Today was the first REALLY wet morning commute I've had in quite a long time. It was just barely starting to sprinkle when I left the house at 6:15 AM, getting up to a pretty steady shower after 3-4 miles. It was off and on a few more times, but most of it was a pretty steady rain shower for the 15.5 mile trek. Luckily it was warmer this morning, 61 degrees. Now at lunch it's already down to 39, but I planned for it by packing extra layers for the afternoon/evening commute. I'm banking on it not raining, though.

So this was also my first REAL test of how well the contents of my Topeak MTX EXP trunk bag, with the fold-out panniers on the sides, will stay dry in the rain. I had to carry some food to work for a special event inside the regular compartment of the trunk bag, so all my clothes were in the fold-out panniers: pants and belt on one side (plus stainless coffee mug) and shirt, undershirt, boxers, socks, wind breaker shell, and long gloves for the afternoon commute in the other side.

When the rain really started coming down, I stopped and put on the wind breaker shell, which is a very thin Cannondale high-viz jacket. It may be water resistant for light sprinkles, but the rain definitely soaked through, especially on the arms. When I got to work I was SOAKED! Didn't really feel cold at all, though.

And thankfully, despite not having the Topeak rain cover made for these trunk bags, my clothes still remained almost perfectly dry! I think my jeans and shirt may have one small damp spot on them, but that was no big deal at all. All in all I'm very impressed so far with how well the Topeak bag protects my stuff.

Topeak stuff is good. I've liked all of the products that I've seen and tried.

Nice!! My twin panniers are pretty water resistant on their own but they also have an integrated rain cover for when the weather folks in the sky forget to turn the sprinkler off.

- Andy