I'm looking for a rain jacket that has a hood so I can have it on under my helmet. That seems to make the most sense to me so the rain won't trickle down my back while I ride. Unfortunately it looks like there are less choices for a hooded jacket. Is there a reason for this? Do most folks get a helmet cover instead? Does that still prevent water going down your back?

When it's cold and wet do most folks opt for a water proof pant or a water resistant pant?

Any other tips on rain clothing would be appreciated. As I mentioned elsewhere....I am allergic to cold so getting sweaty under the clothes isn't as big of a concern for me as is getting cold.

I use a helmet cover that has a long back to it. Once its on your helmet, it turns your whole helmet into an insulating item. So you suddenly dont need as thick a head covering either.

Jackets depend on budget. I use a showerspass elite (showerspass.com) made from eVent. Others get good results with J&G or burley. The secret with all of them, is to not overdress underneath them. If you hate cold, the tendancy is to put on too much so your comfy when you first leave the house, 20 min later your sweating to death. You have to BE cold when you leave, so your comfy 20 min later.

legs I use windproof only. Although im tired of water running down the back of my legs inside my tights, and filling up my waterproof socks. So i may try waterproof tights this year.

www.mec.ca has a good selection of items that are great bang for your buck.

Search is your friend..

I like the Showers Pass Elite jacket. It comes with an optional rain hood for $20.

Check out the Performance Bike Gear link on this forum. I have a Gore-Tex rain suit that has lasted 20 years with minor repairs that I got from them. And BF gets a little fee from them if you buy thru the link.

EDIT: AH HA click on the Coupon spot at the top of the screen. I did and found Performance is selling a hooded "commuter" jacket for $80.00. Looks nice.

Thanks much guys...I have been frequenting Nashbar....I'll check out performance.

OK...I've been checking out Performance and Nashbar. I understand the terms "waterproof" and "water resistant" but now on the Gore Bikewear Function Jacket/Vest they use the term "water repelling." Where on earth does that fit in? Is it better, worse, or the same as water resistant?

See link << https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...3A%20Outerwear >>

i was wondering that too. it seems like it's the same as water-resistant, except more offensive.

Ugh! I checked out the helmet covers and there was one that had a tail and a bill....it just doesn't seem like it would keep as much moisture out as a hooded jacket. What I would love:

1) A water resistant or proof jacket with a hood;
2) One that has sleeves that can be removed for a vest option;
3) High Viz color
4) Size XXL (50-52 I suppose)

My search continues....

i just wrote to showers pass to ask if they ever plan to make the elite jacket in annoying hi-vis colors. i hope they say yes! i think it would be my dream jacket then. can't take the sleeves off, though.

Don't you think that wearing a hood will restrict your ability to turn your head and see behind you? Set me straight, commuters-in-tha-hood...

Speaking of showers pass -- I saw the Club jacket in annoying hi-viz yellow in the shop last week and it looked pretty great. Is there a lot of difference between that and the Elite? Anyone have the Club and can report on its water effectiveness? The one I saw was on sale for $80, hood included and I was sorely tempted.

I'm not sure about other hoods but the Showers Pass hood is attached to the jacket collar at only three points with strips of velcro that are about 2 inches wide. I haven't really had much of an issue turning my head.

I just finished my commute home in the rain (50F) and my showers pass clothing rocked. I have the elite jacket, rain pants and shoe covers. In my 40 minute ride in a stready rain, my long sleeve jersey was not wet, my legs under my shorts were warm and dry and my feet were fairly wet in the toes by the end. I don't have fenders on my fast commuter so I'm sure that didn't help the shoe covers. Great gear!

Colorchange
Hows your impression of the pants? Do they fit tight like tights or lose? What did you wear under them?

Up till now ive used windproof tights, but need to find somethign waterproof so my socks stop filling up with water from the top

ahpook, i asked about the club jacket and i got a response from someone who tried it on at the store and bought the elite instead. (the thread i made is something like "showers pass elite or club?", if you want to look it up.) that person's verdict was that the club was too hot and the elastic at the bottom was annoying. but i don't know anything about how it holds up in rain, on the bike, except from the review posted on showerspass.com

dave from showers pass wrote me back and said that it takes a long time for them to get fabric in for the elite jackets, so this season's fabric is already made, but he will suggest that they do a screamin' yellow at some point. i hope they do! do you guys think people would prefer hi-vis yellow over goldenrod? would you prefer it? just curious. hoping a lot of people want it so they'll make it monsieur dave also said that the elite jacket has a lot of reflective tape on it, which is cool. he seems very nice and now i am more or less compelled to buy from them.

I got the pants in small ... a little surprised but I am 5'11" 174 (and dropping , 33-32 waist. They fit snug going over my arse with shorts on but the pants feel great. Extremely low resistance to pedalling and very waterproof plus good breathability. I will have no problem with tights underneath or underarmor when it gets cold.

I would prefer a hgh vis yellow but the goldenrod is pretty bright.

i use performance gore-tex rain/cold suit after trying nashbar (REI 1980). quality and fit sold it! suit is 6 years old and still used!
i have shoe booties (3 sets), 1 unlined (hard to find).
my helmet mirror restricts use of helmet cover (also some difficulty locating) so i, also. am exploring options for head cover in the rain!
sorry if i missed answers listed above, am looking into significant lighting issues as well.
tomg

they might not look as refined as you'd like, but shower caps are cheap enough that you can cut mirror holes in them without feeling bad, and they look almost tailor-made for an average-sized helmet (my helmet has a visor and the shower caps fit it). i got 3 of them for $3.50 or so, just after someone gave all of our hotel shower caps to the goodwill!
the downside is that the goody shower caps i've seen only come in pink, pink, or purple.



sorry if i'm carrying on about hi-vis colors. i just want to be as safe as i can be, and not have to wear that #$*(@ ugly safety vest

I wear the lighted Fred vest.

Most rain jackets have a fleece lined collar and zip up your neck, like a turtle neck, this prevents water from getting in there and running down your back.
I use the J&G Rain Jacket and Helmet Cover and have not had any problems with water getting me wet.

My experience has been that rain getting into the collar of a jacket isn't much of a problem, esp. with a helmet cover. (Sweat is the problem for me. Anyone else who can't find a breathable waterproof that works, regardless of how underdressed you are?)

The Showers Pass elite functioned great at 50F. I had a light longsleeve jersey on underneath and was not soaked (dripping) from sweat and never felt the rain in a 45 minute 225-300 watt ride. It breathes great but the water beads up on the outside.

today, on return to home commute, it was pouring. i used all rain gear. booties (unlined, from 1981) did not fit my shoes. have my feet grown that much? i used plastic grocery bags around my shoes held on by ankle straps with gore-tex suit. the attached g-tex head cover fit closely under helmet, so mirror worked well.
sparked all lighting, and remained warm, safe, and DRY!

That jacket (and most of the concurve/gore bike wear product line) are made from gore windstopper. It's intended to stop wind (does this very well). It breathes better than goretex. It is not waterproof like goretex but it will keep you dry in very light rain (then again so will other fabrics). Gore doesn't claim windstopper is waterproof (only the performance ad copy people make those claims). Windstopper is a good choice for biking in dry cold weather.

https://www.gore.com/en_xx/products/c...per/index.html

I owned that jacket for a while. I liked it but it was a bit snug around the shoulders/pits so i returned it (they need to compensate for that zipper).

Re. hoods. On some jackets, the hood tends to stay immobile when you turn your head sharply, especially if the hood is not cinched down around your face, and you end up looking at a hood seam, instead of, say, oncoming traffic. The more rigid the material (like 3 layer goretex) the more likely to have this problem. Helmet covers don't have this shortcoming.

Its hard to find a good bike jacket.

High Viz all the way for me. I've noticed that rain at dawn or dusk are by far the most dangerous times. I had several incidents in those conditions where the driver clearly just didn't see me. A couple times they apologized profusely. Since switching to screaming bright yellow --no incidents.