Staying Dry (ish)

Originally Posted by daddyjob

Terah, what gear do you currently have? is it marked as waterproof (gortex or another branding of sorts)
I personally like/recommend HG's Sheltex, it has always kept me warm and dry. I have never been too hot in summer conditions either.

Halvarssons gloves - definitely need re-treated, and/or hand guards
TCX S-Zero WP boots - only let in a tiny bit at the gear lever pad when it's really bad
Held Askido jacket - I think would be fine if I could stop the water running up under it
Richa Monsoon trousers - got a bit wet at the crotch but this could be the same issue as the jacket with water running up between the two.

I'm thinking for next year I'll get a decent set of leathers and then a cheap waterproof suit but it would be nice to find a solution for the textiles and it seems a bit odd to wear a rain suit over them.

Originally Posted by sv4me

Don't go out when its raining...

I live in Scotland.

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by Terah

I'm thinking for next year I'll get a decent set of leathers and then a cheap waterproof suit but it would be nice to find a solution for the textiles and it seems a bit odd to wear a rain suit over them.

Which is why I didn't take my 1 piece suit, I thought my Goretex suit would be fine.

My boots got wet from the rain going up the bottom of the trousers and the crotch seems to be a weak point.

What puzzles me, is that when I stopped biking I had a Rukka 2 piece suit, which was made from a PVC material, which never ever let the rain in and nor did my leather Sidi boots (so long as I'd treated them regularly)

But Rukka don't make them anymore, why I don't know, because everyone had them. They just made ridiculously expensive texile suits now

[sv4me]

Originally Posted by Terah

I live in Scotland.

Move somewhere sunny...

God do I have to think of everything

On a less **** takey note, try what Keith and Bibio have suggested. I know you end up looking like Simon Cowell but seems to work for me. I've got RST Raptor jacket and Razor trousers (about the same price range as your gear) that I wore at the GM. Was bone dry even leaving on the sunday when it was bombing it down

Still, having a slightly wet stomach is preferable to wearing waterproofs over kevlar jeans, having a pool of water collecting nicely in your crotch and you getting off looking like you've ****ed yourself. Found this out to my cost on a tour of Scotland no less

Firstly with regard to boots--go to HALFORDS and buy a tin of normal silicone spray,spray your boots,let dry and spray again.Once they have thoroughly dried after the second spray polish them with whatever polish you use.This has kept my feet dry in atrocious conditions and several different make of boots.
Suits,well you get what you pay for,mine is Sympatex[Triumph] and apart from a tiny amount of water down the neck when I am not wearing a neckerchief I have NEVER been wet. I do not know if it is considered expensive at £550.Warm in the winter and cool in the summer with the removable lining and multiple zipped air vents in both jacket and trousers.

[Dave20046]

if you commute day in day out in all weathers then decent goretex (expensiveness) textiles, alternatively leathers (best protection imo) + waterproof oversuit for when it rains (when you remember it!)

Originally Posted by JamesMio

Olly's (Orose) textile suit was made from the same Goretex Pro Shell stuff as my jacket, and as far as I'm aware he was bone dry underneat that - it's maybe just as simple as investing in some top-drawer textiles I'm afraid?

Yup - totally dry, and the first two recees were worse than the actual rideout. Only thing I had to worry about was dry gloves to wear, but the pro-shell textiles and A* WP series boots did what they were supposed to.

Water could have been coming up your waist, or it could have been that your storm flaps on the front of your jacket, either weren't properly folded before they were fastened, or they plain don't work.

A good overlap between jacket and trousers is essential, for textiles. I'm not sure any 'sports' jacket is going to keep you dry in really wet weather, sometimes the connecting zip is less than an inch from the bottom of the jacket. You need a touring jacket which comes down over your hips to the top of your legs & bum. This picture is in 40 degrees of heat in Mexico. It was a 3 in 1 touring jacket with removable waterproof and quilted liners. The advantage of a removable goretex type liner, is that the manufacturer doesn't have to try and waterproof stuff like ventilation zips and they are not a weak area for letting in water. The waterproof membrane is all one piece, and it hasn't been bonded to the back of another fabric. The outer jacket is designed to wet through, the bad bit of that though is wet pockets (use a resealable plastic bag for mobile phone & wallet). It also means you can have as many ventilation zips in the jacket as you like, hence being able to wear it in 40 degrees heat so long as you keep moving. I also wore this jacket through Scottish winters at minus temperatures.

Jackets like this are marketed as "Adventure" jackets now so a lot of them are unfortunately in Ewan McBoorman colour schemes.

Spada and HG are both good brands for the money.




One piece oversuit is good, but because they are so flimsy you need to make sure the storm flaps on the zips are lying flat and properly folded, sealed, before you do up the velcro. The suit being so thin & able to flex & fold so easily, means they don't always fall straight. Also do up the neck of the suit properly. No point if water is dripping off your lid and down the collar. In a one piece oversuit is leaking anywhere, you soon end up sitting in a puddle. In summer I find myself as wet with sweat, as I would have been without the suit, like wearing a bin bag.

Just noticed you have a Held Askido, which is quite a long jacket. I'd be surprised if it's coming it at the waist TBH, as it's the wind that blows it up there and a long jacket stops that wind pressure before it gets to the connecting zip and there's nothing to propel the water upwards. Maybe your storm flap leaks?

I have a pair of really really comfy leather gloves ( Gerricke PSX ) that I have had for years, and cant bear to be without them ... they are supposed to be 'goretex' but now appear to lost their 'gore' .. however, if caught out in the rain, I wear either a pair of those medicallatex gloves or even thosecheap clear diesel gloves that you can pick up at petrol stations under my leather gloves --- warm toasty DRY hands

[andrewsmith]

Halvarssons/ Joffama Textiles are very good!

At AR only had the 'wet gut' and thats because mine are too large for me now (lost around 4" off my waist since 2009. I've been down the A1 in winter at 70 with the jacket liner in and a jumper underneath and been too hot. I've never needed the trouser liners in 2 years.

The Halvarssons Dryway leather gloves lasted a good 70 miles before coming totally saturated. I've not found a totally waterproof set of gloves yet.

Boots wise, my Targa Zeniths have only let water in very recently in the left boot (my boots get abused as walk around in them a lot) and its the zip overlaps are open