Wet Weather Commuting

i just a thin waterproof jacket that i picked up from a kathmandu sale - i can't think of it's proper name, but the label says "pertex" inside the collar.
comes in a variety of colours including a bright visible yellow.
works a treat - except when it's really bucketing down and you've been in it for some time...

warday said:

Hi

Does anyone have any suggestions for wet weather gear?

After 3 years of riding my MTB on wet days I have decided I need to invest in some more gear - drought must surely break soon. Firstly, I am going to put some clip on mud guards on. Secondly, I want to replace my Polaris jacket which is neither waterproof or breathable with something better. Do I need to pay the $$ for Gortex or the like? Ground effects have some good shells but they are expensive as well. What do the roadies wear?

My Netti neoprene shoe covers work OK with leg warmers but in summer the water runs down the zipper in the back.

The LBS just laugh at me and say take the car!!

Any advice?

Thanks
PW

Depends how far you are riding and how cold it gets!

I tend to work on a 5 degree rule, anything under I'll cover the legs, over that it's shorts only.

As for wet weather mudguards are the first thing, and I usually just wear a rain jacket with just a short sleeve jersey underneath in heavy rain, otherwise you just "boil in the bag"! I presume as you are commuting you have a rucksac anyway, so given this is it really worth forking out loads for a goretex jacket when around 50% of your upper body is covered by a bag anyway? if it's light showers you can get away with a wind vest to keep the rain off your front (mainly surface spray in these conditions anyway)

Apart from the jacket I'll have the full gloves and the rain booties on, but all of these will eventually let water in during heavy showers (either through the zipper as you say, up through the cleat holes or running down your legs!), mudguards minimise what surface spray gets to your feet, but it's still worth keeping a stash of newspaper at work and stuffing your shoes with it in the day to dry them out for the return journey in the evening!

SpiderJ said:

Depends how far you are riding and how cold it gets!

I tend to work on a 5 degree rule, anything under I'll cover the legs, over that it's shorts only.

As for wet weather mudguards are the first thing, and I usually just wear a rain jacket with just a short sleeve jersey underneath in heavy rain, otherwise you just "boil in the bag"! I presume as you are commuting you have a rucksac anyway, so given this is it really worth forking out loads for a goretex jacket when around 50% of your upper body is covered by a bag anyway? if it's light showers you can get away with a wind vest to keep the rain off your front (mainly surface spray in these conditions anyway)

Apart from the jacket I'll have the full gloves and the rain booties on, but all of these will eventually let water in during heavy showers (either through the zipper as you say, up through the cleat holes or running down your legs!), mudguards minimise what surface spray gets to your feet, but it's still worth keeping a stash of newspaper at work and stuffing your shoes with it in the day to dry them out for the return journey in the evening!

i have BBB rainwarriors on my mtb commuter... it has not probs covering up my conti contact sport 26x1.3 tyres which grip well in the wet

Up top, light rain, I just wear my ground effects vest, if heavier I'll wear my Netti rain jacket

Look, whatever you wear, you'll get wet.... don't worry about it... when you ride, you'll be warm... and by the time you get to work, grab a towel and dry off... put on your work clothes... the air con dries out clothes pretty quick

robalert said:

Up top, light rain, I just wear my ground effects vest, if heavier I'll wear my Netti rain jacket

I'm wearing both the ground effect vest, netti rain jacket, leg warmers and a pair of ski gloves I got from Katmandu. It's pretty cold in melbourne at the moment. A few weeks ago I was just wearing the vest and knee warmers.

if you are commuting... one of those speedo (or suchlike) chamois towels are indispensible for quickly soaking up water, they fold up pretty small so you can carry them around too.

I just wear a light spray jacket. Thankfully I have a hot shower at work so I'm not so fussed if I get a little wet. The spray jacket keeps out enough water to remain comfortable.

in which state? In NSW all you need is a light jacket, knee/leg warmers and some decent fenders and that should do you all winter. Booties are OK but a pain in the butt mostly, and they are not fully waterproof unless you get the super expensive ones.

The problem with wet weather gear is that you just end up sweating underneath it, so I don't bother putting it on until I start to get cold, then I put on a light spray jacket.

I've seen an advert for a cycling top that looks like a normal top, but has a weather resistent quality and is breathable too, so with this item, you could wear it as a normal top and not worry about the rain.

climbo said:

in which state? In NSW all you need is a light jacket, knee/leg warmers and some decent fenders and that should do you all winter. Booties are OK but a pain in the butt mostly, and they are not fully waterproof unless you get the super expensive ones.

I don't know I bought a set of neoprene ones from Torpedo7 (Exustar) for about $35 and I've ridden with dry feet including in very heavy conditions since I've had them. I hate getting wet feet as it's uncomfortable at the time of the ride and I find my shoes take longer than overnight to dry, which is an inconvenience when I want to commute the next day. Nothing crappier than putting wet shoes on!

For the same reason (in NSW), I prefer to wear only short knicks if it's wet as the knee/leg warmers just get wet and then cold, where your skin dries.

--brett

sideshow_bob said:

I bought a set of neoprene ones from Torpedo7 (Exustar) for about $35

Hi Brett, I was looking at these on the Torpedo7 site too. I assume you recommend them.

Not much into wet weather gear here, just suit up as if its not raining and get going. If you take that option it's far cheaper, but you'll need somewhere at work that will guarantee you stuff is dry by the time you leave in the arvo.

Squeeze out excess water and hang in a warm airconditioned place (like a comms room if the techies will let you) that has plenty of air movement. Airconditioning usually runs at 50% humidity so it dries stuff out pretty quickly if its not saturated.

For soaked shoes take out the inners and put the shoes in front of your PC's fan outlet. If they smell bad then put them in front of someone else's 😄

Socks are the hardest thing to get dry. Having a stock of dry socks in your drawer at work is the best bet.

mikesbytes said:

Hi Brett, I was looking at these on the Torpedo7 site too. I assume you recommend them.

If it's these ones:

http://www.torpedo7.com/page/australia/PROD/shoe_covers-apparel/EXU-WAR-SHO

Then yes. I've had mine for a guess 2 months and a) from a construction point of view they seem to be holding up well and b) from a performance point of view, all I can say is we've had plenty of rain in Sydney over the last month, most it would seem is around the time of my commute home, and as yet I haven't had water in my shoes.

The only 'criticism' is the seal around the top of the ankle is too good and for the first few wears I rubbed a blister on the back of my achillies.

For $35 ish it's probably hard to be disappointed, though YMMV.

--brett

have tried one thing to dry out bike shoes, stuffed lots of paper towelling into them but still takes 24 hours to dry the buggers !!

don't want to risk putting them in front of a heater in case I forget and they melt into a puddle !!!

Aussie Steve said:

have tried one thing to dry out bike shoes, stuffed lots of paper towelling into them but still takes 24 hours to dry the buggers !!

don't want to risk putting them in front of a heater in case I forget and they melt into a puddle !!!

I've used newspaper plenty of times. You screw it up tight and pack the shoes titghly with the stuff. It's best to change the paper after a few hours. The paper helps to wick a lot of the moisture out of the shoes.

Putting them too close to a heater is asking for trouble but you can move them a bit further back and it works a treat. It certainly shouldn't take 24 hours.

booties will eventually let water in so for me its more important to keep your feet warm than dry, ive been using sidi windtex booties and they have been spot on.

mudguards are probably the best investment you can do, mind you i dont have any.

even on the coldest days i use an undershirt, jersey, armwarmers and gilet, with the usual bib and brace and kneewarmers. if its looking particulary nasty and wet and its a day for hills then its a thermal l/s top, castelli goretex l/s jersey and assos roubaix 3/4 tights (best investment i ever made)

if you can afford it, get yourself a 2nd pair of shoes. it takes the worry out of getting your shoes dry in time for tomorrow or the ickiness of putting on wet shoes.

does anyone know of anyone making thermal bib and brace knicks in standard lengths not 3/4 or full??

[quote="SpiderJ"]
I tend to work on a 5 degree rule, anything under I'll cover the legs, over that it's shorts only.
QUOTE]

I have a similar rule except it kicks in under 10 degrees, although its pretty windy here at times so maybe the wind chill brings it back some.
As everyone else here has said, and I agree, it's pretty hard to stay properly dry, so you may as well go for warm. Thats not to say that buying good gear is a bad idea though. Just that the rule of diminishing returns will still apply so that a $500 jacket is (usually) not 5 times better than a $100 jacket.
Some things to look for in a rain jacket (IMO) are things like velcro adjustable cuffs (tight or loose), zips to allow breathing under the armpits, and maybe in other places. Also a cycling 'cut' i.e. a long back flap.
They'll all claim to waterproof AND breathable, but I'm still unsure whether such a garment has yet been made. I haven't tried all of them, but have been dissappointed numerous times, enough to view such claims with a little suspicion.

This year i've ben wearing more layers during winter. I think it's been wetter and colder than last year.
I have two thermal singlets with moisture wicking properties I wear under my jersey. One was purchased from Dean Woods direct and the other came from Kathmandu. Even when wet I still feel warm with the singlets on. Highly recommend them. I also have a Netti lightweight rainjacket. The first heavy downpour I was saturated and cold (only had the jersey underneath the jacket; no thermal singlet). I went to Paddy Pallin and bought a bottle of waterproof spray. This particular one apparently is for material which needs to breath rather than the heavy duty tent sprays (which I also have). After the next downpour I was wet; but not as wet as before and not because the water soaked through the material (it came down the back of my neck and also through the vents under the armpit (the rain was very heavy and at quite an angle at the time). The arm and leg warmers I own don't seem to let the cold in when wet so i'm happy with those. I have another pair which do seem to make me cold if they get wet so I reserve them for dry, cold days. I have BBB booties and vouch for their build quality . They have also kept my feet warm and dry. I think it's something you have to work out for yourself. When I only had a fifteen minute trip to work I didn't care. However, my trip is now about an hour so I like to be reasonably comfortable. My fingers and toes get cold quite easily hence booties and long fingered gloves. As 'eddy' stated, a second pair of shoes overcomes having to put wet shoes on the following day. Mudguards/fenders are also great. I have SKS on one bike and the previously mentioned BBB Rainwarriors on another. Recommended investment to stop dirt, water and other [censored] being flicked up into your face and having the wonderful streak down your back.

i bought a $15 raincoat because i was stuck and i have never looked back

its the brightest red i could get topped it with my reflective vest and presto