Last year I rode to work 170 days and the only way I can better that record is to ride in rainstorms. I already have fenders, a helmet cover, and a rain jacket, of course, and I bought some rain pants last fall and they're fine in cold weather, but way too sweaty if it warms up. Even the jacket on its own is kind of sweaty too.

So, I ordered a J&G rain cape. There were a few capes advertised online, but I couldn't find a North American supplier for the famous (and expensive) Carradice cape; and the hood seemed like an unecessary nuisance on the Campmor cape. Also, I just didn't like the look of this one.

Anyway, I got the J&G cape a few weeks ago and finally used it twice this week.

It definitely is much better than rain pants for avoiding sweating, and it worked very well at keeping not only my pants but also my shoes dry. I would certainly recommend it.

There are too caveats.

Capes are obviously not aerodynamic, so my commute took a little longer, and I had a hard time bucking the strong headwinds. In a very strong cross breeze, a cape would certainly affect your steering and add a risk of falling

Also, the thumb loops on this particular model are long elastic straps mounted quite high inside, so the front of the cape has too much freedom to flap, and I had to grab the hem and hold it on the handlebars. I like to glance down at the front derailleur from time to time to check what chain ring I'm on, and I had let go of the hem and then recapture it every time I did that. Of course it's probably not really necessary to visually check the chain ring so maybe I'll just unlearn that habit, but I still shouldn't have to grab the hem of the cape. The long loops are likely due to the "one size fits all" design, and I'll have to figure out how to modify the cape without tearing the fabric, to add lower loops to keep the front hem over my hands.