All Weather Sport Touring Gear Question

This is an update to my all-weather gear post. My shop, Maxim Honda Yamaha, had their group ride scheduled for today. The meet up time was 7:30 am so I had to head out, on faith, that the weather was going to be OK. I hit the road at 6:30 am. The sky was dark to the west but it was hot and dry at the house. I thought, “if I don’t go they will give me crap for being a wimp. It will only rain a little bit and then it will clear up and be a beautiful riding day.” This is what usually happens when I chicken out so I started out. After a few miles is started to get darker. Then the rains came. Then it started to rain harder. “No problem” I said to myself. I can and have ridden in the rain” and then it rained harder. Then the lightning strikes stared and then the high cross winds started. I pulled over, under cover, in Anna, TX about 25 miles from where I started and checked my phone. I was sent a text saying the ride was called off. Great!

My point is, I was wearing my Olympia suit, sans the liner because it is too damn hot around here for the liner. I know the liner is "water proof" and I was soaked without it! I think the only part of me not wet clear through was the top of my head. This, once again, makes me very interested in the proper gear. The weather was pretty warm and even then I was freezing. In less hospitable climates being wet could be dangerous. I cannot imagine riding for hours soaked through (although I have done it when I was in my twenties, but times change.) I realize it would have helped if I had the liner in but only just. My gloves and boots took a huge wet hit. It is possible to be outfitted with a rain suit that can go the distance and actually keep you dry? I have zero experience in this area.

 

Sorry if someone has already mentioned this, but why not just get a dedicated rainsuit. I have a 1 piece suit that folds up into it's own bag with a waist strap if needed. Buy it nice and big so you just put it on over whatever gear you are wearing at the time. As regards warmth, cycling has some pretty cool stuff, like arm and leg warmers that you just push down when it gets hot.

 

A dedicated rain suit usually lacks the armor and protection of a riding suit. This at a time when an accident is more likely.

So this afternoon, I got out my cheap Frogg Togg set. I bought it last year but never used it. It is a pain in the ass to get on over my Olympia riding suit but I should have been wearing it this morning. I can't say if it would keep me dry for the long term but it would have been pretty effective in the down pour I was in. I think I will keep my eye out for a one piece rain suit.

I think my biggest problem is one of timing. Failure to get into the rain suit, before you get wet, negates the benefits. Do you look at a few clouds and say "I'd better stop and struggle into my ran gear." How do you know when?

Also I was looking at some product videos and they were talking about riding suits, like my Olympia, as a rain suit. I know they are supposed to work as a rain suit but i can't see it. The outside gets soaked. The liner keeps you dry but you still end up with a soaking jacket and sopping pants. I have used my Olympia in short showers but I have never had the opportunity to ride with it in a deluge.

 

Jim. Nothing will keep you dry except for a dedicated rain suit as mentioned above, and I alluded to in post 11. I don't care what the manufacturer of these so called water proof suits say. You will get wet. My pants are Olympia, and I got wet. My Jacket is Tourmaster and I got wet. If I wear my two piece cheap rain suit, I stay dry.

I strongly suggest getting the two piece suit. And get it plenty large. I can just see the struggle trying to put a one piece on over your gear, A two piece must fit over your armored gear. You need to wear the Armour beneath the rain suit. Wear your gear when you buy the rain gear to make sure it does fot over top. I have quite a bit of the bicycle stuff which performs fairly when riding a bicycle in the rain, but I have also worn it on the VFR. I got wet. Remember, when you are doing 40, 50, or 60 mph in the rain, you are mimicking standing in rain being blown at you ate 40, 50 or 60 MPH. That is what your rain gear needs to stand up to. Gortex does not have that ability IMHO.

 

Hey for cheapskates , bee's wax makes a great rain suit=its $5 at Reney's!

 

I still remember my old riding buddy Fred, standing in a road side rest stop bathroom, begging anyone with a knife to cut him out of his cheap rain suit.

 

Sorry Jim. But I am not understanding the difficulty you are having with the dedicated rain suit. Stats say that the Houston area gets about 48 in. precipitation on average yearly. I suspect that much of that falls very quick in torrential down pours. In contrast, Chilliwack gets on average 68 in of precip. A very small fraction of that is snow. Many years we get no snow. But the kicker is, on average we get 184 days where it is raining/snowing. In this shit, up until retirement, I rode 100 miles round trip every day except when there was snow on the ground. I got caught in that a couple times too. I wear a two piece cheap rainsuit over my armoured suit and have stayed dry, warm, comfortable and safe. Having said that, I am sure that these suits will be warm for you down in that Texas sun. But they are not difficult to remove and as said previous, fold or roll up into a very tight little bundle. All that riding I did also included 4 trips to R3 with accompanying pee breaks. This is still very much our wet season when I go there. As is Washington and Oregon.

 

You older guys will get a big laugh out of this!

In 1976 or 1977 I drove my CB 750 from Chicago to Daytona Bike week. It rained from Chicago to the Florida Georgia line. Two straight days! I worked for TWA at the time and my rain gear was yellow rubber backed nylon weave with a big red "TWA" in the middle of the back! Bib pants and Jacket combo. The price was right! I also wore "Totes" boots over my Frye square toe cowboy style boots! This all rolled up nice and neatly in my Windjammer fairing. It fit nicely over my leather jacket and Levi's, and worked pretty darn good. Just a few "trickles" here and there.

We left my house, it was 38 degrees and raining. Rain was supposed to turn to snow in the afternoon so we had to get South ASAP. Never took the rain gear off until the first rest area in Florida.

I wish I still had a set of that rain gear! Most memorable trip ever!

 

Been there - done that, turned up to find a ride cancelled due to bad weather - then again yesterday's ride over to Mont Blanc was perfect!



I prefer to wear my normal riding gear even if rain is threatened - it just feels right. So a quality armoured Sheltex jacket and matched trousers, decent boots and gloves all from Hein Gericke. All this gear is good quality and notionally "waterproof" but I found my ones are only shower-proof. The gloves are the worse, becoming like a sponge, indeed if it was not for protection during a spill I would be better off just wearing Marigold washing up gloves! The boots are fine - I waded through a river to help push out a stranded rider in them and my feet remained dry - but when I went back to Gericke to get a second pair the line was discontinued and the replacement model was far from an improvement despite being more expensive.

As for the jacket and trousers, I concluded that carrying some sort of plastic over-suit was the way to go. I first purchased a one piece Bullson brand over-suit. But despite deliberately going two sizes larger - it was still a nightmare to get on/off whilst sheltering under a bridge - the thing was so cumbersome and the Velcro fastening would leave gaps for the rain to work through. A one piece rain suit is great if you can put it on whilst you are still dry - ideally indoors, as you can take time to make sure all the Velcro seams are shut before setting off in rain, but they are a real faff getting on/off at the roadside, so I concluded I needed to find something better.

So I then started researching to find the best separate waterproof over jacket & over trousers. After talking to loads of other bikers, and ploughing through web reviews, it was clear that most over suits or jacket/trouser rain suits were not really waterproof especially when riding at speed in torrential rain. However there was one ridiculously cheap product which kept coming up with positive recommendations. Whilst the same manufacturer made several other full rain-suits which seemed to fair no better than others, they made a "Bone Dry" separate waterproof over jacket and waterproof over trousers set which everyone rated as very effective.

It seems the weak-spot in any two piece rain suit is normally where the two overlap, however the Bone Dry version had a large overlap on the trousers meaning that when riding at speed little or no rain is able to force its way through the gap. They came in a trousers/jacket pack which used both zip and Velcro fasteners ensuring they were quick to put on or take off. They had two colour choices black or fluorescent yellow/green. Fortunately I bought mine at the NEC bike show and managed to persuade the retailer to split up two packs so I could have the black trousers (the bit which will get covered in road cack when riding in rain), with the hi vis colour jacket - which really helps you be seen if its tipping down. So far they have never let me down, and being relatively compact and light they reside in my top box ready for use at a moments notice. They are still on sale by Amazon.


SkiMad

 

I always keep my two piece FirstGear rain suit, plus Aerostitch overgloves and bag cover in my backpack/tankbag. If I lap the jacket and overgloves correctly the weak spots for rain are my helmet visor seal and "past their prime" boots. As for other gear I've got a warm weather mesh jacket and a cool weather textile w liner jacket, both JoeRocket, and a single pair of solid textile Tourmaster overpants. If the high for the day is going to be over 24'C I choose the warm weather jacket, otherwise it's the cool weather jacket. I only have one pair of slightly ventilated leather JoeRocket gauntlets, though I think a future purchase might be dedicated cold weather gloves. When the temperatures drop to near 0'C I start packing the heated Gerbings gear liners (vest, pants, gloves). I can always fit the spare rain gear and heated liners in my backpack though it gets packed pretty tight on warm spring/fall afternoons

 

By sheer coincidence, Competition Accessories has a rain suit that might be worth trying, the cost is decent...

http://www.compacc.com/p/aeromoto-w...09934&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Emailvision

 

That looks like a really good buy but did you notice it's in the "woman's Apparel" section? It might be a bit small for us big guys or maybe a bit full in the chest.

 

Don't know of any gear good from 40 degree mornings to 80 or 90 degree afternoons with rain in between UNLESS we're talking rainproof/windproof zip-out liners. I like my Rev'it Tornado stuff, but it has filled zip-out waterproof liners.













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Try this link...Men's section and of course a little more $
http://www.compacc.com/p/nelson-rig...09934&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Emailvision

 

Look like there ain't nothin oot there that fits all occasions. A little hard to do with so many dudes from so many places.

I did like SOW's take of stuffing newspapers and shemale magazines in his jacket and keeping the rain out with a big trash bag. and a rubber band.

 

I ride in DC during the summer where it is frequently HOT, HUMID and we get thunderstorms in the afternoons that pop up any time.

Boots: I wear 9 year old OXtar Gore Tex racing boots...size 14. See my problem...try finding a size 14 riding boot much less a gore tex lined boot. I spent roughly $360 on these boots when I bought them they are a vault for your foot from injury (been down twice in them they are worth their weight in gold for protection) and from the rain--never have wet feet even after riding 12+ hours in the rain.

Gloves: I use Halvarsonns waterproof leather gloves which have a GoreTex barrier atached directly to the leather...these are waterproof even if the leather soaks up some water. Great gloves for about $100 on sale. I have large hands - XL size gloves and had no problem getting a glove big enough, but it helps to try a pair on first--had to send at least one pair back in my search for the right size/glove -- i tested all gloves in a 5 gal bucket of water for 5 minutes before I sent them back or kept them.

Riding suit: I have one perf leather Hein Gericke leather Honda suit that zips together. I used to have a MotoGP brand leather track suit (excellent for $350!!). I have an Olympia Mesh suit for day to day in the summer. I usually swap out the armor for after market armor - ForceField armor is multi-hit and breathable and while a little pricey - really protects--I will vouch for it with my own testing! It works and works well.

Rain: I have friends who love their aerostitch in the Spring, Winter and Fall--they never love it in the summer, but they tolerate it as long as they are moving. BUT it is easy to zip out of it pretty quickly once you stop - 20 sec and Poof you are in your civies. HOWEVER, in DC traffic, a Stitch will bake youi unless you use some sort of wicking shirt soaked in water or put ice in the rear upper pocket. The newer version with Gore TEx are waterproof not only in the body--BUT IN THE CROTCH!!! this is a god send to Stitch lovers.

For myself I use rain pants -- cheap waterproof breathable pull on pants -- I think Sierra Designs designed for hiking, I got these for %60% off from Sierra Trading post for about $20 each. When one wears out I will swap to the other pair-- after 5 years thefirst pair is still leakproof in the crotch-score one for frugality. My rain jacket was a White Sierra waterproof breathable rain jacket shell - with waterproof zippers I think I spent $40 on it...it lasted 5 years until the main zipper blew out at the neck. I just bought a North Face waterproof breathable rain jacket for $50 it will do the job and I can wear it walking around once I get to my destination if need be. Together these roll up pretty small. They are lightweight breathable items--not like the heavy PVC coated fabric rain gear typical for motorcycle rain gear--and store in my tank bag so they are always available. I don't mind taking 5 minutes to pull over and put on rain gear--YMMV.

This works for me. I don't "cheap out" on gear, but I do have a versatile quiver of tools for different rides - spirited street riding/Sport Touring, trackdays and commuting. Maybe a Rukka suit is "one size fits all" but I won't spend $2K on it...not in my budget. I will spend big $ on items that last years and years - Boots, helmets, gloves (my trackday golves are $230 and are protective as hell) and it it worked in all conditions I would probably spend $800 to $1000 on all weather all conditions riding gear--but I have found none yet...

Matt

 

I think you have the key. Good gear with different solutions for different rides and weather. It would be easier for me if I had hard bags or a trunk to haul a few options with me at any given time.

 

Jim, check out this tail pack, although I've seen them cheaper on eBay and at Cyclegear, these are great for storing a change of clothes or other small items. I use my on my 5 Gen when doing long rides, I put an extra shirt, my tire repair kit, thermos and a few other small items and it works great. When not in use, it folds flat and works like a seat cushion. Great alternative to saddle bags and/or top case or even a tank bag, at least for smaller storage capacity needs.

http://www.thecycleguys.com/

 

I have a tank bag but it is usually full of my camera, my tire repair kit, a bottled water and a few other things like a small bottle of chain lube and cleaners and towel for my visor. There is never much room for clothing. I never thought about adding a tail pack but that seems like a logical step. Rain gear rolls up really small but the liners for my Olympia jacket and pants not so much.

 

In hot weather I'm in a fully perfed A* suit. If it starts raining, I'll pull out the rain suit and put it over my leathers. Yes it will be hot. If you are going to stop the rain, you are stopping airflow as well. So you can be dry and hot or cool and wet, dealers choice.

I used to regularly ride in the rain when I commuted. I always carried a rain suit. Bike rain suits are thin, can be folded and stored someplace. These days, I don't ride in the rain. Not because I'm scared of it (I don't even slow down in it [straight line], only in turns do I slow down), because I hate cleaning the bike up after it. Shit gets everywhere! The only time I ride in rain these days is on a Sport Tour where I'm gone for 2-7 days, etc. And I pack a rain suit for this reason.

To ride a bike in most conditions you are going to have to have a closet full of gear. Jackets, a suit or two, a rain suit, multiple sets of gloves, etc. There is no one thing that will cover all conditions. A Roadcrafter sucks in the heat, but excels in the cold and in the rain. A leather suit excels in the heat, and in protection but sucks balls in the rain. Rainproof gloves are hot, and suck in the heat of the TX summer. Likewise, race protection level proper gloves suck in the winter.

Sounds like you just need a cheap rain suit to go over your gear. But you'll be hot.