Rain gear
 

What sort of rain gear do you experienced people use? I'm afraid what I have would be a disaster trying to ride in the rain. It is nylon and the rain blows right through it. Do you wear gaiters or something to keep your feet dry too?

I wear rain gear to keep warm.
I sweat much so I am wet either way.

Nothing works. Gore-tex is best, it keeps the rain out, but even that is not breathable enough if one is working hard. As 10Wheels says, its main value is in ensuring that you don't get wet and cold at the same time.

You can get overshoes, and/or socks with a gore-tex liner. OK, but nothing keeps you dry in a real downpour.

After trying a few things, I decided to design my own out of a discarded plastic bottle and a waterproof gaiter (description and directions here).

As for rain gear, I use rain pants when it is a real downpour and cold. I have a thin rain shell that works OK expect in a downpour. To keep from sweating too much, look for pitzips and velcro on the front so you can secure it but have most of it be open for air flow. Rain pants + rain shell = soaking sweat

My rain gear improved this year with the purchase of a cycling designed rain cape.

I got one big enough to drape over my hands, so they stay dry..

You need mudguards to stop wheel spray, I wear rain pants for windblown rain
And rubber Bean Boots.

if none, no fenders, you might as well just get a jacket.
and maybe some dishwashing gloves.

but TN didn't have a winter so I expect you wont need the same gear as I did .
touring Ireland where I lived in rain gear a Parka
from one of the outdoor shops might be better than a posh bike jacket..

Neon Lime, with wide reflective bands is a real bonus..

A good raincoat with hood and a baseball type cap to keep the rain out of my eyes. I don't bother with leggings or booties. Just try to keep the body core as dry as possible. If you cycle long enough in the rain, you get soaked anyway, just make sure you keep warm while doing it.

I prefer cheap coated nylon. The breathable stuff doesn't breathe enough to keep me dry and to me it feels colder that something that doesn't let anything pass through.

My below knee length hooded rain coat from Patagonia from 25 years ago still keeps me dry and warm. It is not breathable but the 2 way zipper allows me to unzip from the bottom to ventilate or adjust for changing conditions and rider sweat output. No rain pants or booties used just requires excellent fenders and large and long mud flaps front and back.

This year to save some weight and bulk I am lengthening a Dri-Ducks rain suit jacket using the pants material and a longer 2 way zipper to mimic the benefits of the Patagonia rain coat. Not field tested as yet and not as durable but looks promising. Patagonia has not responded to my requests for the old rain coat design recreated in modern light weight materials.

Showers Pass makes some of the best bicyclist rainwear.

Still, at some point you just get wet, whether from rain or the >90% humidity beneath your rainwear.

I wear a rain cape with wool underneath, I do have a pair of "breathable" rain pants, but I usually only wear them in extremely cold wet conditions. All my bikes have fenders which does a lot to keep you dry.

Aaron :)

Thanks everyone for your help. I'm going to check out some of the gear that was mentioned. After reading the posts, I think if I ride in the rain I'm going to get at least a little wet. I already have fenders and flaps so that helps. If I can just stay warm I'm alright with that.

If it breathes, it seeps water. If it doesn't breath, you get soaked with sweat. Pick one.

After trying this and that, I'm satisfied with my North Face Venture suit. Bit pricy, but solid construction. It breathes. For non-breathable and cheap, Coleman makes this.

it all depends on the temps. Breathable gear works great in cold weather. Once it gets warm everything gets wet. Fenders are #1. After that you can manage with anything from a garbage bag to $250 Event jacket from Showers Pass. You can get pretty far with plastic grocery bags on your feet for wet spray off the road and other combos. I do fine in any amount of rain if it's cold, if it's warm then it's a bath.

+1
REI also makes a decent set of bike specific rain gear. For training, and local rides I use "booties" for foot protection. On tours I just know my feet are going to get wet and live with it. I wear Samrtwool wool socks year around and the feet stay warm most of the time. A helmet cover is also a good thing, especially if you plan on riding in the rain very often. In Oregon we ride in the rain a lot.

Sowers Pass jacket, REI pants. This combo has kept me relatively comfortable in some pretty serious rain. Taking refuge under a bridge out of the rain. We had 35 days of rain on this trip:)
http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y...DSCN7812-1.jpg



My wife modelling the Showers Pass "Touring" rain jacket. This is a really nice jacket.
Actually she was getting out of the rain while watching our bikes. I was in a store doing some shopping.
http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y...IMG_5176-1.jpg

Sometimes it is prudent to just take shelter rather than try to ride through it! Fietsbob, this is in Astoria.
http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y...yWeekend-3.jpg

thin wool/poly cap under your helmet can make a BIG difference on staying warm as can cheap wool gloves. Plastic sandwich bags over half of your feet or plastic bread bags over all of your foot can make a big difference. Wearing nytrile gloves under regular gloves may be icky but if you're cold it can help a lot. Showers Pass Event jacket is the best purchase for rain gear I"ve ever made. For cold wet rain goretex socks and rain pants is a dynamite combo.

Hmmm. Interesting observation. Sorta makes sense I guess. Never ridden when it was raining and really cold. And don't want to.

Holy smokes, I need raingear!
 

I am accustomed to desert/high tundra living so when it rains I usually duck & cover for 5.


Does anyone have experience with ponchos? I'm usually sort of a turtle in rain.

I may have to plan, bring camera, then get someone to take a picture.
reasonably comfortable riding in some of the Wetter days of the year.
Doug found one of those moments.
The Grundens cape I got from RivBike in the fall is heavy duty.
others might like one of the lighter ones.

Everybody sort of mentioned everything to take into consideration already, and it's all been on point.. just want to throw in a couple of suggestions. A shower cap stretched over your helmet will keep the rain off your head.. as for footwear, if you are planning to tour during the summer, cycling sandals might come in very useful on a rainy day

Here's something I almost bought several times, the Carradice Pro Route rain cape:

http://www.wallbike.com/carradice/ra...oute-rain-cape

Instead I got this 4 years ago with optional hood, the SP Touring Jacket. It was developed from the popular but discontinued Burley Rock Point jacket.

http://www.showerspass.com/catalog/m...touring-jacket

I have these weird pants called Rainlegs, they work pretty good for everything except extended hard rain, and you don't sweat your nads off in them since they cover only the tops and sides of legs and groin area. You can roll them up into a neat, compact belt in about a minute:

http://www.rainlegs.com/en/home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbR6o...layer_embedded

The dri-ducks rain suit has some serious advantages. It breathes better than most fabrics I've encountered (Gore-tex included), it's dirt cheap and light weight. That being said, the suit itself leaves something to be desired. The fit is awful and leaves yards of fabric flapping in the wind. It's bad enough that it makes a considerable impact on the effort it takes to bike. I've done some duct tape surgery to mine to remedy this issue. The pants also completely suck, while they keep you dry, they don't really allow you to pedal, so it's almost a moot point. At about $20 a suit, they are ripe for DIY modifications.

LOL. You Texans just need to harden up!

Seriously, most of my experimentation with rain gear for touring has been through commuting, and if you're going to commute year-round here you're going to ride in the cold and wet sometimes. And LeeG is dead right. Gore-tex is great in cold conditions, because it keeps the rain out and you don't sweat as much. But like anything else, it doesn't breathe fast enough if you're warm.

Capes/ponchos are great for rain, but act like a sail if there's any wind.

I am a bit of a convert to Showers Pass gear as well having gone from a Gore-tex Pac-Lite jacket to the Showers Pass Elite 2.0 and their Storm Pants. I managed to loose both on a tour last winter so whilst I have replaced the pants with a pair of Endura Superlites I have yet to make a decision on the replacement jacket. Another Showers Pass Elite 2.0 is top of the list but still looking for other options to consider. That said winter is a coming here so need to make a decision soon.

http://www.aushiker.com/wordpress/wp...ntIMG_2168.jpg
Showers Pass Elite 2.0

I am pretty impressed with eVent waterproof material both for cycling and bushwalking. Reviews from the bushwalking world at BackpackingLight.com are pretty postive about it as well.

Regards
Andrew

Not to be lumped together , Cycle rain capes are cones, that you put your head
thru the top.

a rain poncho is a big flat rectangle with a hood sewn in the middle.

Proper cycle rain capes are featuring a loop [ 1 for each hand], and a waist tie ,
they keep the cape under control is pretty stormy weather .

that is my experience, not hearsay.

It's a long time since I tried a cape, fletsbob, but it was as you describe with loops. Don't remember the waist tie, but it may well have had one. In any event, I didn't mean it blew all over the place, but merely that it seemed to me to catch a lot of wind and therefore make riding pretty hard going. Is that not your experience? If not, I was probably doing it wrong...

I got a J & G rain cape a while back and tried it out on a rainy windy day. What are you supposed to do with the hand loops? I sort of wrapped them around my hands, but the wind still kept blowing the cape in between my hands back toward me uncovering my hands, arms, and allowing lots of rain over my mid section. Then it turned out that I sweated almost as much with it as I do with my breathable J & G jacket, with the drawback that with the cape on it was more hassle to carry my pannier (over the shoulder) and install and remove my bike from the bus racks. I've only used the cape two days.

Oh yeah, the cape covered up my mirror.

Yeah, I find a cape better than a poncho because it does have straps to keep it in place and often the front is a little longer than the back, but those straps don't make it a miracle cure for rainy, windy conditions. It can still catch the breeze, flap around, and affect handling. I use it for commuting, and haven't decided if it has a place in my touring supplies yet. Basically, if it rains on tour, and my plan is to be out on the bike all day, I figure I'm going to get wet, and any protection is just added weight and delaying the inevitable, but that's because when I'm riding, it's usually warm enough that wet does not equal cold. If it did, I'd worry more about rain protection. On an upcoming trip I'm thinking about rain gear simply because there are going to be several down days at campgrounds and visiting friends. I'm better with a long, wet bike ride then I am with a day just standing around outside getting rained on.

I hold the loop down with my thumb.. I use parachute cord with a knot .
so It is easier to find,

I run Trekking bars and an IGH with a grip shifter.. the German one.

As far as the wind, the frontal area of Me is not any different,
no matter what I'm wearing,
so the air resistance is not significantly different.

A head wind is still a head wind.

I have hiking boots with eVent lining, and others with Goretex, and the eVent does seem to breathe better. However, my Goretex boots are completely waterpoof and my eVent boots are not.

The SP Elite jacket does appeal to me. I researched eVent years ago, and it did seem like the ideal material for a rain jacket with unsurpassed breathability for a waterproof fabric. I have since read reports of SP Elite jacket owners who claim their jacket lost waterproofness after some period of use. When I consider my leaky eVent boots, I must wonder if eVent waterproof claims are exaggerated.

The SP Touring jacket is made of waterproof non-breathable material. It relies completely on venting to keep you cool and dry, rather than expensive WP/B fabric. It breathes very well by being loose fitting, with a large back vent flap (like the Elite). The sleeves are loose fitting (Elite sleeve are tighter), and if you leave the cuff straps open you'll scoop air down your arms and pits and back as you ride. The pit zips are very long (45cm) on the Touring jacket, and the front zipper is a double slider type (like the Elite) so you can open the bottom and the top. The Touring jacket is a copy of the once popular Burley Rock Point jacket. Burley reorganized their business, discontinued apparel and recumbent bikes product lines, and SP stole the design, made minor modification and "created" the Touring jacket.

As the the Touring jacket's origin is in everyday commuting use, it is made heavier and more durable. When I ordered my jacket from the bicyclinghub.com, I was told that their employees wore the Touring jacket, and that it lasted longer than the racier-styled Elite jacket which I was also considering. With prices of $120 vs $210 at the time, it seemed to me that the Touring jacket would be a much better value, so I chose the Touring jacket over the Elite. Mine is still in good shape after four years and many rides. It is my only bike jacket and is worn whenever it's cold or might rain. The jacket is a little heavy and bulky to pack, but to my thinking this is a fair compromise for durability and good value. Also, I think the yellow Touring jacket is a little more conspicuous than the goldenrod Elite.

The only thing I can fault the SP Touring jacket for is fit. A Large is too big for me, a Medium too small, and the sleeves are too long on both sizes. So I have a big, loose fitting rain jacket, which is perhaps the best way for a rain jacket to fit, since it leaves room for evaporation and air movement. I have the sleeves rolled up 2" most of the time. The Touring jacket fits looser (it has to to work right) than the Elite, and I don't look as svelte in it as an Elite, but then again, to 99.9% of the observing population, I may as well be wearing a clown suit with big red nose and floppy shoes, since I'm a grown man riding a bicycle.

PS - The SP hood works pretty good, keeps you dry, universal model made to fit all SP jackets.

http://www.showerspass.com/catalog/m...touring-jacket

http://www.showerspass.com/catalog/a...ries/rain-hood

My first thought would be to take a look at the owner's washing and re-treatment regimes. This maybe contributing to the concerns being expressed. Like Gore-Tex, eVent material needs maintaining.

I always put my Gore-Tex jackets through the washing/treatment regime at the start of the season to bring them up to stratch.

One other thing to keep in mind is that Showers Pass don't recommend ironing their jackets as it may damage the seam sealing. If any owner's have ironed their jackets they may have inadvertently damaged the seam sealing.

Mind you not sure what the treatment options are for your boots; I doubt you have ironed them :). Maybe worth checking out the eVent website or the manufacturers website for ideas?

Andrew

Andrew