Mavic Jacket Modification

I've had this Mavic rain jacket now for a little over a year. I used it mostly for when I rode the 2012 Colorado Trail Race. It is a wonderful piece of gear. I would wear it in a car wash. It keeps me dry and it breathes amazingly well. Now that I'm not riding as much, I only use it when I'm really hiking. It would be great to use for fly fishing but I prefer my Marmot Precip jacket for that as it is dark green and more camo. After this long, there is only one thing that I do not like about this jacket. The cuffs cinch with velcro. The "softer" portion of the velcro is sewed to the sleeve while what is normally the "rougher" portion is on this strap for lack of a better term. Really, the "velcro" on this strap is like rubber and the issue I've had with it is that it just plain stopped gripping so the cuffs of the sleeves end up not staying around the wrist where they really belong. They get in the way, are annoying and allow water to get in which, pretty much defeats the purpose of having good rain gear. 

So I got into my supplies and found some extra velcro. I made a template out of cardboard that was just a bit smaller than the strap. Then I flipped the template to make the velcro for the other sleeves strap. I got out my upholstery thread and a stout needle and went to work.

This is one side all finished. You really can't tell that anything has been done to the jacket at all and the fit is so much better now around the wrist.

Perhaps the only other issue that I have with this jacket is with the hood and this is more the reason why I probably don't use it while fishing. While cycling, the hood is great when you put it on and then put your helmet back on. The helmet keeps everything in place nicely and then you can still run your helmet light if you're like me and dumb enough to ride through the night in pouring rain. You're already wet so not much point in crawling into a bivy at that point. I personally like the hood on the Marmot jacket when I'm fishing because it stays in place a bit better without wearing a helmet and well...you look pretty damn stupid wearing a helmet when fishing.