Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 12,728
Likes: 2,105
From: Madison, WI
Bikes: 1961 Ideor, 1966 Perfekt 3 Speed AB Hub, 1994 Bridgestone MB-6, 2006 Airnimal Joey, 2009 Thorn Sherpa, 2013 Thorn Nomad MkII, 2015 VO Pass Hunter, 2017 Lynskey Backroad, 2017 Raleigh Gran Prix, 1980s Bianchi Mixte on a trainer. Others are now gone.
I do not use a bike specific jacket for touring because for touring I want a jacket that I will also want to use in the campground, meaning pockets in front instead of one in back and also a hood. I do not want a giant hood to go over a helmet, I use a rain cover on my helmet.
I originally got a Marmot Precip in high vis bright yellow. I got it replaced under warranty, the coating delaminated around the collar area and at that time when they replaced it the brightest color I could get was red so that is what I now have. Soon after they came out with some more high vis colors, but I was not going to buy a new full price jacket to just get a different color. Touring if it is raining, I am running LED flashers in back, they are more effective than jacket color. Thus I considered the high vis color a medium high priority, well below the ultra high priority of a good LED flasher or two. (The switch on one of my two flashers corroded in Iceland and died on me, fortunately I always carry two but that is off topic.)
I measured my Precip at 390 grams, my bike specific rain jacket with only one tiny back pocket at 325 grams. The penalty of 65 grams is not worth worrying about in my opinion.
My bike specific jacket has a large non-adjustable vent in back, the Precip has pit zips. I prefer the adjustable pit zips.
What is most important to me is the ability to zip it up or use velcro to get a reasonably tight seal around my neck to reduce water ingress at that point when the rain is hard. Both jackets are good.
Bottom line, I use the Precip for bike touring. For rainy days near home, I use the bike jacket.