me. The inner cuff with the thumb loops also helped keep the elements away from me, and all the zippers could easily be used with gloves on. Additionally, the jacket (despite the inner cuffs) could be put on or taken off relatively easily with gloves on."

The person who coined the adage: "There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear," must have envisioned the MT500 Waterproof Jacket II.

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