Originally Posted by
sleepycactus
Rain-capes rock for biking in wet weather. They replace jacket, rain pants and gloves, and it goes on and off in a few seconds.
I have worn them for years. I made a couple of them out of Sunbrella fabric, and posted a blog post about it
here
I like the sturdy fabric I use; it promotes air flow and doesn’t flap.
When using a cape, you do need fenders, and any lights or accessories that are on the handlebars will be covered up.
I think I'm a bit lucky in my setup in that the front light is mounted on the end of my front rack, so it's actually a good thing that everything else on the handlebars gets covered - means a lot of stuff stays dry.
I also don't quite agree on fenders - I don't have them. But my bike has a pretty wide downtube, and front and rear racks. The net effect of which is not so much spray coming up. My feet generally end up wet eventually though. Can't see much way around that.
Btw, I ended up getting the Exped poncho. I don't like it quite as much as my previous one - it's a bit longer, which means less airflow. It also seems to have a few dangly strap things that I don't quite understand the purpose of.