Before criticizing gore-tex, consider what existed before it. Wool, a proprietary mixed bag of (insert name here) and increasingly popular polartec fleece. Polartec was soooo breathable when it first came out that Gore-tex was its perfect partner in marriage. That was then.

While I haven't tried XCR, their standard product, windstopper and Paclite all leave me moistening up and over burdening the "interior climate". Pit zips are mandatory and, I think, do a great job at mediating between extremes on a bike. If one is simply pedaling point to point in the cold/severe cold, gore may be the way to go, but lets see if we can make this more interesting and put it in terms of heart rate zones.

I find that below 135, I'm buttoned down and comfy inside a membrane system. At 140-160, I'm playing with the pit zips and at 160+, there is no keeping up with the moisture created, no matter the outside temperature (disclosure: never gone below 10F). To open pit zips when its 20, or below, can be a shock if you've let a little too much moisture build up. In my quest for a 10-32 degree solution, I am at this point going to go with panels and not full coverage, or over to non-Gore alltogether.

Cycling is a unique application. Compared to downhill skiing, heart rates go up when the wind speed drops (uphill) and you need venting. Then they go down when the wind speed picks and you need warmth. More challenging, er what? Suffice to say, I would take a paneled jacket of any material over a single material jacket and that's where I think the materials threads may be a little miss-guided on this cycling forum.