3dw

It was my B-day and my gf got me a nice NorthFace Gore-Tex jacket. I've been asking for a good wet weather jacket for commuting and riding for awhile now. I wore it on the commute in today and seemed to breath fairly well. I did get some perspiration on my arms and back. But w/ a pack on I don't think there's to much to be done about the back.

Here's the question. I may return the NortFace jacket and try to get something made from eVent. Has anybody tried both products? Is the breath-ability factor really going to be that much better w/ eVent? I know everybody raves about them, but if the difference is small it may not be worth it. I like that I can use the NorthFace for other things then riding. It has a ton of pockets and looks pretty nice. The downside is that it's black, and I'm sure that the fit is a bit more baggy then the ShowerPass as well.

I'm also weary that I can't try on a ShowerPass before buying. There doesn't seem to be anyone local that has one. Hell, their website doesn't even have any.

She also got me a pair of Ibex 3/4 knickers, wow, those are nice!

HardyWeinberg

look at gelanots fabric for raincoat too.

allan6344

The Showers pass is a nice bike specific jacket with vents, short waist and longer tail. I think the eVent does breathe better but you can still overload the fabric if you sweat much. I only use mine for pounding rain instead of a wind shell I use for light rain.

3dw

Hmmm, thanks for the input.
I contacted ShowerPass and they said they should be restocked in 7-10 days.
I checked out what I could find made out of gelanots and it seems like they're mostly motocross, or motorcycle jackets. The guys I work w/ that Moto said I need to buy a dirt bike first, LOL.

I'm wondering if I'd end up saturating a Showerpass just as easily as the NortFace now. I probably sweat a bit more then the average joe. Especially going up Juanita Drive every day.

Funny, all comments on this are from the Seattle area. I guess it does rain here a lot.

badhat

i love my eVent pearl izumi channel jacket hugely.

i wear it for all foul weather... its a really good windbreaker/shell when its cold and its the most water proof jacket i own.

cant compare it to gore tex, but its highly recommended.

HardyWeinberg

It does, doesn't it... My burley raincoat is gelanots, but they aren't made any more. I don't know who else might (or might not) use that fabric, although my wife just landed a burley NOS from lickbike.com (I got mine on ebay now that I think of it).

For my own metabolism I have to balance the temp vs the rainfall vs the coat vs long or short sleeves under it. If it's raining enough for me to wear it around 50F, I will likely go w/ short sleeve t-shirt underneath. Below 40F, long sleeves. The burley has great venting, pitzips, back flap, about as much as you can ask for. Above 60F, short sleeves and no raincoat for sure, below 60 and even below 50, depends on if it's really pelting vs just misting... the burley and long sleeves underneath do fine for me down to ~20F regardless of precipitation. That's a measure of how much I heat up more than how warm the coat is, the burley is just one windbreaking layer of gelanots, no liner.

Jarery

Showerspass is located in seattle somewhere, maybe you can stop by the warehouse and try one on ?

If you sweat a lot and/or its above 50 degrees, your gonna sweat in either. I guess it all comes down to how comfortable you are in the one you have now. This week its been at the transition point of where its almost too hot to wear raingear in the rain. If you were fine, then the difference may not justify switching.

As something you can measure, hrmmm, id say my base layers are at least 2x as moist when I arrive at work in a goretex as when I switched to event. If the moisture isnt bad to start with you can keep the goretex, if your currently arriving soaked, make the switch

As others mentioned, its not a miracle fabric, it'll still overheat. My arms are what always feel wet first when the temps are above 50. Its also cycling specific with no pockets, so its not something you put on to go to the restaurant at night when its raining. All that said, I'd never go back to goretex.

Bekologist

there's currently a great selection of Showers Pass rain jackets at Gregg's Greenlake, but i don't think there's any of the Event ones.

There's some great jackets made down in Portland that look like the Burley classic raincoats.

and some reaaaallly high vis cycling raincoats too.

I, like allan, choose to wear a windbreaker or a vest for everything except heavy rain days. this week I've just used a wind-resistant vest for 15 miles daily.

staying out of the raingear as much as possible is my advice on staying more comfortable for seattle winters.