Here’s the problem. You ride to a rally, or work, by bike and it rains. Even if you own the smartest bike jacket in the world, it’s wet and smelly so you don’t want to wear it to the office or the pub.
 
On my 19-country Twin Town Courier tour to Ukraine by 1968 Lambretta I had an extreme version of the same problem. I needed a smart jacket for meeting mayors once I got off the scooter, but I didn’t have space to carry much stuff. Night-mayors!
 
Enter the Knox ‘mid-layer’ Winter Jacket: a sartorial Swiss-Army knife for scooterists. The softshell fabric has a soft fleece inner and contains a membrane to be fully windproof but still breathable.
 
In warm conditions it’s less bulky to pack away than a hoodie, but the material is amazingly crease-resistant so you can pull it out of a bag, sling it on and have something dapper to wear off the bike.
 
In cooler seasons the Wind Buddy can either be worn as a replacement for the liner of your motorcycle jacket or even as an additional layer when it’s colder than penguin goolies.
 

My only criticism of the jacket is that the cut under the arms is low enough that when worn under a bike jacket the sleeves tend to ride up your arms a little, but that wouldn’t stop me using it as a mid layer when it gets chilly. Alternatively, some people buy a larger size and use this as a top wind-proof layer over leathers.
 
Nicely made, comfy and technical. A top bit of kit.
 
The Winter Jacket – also known as the Core V15 (why have one name for a product when ten will do) – retails at £79.99, but you can find it for less then £60 if you hunt around online.

​For more information see the Planet Knox web site.

Watch one of the scariest near misses in scooter racing as well as Vespa rider Paolo Birtele being launched into orbit at the end of the straight.

On-board footage from Luca Fuschini's Casa Lambretta sponsored SS225. Pitlane clips shot using Sena Prism camera and edited using Filmora. Music by Zinc.

Scooter racers have joined millions of concerned UK Volkswagen customers who want their diesel vehicles remapped as a matter of urgency in order to reduce performance to fully meet emissions regulations.

When asked if the loss of power was a worry, they all said that they'd happily make a performance sacrifice if it would allow daises to grow from the exhaust pipe.