1938 Autocycle

Someone handed me down a nice light rain coat but am looking for some kind of cheap rain pants and some way to keep my feet dry.

What are you all doing for cheap winter clothes?

Thanks

bikemig 

Depends on how cold it is but I'm not a fan of rain pants. Tights work pretty well and keep your legs reasonably warm. Warm up pants can be found pretty inexpensively. As long as they're not made of cotton, they'll do the job.

gerv 

I've posted many times about the benefits of rain capes over jackets and pants. To some degree your location climate may affect this. Oregon residents may have different needs than Mid West cyclists. However...

pros
- you get less sweaty since there's more air flow
- the cape can extend over you bars, keeping your gloves and pants very dry.
- your shoes don't tend to fill up like they often do when rain drips down your pants and into the shoes.
- my Campmor rain cape weighs 8 oz and fits snugly in my pannier. Try that with other raingear.

cons
- you look pretty dorky
- a big wind turns you into somewhat of a sail.

bikemig 

+ 1. Rain capes are a bit old school; I've used them a lot in the past. They work surprisingly well. And you can sweat better with a rain cape (since it is open underneath) better than with a very expensive rain coat.

gerv 

Let me add that to my "pro" list.

bikemig 

They're getting a bit hard to find. Campmor sold one for a long time but apparently no longer. There are a few small outfits selling them. Carradice still sells one made of cotton duck but the OP was looking for something inexpensive. Still for riding all day in the rain, a rain cape with wool and/or fleece clothing works really well.

https://clevercycles.com/blog/2013/09...s-are-awesome/

https://www.bicycleclothing.com/Rain-Capes.html

Spld cyclist

Sierra Trading Post for reasonably priced outdoor gear/clothing in general. I've had great luck with their inexpensive synthetic base layers (Wickers and Kenyon brands), if that's something you need for winter riding.

I think these are the rain pants I got a couple of years ago (just checked the label on my pair and they don't have the model name, but these are probably it): Marmot PreCip® Pants - Waterproof (For Men) While they ain't Gore-Tex, they're pretty waterproof and reasonably breathable. I think I got them a bit cheaper than they're listed now.

"Cheap" is a relative thing, of course.

Curtis Odom 

Seems like "dry" is relative as well. Good thing God made your skin waterproof.

CompleteStreets

To keep your shoes and socks relatively dry, you may want to consider getting galoshes. They're basically rubber shoes that go over your normal shoes. They sell for about $20. Rubber boots will keep your feet even more dry, but you may sweat more in them.

wahoonc

I will second the rain capes, I have worn the ones from Campmor for years. Apparently the manufacturer (Log House Design) has discontinued it. Glad I bought two the last time around! I also have the Carradice DuxBack.

Aaron

fietsbob

Coated nylon is cheaper than the fancy High Tech , but sweat condenses on the inside of It.



Its Very Un Cheap But The Grundens-Riv Bike Rain cape has made wet riding a pretty comfortable affair.

and it will last for decades ..

The Large version drapes over My (Trekking) Bars ..

I have mounted my Dyno-headlight at the Fork Crown, and low on the rear (or rear of rear Rack)

to be clear of the cape, draping over the Lights .


My Go to winter shoe LL Bean , The Rubber Moccasin is easy to put on & OK for my small town commuting .

Gyrine

+1 for tights. Even here in rain city (Seattle) it's rare to see riders with ponchos and I suspect those are mostly commuters. I wear tights all year round except if we have a summer. Feet - I just use wool socks.

Artkansas 

No one has mentioned large plastic trash bags. **********!!!!!!!

gregjones

Twenty buck eBarf Jacket.

If they have your size left it might be worth a shot.

decotriumph 

Frogg Toggs (Frogg Toggs). I use them for motorcycle riding, too. They're lightweight and they breath. You can get them at some motorcycle shops, REI, Amazon, etc.

Zedoo

Fenders and a visor on the helmet.

gerv 

I find a baseball or cycling cap under the helmet does a much better job than the helmet visor. When it rains hard, rain sneaks behind the visor attachment to the helmet. It flows fast enough sometimes that I find my eyes burning.

Zedoo

I bought a separate visor, like a baseball hat without the cap, and velcroed it to the helmet.

fat_bike_nut

+2 on rain capes

Up until last week, I was going with a rain jacket. The rain cape works so much better than the jacket for keeping my upper-body dry. It does indeed do worse when it comes to winds, though. Also, two more things to add to the con list (one specifically for people who ride drop bar bikes):

-They work better for upright-ish handlebars (flat bars, North Road bars, etc.) where you have all the controls (brake levers, shifters) at your fingertips. It was awkward using my rain cape with my drop bar-equipped Surly LHT where the brake levers and shifters are mounted on different positions of the handlebar (levers and hoods up at the top, bar-end shifters at the bottom drop bar ends). I adapted, shifted less, and did some other things to deal with it, but for other people it might be too awkward.-
-If you normally ride with your front light(s) mounted on your handlebar, you're going to have to mount them elsewhere when you use a rain cape. I mount mine on the handlebar, so...

Despite the awkwardness, I'm going to stick to the rain cape when I wanna stay drier...I'm still keeping the rain jacket though, for those days when it's extremely windy in addition to the rain.

Roody

I don't know if anybody mentioned this, but another nice thing about the rain cape is that you can wear it in either cold or warmish rains, depending on what you wear undernath it.

If it's real warm, however, I'd rather just wear quik-dri shorts and t-shirt, and just get wet.

gerv 

I've done this lots of times. Several people have inquired about my day-glow riding shorts.

Last time I did this in the night, I was able to flip the cape to stay on the back of the light. But yes... less than ideal.

wipekitty

My current fairly cheap clothing for getting around in cool to cold rain includes a pair of Helly Hanson waterproof (uninsulated) rain pants and thick leather boots (secured to pedals with foot straps). The pants were around $20 and I'm sort of a boot collector, so I had those anyways. (Old boots are cheap, though.) My current jacket was not cheap, but I've done well in the past with nylon jackets from the thrift shop.

When I was super broke, I got by in the rain with a cheap ($15) Frog Toggs Driducks rainsuit, modified with drawstrings in the cuffs to keep them out of my chain. Pros: cheap, packed up small, prevented me from getting wet - even in a downpour. Cons: I looked homeless, and the rainsuit would puff out in the wind.

gregjones

I had not heard of these folks....thanks!!!

bragi

There is no such thing as cheap, effective rain gear. You can have cheap, or you can have effective, but you can't have both. Cheap rain gear will keep you dry if your commute is short and flat, but that's about it. For longer, hillier rides, I think these strategies work:

1. If it's warm and wet, just get wet and forget about rain gear entirely; if you wear rain gear and it's over 55 F you'll just overheat and have to change at your destination anyway, no matter what kind of rain gear you're using. (Although cotton should be avoided in this situation if at all possible.)

2. If it's cooler and wet, suck it up and get good rain gear (i..e, Gore Tex). My rain gear (pants, jacket, shoe covers, etc), which I use at least a couple of times a week here in Seattle, set me back about $250.00. Yes, it's a lot of money. But it's way better than getting soaked and being mildly hypothermic or, in the case of cheap rain gear, sweating like a pig and getting wet from the inside. (I speak from personal experience.)

And get fenders if you don't have them. Fenders are twice as important as rain gear; riding in the rain without them is like taking a shower in public-restroom toilet water.

bragi

Here in Seattle, I've never met, or even seen, anyone who uses a poncho or rain cape while riding in the rain; everyone, including me, holds out until the bitter end, and then breaks down and wears a rain coat and rain pants. And it's not because we're afraid of looking dorky; bicycle dorkiness is alive and well in Seattle, thank you very much. I think it's because we're practical; the rain here, though it seems gentle enough, manages, over the course of many days and weeks, to find every nook and cranny that's not protected... and it's surprisingly cold on a bike when you're wet. The temperature may be 45 F, but if you're not in rain gear when it's raining, your hands and ears feel like blocks of ice, you're damp, and you're shivering.