Bike Forums - How Breathable is Gore?

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug5150 (Post 19255785)

......... If you are doing some outdoor activity where you may get stranded far from help, then you can be a little bit cool starting out, but you shouldn't be uncomfortably cold. (-or you should carry some more clothes...) If you get stuck such as with a mechanical breakdown, then you will be walking instead of riding and you can't depend on the high level of physical exertion to keep you warm.

+1.... I agree with you... 50%. I had posted you should be uncomfortably cool... not cold.

Plus there is no compromise position in survival weather conditions. Dressing a little bit too warm... means sweat building up a little bit too much. I would not want to pick between being stranded wet and cold or underdressed and cold. If dressed a little to cool... while waiting for a ride to pick you up... or walking to a coffee shop you can always do a few jumping jacks to stir up some internal warmth.

I had mentioned in an earlier post... on my rain/winter bike.... I install a rack with a truck bag. That way I have extra gear if needed and a place to store away any gear I have to remove.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug5150 (Post 19255785)

For a lot of cold-weather bicycle riding, you don't need full gore-tex. You just need the usual windbreaker front and plain fabric rear stuff. And you will still sweat under your clothes--but if you're wearing all synthetic or wool, the sweat won't make you cold.

Agreed.

I don't even know how many Gore-Tex jackets I have, but when I don't have a tester that's suitable for cycling (which is unusual), I take an ordinary windbreaker unless there's rain or so cold that I want the windproofness which helps maintain the microclimate in my jacket to stay comfortable.

The reason I keep going on about the Gore One is that it (or at least my testers) is like a windbreaker in terms of packability/weight. This makes it appropriate for temps in the teens when it's dry or 50°F rain -- it's the most versatile jacket I've tried yet. It's not quite as comfortable as a windbreaker in the dry but it's as close to the one cycling jacket that can do it all that I've encountered.

I would vouch for Rowan's polypro/merino observation as this is my goto combo for alpine activities. On the bike, I use that combo with a windbreaker in the dry when it's below freezing and with my Gore Oxygen 2.0 AS in rain in the 30's or in the cold and dry when it's particularly windy. If I'm not wearing a jacket, I tend to like to go full synthetic when cycling.

BTW, I generally don't normally wear a jacket at all until somewhere around 42°F unless there is a lot of humidity in the air. Most cyclists wear way more than I do. I can't see how they stand it -- I'd burn up.