Depends on what you need. For cycling applications, ideally, you'd need someting wind proof or with significant wind blocking on the front panels, and much more breathable on the back panels. I have a high loft powershield jacket, an ibex pingo polyester/wool softshell, traditional shell/fleece, and a cycling specific jacket from canari that can be transformed into a mesh backed vest.

The powershield is great for something like lift-served skiing, but simply too hot for cycling, even in something like a Chicago winter. That'd still be true in lighter versions of that fabric. The ibex is great in most conditions in something like a bay area winter or midwest fall, but again - probably not quite right, for cycling. Neither is all that useful in real rain. If I had to choose just one outerwear solution, I'd have a heavy marino wool sweater and a lightweight shell with lots of vents - that combination is versatile enough for walking around town and cycling down to about freezing, maybe a little less.

The canari jacket, along with a longsleeve base layer, is my choice if I'm cycling hard in near freezing temps, add a wool sweater if it's colder. Pack a down vest or lightweight primaloft jacket for when you're off the bike and you'd be good to go in almost anything except for hard rain.