I read up about using Tyvek cloth to make a bicycle-touring rain cover for my bike and thought it was an excellent idea. Tyvek is a breathable material made by the DuPont company.

Well, Tyvek protective gear is made for biohardardous material. They make disposable pants/shirts/jumpsuits/coveralls/hoods etc. You can buy a pair of Tyvek pants with an elastic waist for less than $3.00 and a jacket for less than $5.00 (USD).

Has anyone used Tyvek protective gear for the cycling wet-weather gear? If so, how breathable and comfortable is it? How much does it hold up to abrasion and how long does it tend to hold up?

For $5.00 and $3.00 I would not expect it to last more than one ride.

At the Academy store, they have "Frogwear" or something of the sort, that seems very similar to Tyvek. I bought a set of it a while back, and never have actually used it. But just from the feel of it, it is very much like getting in a plastic bag.

The problem with 'breathability" is that they never say how breathable. Compared to a cotton t-shirt, is it 1/10 as breathable or 1/1000 or what?

Where do I get those rainsuits for adults like when I worn them as a kid,The yellow or orange ones with the pants coat and hod.

If you ride the STP double century they give you a Tyvek jacket. I worked with a guy in Seattle that had an old one that he wore from time to time. So they will last more than one ride. I have one, but I've never worn it.

I have a Tyvek jacket with elastic cuffs and waist and a zip front that I've worn many times in rain. It is not breathable. I would not consider them abrasion resistant but I don't ride through woods so they are still doing fine after 2.5 years. They pack up pretty small and light.

I've never found a more expensive jacket that was "breathable" that I still didn't end up sweating in so I might as well sweat inside a cheaper, lighter jacket.

Do a google search for Frogg Toggs. They make Tyvek type rain gear, and I've used it on the motorcycle in pouring rain and stayed dry. Breathable too.

I guarantee you I wouldn't stay dry in that stuff if I was pedaling. I might not get rainy, but sure wouldn't be dry.

there's inexpensive rainwear that does breathe, it's that yellow, oddly perforated rubbery feeling stuff...propore?

I'm going to be trying epic encapsulated fabrics for rainwear, should be much more breathable and a better athletic shell for most types of weather.

When it was first introduced, Tyvek had jackets they were giving away made of the stuff. I didn't like the one they had left which had the logos all over it. (The other, if memory serves, had a map printed on it and it seemed less commercial. They ran out of my size and so I decided to pass on the logo jacket. I wish now I hadn't. . .seems sort of cool many years later. . .).

I wouldn't expect it to perform like GoreTex, but with vents in the right places. . . should be OK.

The pesticide sprayers at work wear them. Their shirts are soaked from sweat after wearing tyvex suits for a few hours.

They wear the suits more than once. I'm not sure how many times or how long they wear them each day but I see them hanging out to dry.

Tyvek is also a vapor barrier....which means it's about as breathable as conditions on the surface of the moon......

You might as well not wear it because you'll sweat your butt of and get soaked anyway.

Frogg Toggs are actually very breatheable. the way it's layered, it allows moisture to get out, but not in. I haven't bicycled in it, so can't say, but I've ridden on the M/C in full leathers in summer, and haven't been too sweaty or uncomfortable.