Hello friends,

I am currently staring at twelve (12) months of commuting by bike about 7 miles round trip (not including traveling between classes and work) every day. It's not much, and the ride itself is hardly going to be challenging, but I live in Wisconsin, where we have 4 seasons: cold, really cold, damn cold, and road construction. My daily commute will be to and from the college campus where I attend classes and work 20 hours a week. I'm hoping some folks on here can provide some inexpensive yet sturdy clothing recommendations that will hold up in rain, snow, and hail. I do not have a place to shower on campus, and changing each morning would be too much of a hassle, especially since my campus is rather large and requires riding a decent distance between individual classes and work.

I don't mind spending the money on nice things that will last a long time, but still need to keep it reasonable as I am on a college student's budget. Ideally I will need the following:

Rain jacket/shell
Pants that are comfortable for riding in
Cold weather jacket

Please recommend some clothing!

Wool and thrift/surplus stores are you friends.

If you live in Wisconsin you might already have a lot of what you need. A good, wicking base layer (long underwear), a thermal layer (fleece), and a windproof outer layer.

Merino wool isn't scratchy. Costco and other places sell Merino Wool socks for pretty cheap starting in the fall. Wool socks are the best. Wear shoes that are extra roomy so that you can wear thicker socks without cutting off circulation.

Go to the winter biking section.

It typically rains all year round here

tjspiel: Thanks for your suggestions. I definitely will try hitting up Goodwill/Saver's/Vinny's/etc. Are there any other good resources out there?

+1

also check out Target. They have some nice wicking kaki pants marketed towards golfers that are nice. Wear those over a base layer like Under Armour tights, and if you get too hot durring the day, just go to the restroom and remove the base layer - stuff them in your backpack until the ride home.

Target aslo has some good long sleeve shirts that are meant for cold weather jogging. I've stocked up on some of those recently in preparation for fall. However, since you have to wear what you ride in during the day, a wool sweater under a medium/light windbreaker or tech jacket would probably work best.

for below 35 degrees and/or snow - I can't help you. I'll be driving to work those days. But go talk to some of the folks in the winter riding section... they're friggin nuts, God love em.