I'm fairly new to commuting but I'm losing faith in my ability to do it in the Seattle rain. I know tons of people do it everyday but I just had my second wipeout in the same week. I've been commuting everyday since July and ride an '84 Eddie Merckx when the sun is out. My dedicated rain bike is an '81 Bianchi Nuevo Racing with full fenders and Bontrager 700x28 tires. I got it as a frame so I replaced the steel fork with a carbon one to accomodate a newer dual pivot campy brake I had on hand. The stopping ability is MUCH improved over the vintage brakes that were on there previously. Everything is in good working order so maybe it's just bad luck on my part?

Tuesday's accident occured when I was going down our parking garage. The brakes must have been wet because they just weren't stopping like they should ... until they locked up and I spun out on the pavement and banged up my shoulder.

Yesterdays accident occured on the street as I went over a metal storm drain ... it was raining and the whole bike just went sideways underneath me and I banged up my wrist and knee ... and ALMOST got hit by a bus.

Is it the tires? Is the road frame geometry too aggressive for wet weather? Should I look into disk or cyclocross type brakes? Just my bad luck? I don't want to give up but I'm a little freaked to get back on the bike with solid rain in the forecast. I'm even willing to invest in a new ride for the sake of safety. Any advice is appreciated!!