Bike Gear: Wind and Rain Protection

Cycling as serious transport in a country without a commitment to it requires a lot of guts and a lot of great gear. Over the years, I've gone through a lot of money and strife finding that gear. Here I profile only the best gear that has worked for me.

For wind and rain protection, I'll discuss the top down, then discuss the extremities. I'll skip the head since I don't use more than a helmet. In icy conditions, I can see getting a cover for the helmet but I didn't need one while biking to work in snow at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Whistler. I'll also skip eyewear since I haven't found any good way to keep those clear in the rain other than simply wiping on occasion.

Torso: Jackets

For the torso, there are some great options. However, it took a while to find them. For years, skiers and hikers have had Gore-Tex: a material that won't let moisture in but will let moisture out. The great value in this is to manage perspiration and rain at the same time.

Having done all three activities (cycling, hiking, and skiing), I can safely say skiers and hikers never sweat as much as a cyclist. If breathability were needed anywhere, it is needed in cycling. Given that, it is surprising how very little breathable material I've found in cycling outerwear. Instead, I find lots of plain old nylon jackets and pants with a little bit of elastic at the ends. The plain nylon outerwear tends to be a big sweat factory. Consequently, I avoid it like the plague with one exception.

Adjustable Jackets

The nylon jackets with removable sleeves work pretty well. Obviously, having no sleeves is a great way to produce breathability. It obviously leaves you less protected which matters greatly in really cold conditions but I'll get to a solution for that later. In most conditions, a jacket with adjustable sleeves has met most of my needs for rain and wind protection.

Amongst the removable sleeve jackets, the best I've seen is the Cannondale Morphis Shell. This jacket is head and shoulders above all the other removable sleeve jackets because it is so easy to detach and attach the sleeves. It is the only one of its kind that I can do this while riding. With other jackets, you might get the sleeves off while riding but you will be hard pressed to get them back on at all, much less as easy as you will with the Morphis.

Why? Because the Morphis uses magnets, yes magnets, to attach the sleeves instead of zippers or velcro. These magnets break away more quickly and easily the any fastener but, more importantly, the magnets are self-attaching. When you are ready to re-attach the sleeves, you simply slide them on and the magnets find each other like something out of a Transformer movie.

The jacket is simply incredible. This kind of rapid flexibility is just what I want while riding in mixed to bad weather. All the other jackets with removable sleeves make you stop and futz in the rain to get the zippers, snaps, or velcro together but with the Morphis I detach and attach sleeves with impunity as conditions change. It's awesome.

The one issue is that the magnets leave space for air to get through the seams which can be an issue on very cold days. However, for those days you probably don't need adjustable sleeves at all.

As amazing as the Morphis shell is, having no sleeves obviously provides no shelter for the arms. Consequently, I use this shell for moderately cold and relatively dry days, windy days, or days where I don't know what it's gonna do.

Breathable Jackets

For the really serious storm, a full jacket with breathable material is the way to go. You've got to really search in the bike shops but it is there. In the breathable category, the best I've found is the Endura Luminite Jacket. In addition to being breathable it is super visible. My friend Johan and I really value visibility since we are really not into premature death.

The jacket has a wealth or reflective material all over it and it comes in "day-glo" yellow. It even has a blinking red LED light embedded in the jacket for added visibility. I've worn this on the worst kinds of days and not been wanting for anything else. It has velcro straps to close the sleeves and a very high, cinchable, collar to keep rain off your neck. I've even worn this sailing with satisfactory results.

Legs: Pants

Flexibility and breathability are sufficient for the top of your body. However, in cycling the action is on the bottom. For this, breathability and flexibility (zippers and stuff) are essential but what is ideal is stretchability. To keep things simple, I'll sidestep all this as long as possible and just ride in rain in bike shorts until it gets below 50 degrees fahrenheit. Below that, I'll throw on some long rain pants. Thankfully these days, you can now find long rain pants that are both breathable and stretchable.

The best I've seen of this type of outerwear is the Sugoi Firewall Pant. These pants breathe and stretch beautifully. They also have a nice reinforced material inside the ankle where you might interact with the crank and a zipper along the outside of the ankle to make them easy to slip over your shoes.

Running the zipper is a two-handed operation so you can't do that while you ride. However, the only time I ever want to do that is when I forget to zip before I get on the bike which is kind of my bad. The zipper is tough to zip because of the rubberizing around it so it is a feature not a bug.

Nevertheless, what really makes these pants stand out is the cut. These look and feel like regular pants. They have a matte finish to the fabric so they don't reflect light all the time like typical rubber rain gear. They even have two side pockets with zippers. The cut around the leg is just loose enough to look like normal pants but just tight enough to not get caught in your chain. From a distance, if it weren't for some reflective graphics, you'd think they were slacks of some kind.

I actually wear these pants for a night out. Throw a dressier top over your jersey and you can get past the "Maître d'" at most restaurants. You'll still be a little funny looking but these days who isn't?

Given this fashion feature, on top of the superb performance on the essentials, these pants stand out. With these in my pack I can be out without worrying about the rain, cold, or even the possibility of dinner plans. In the latter case, I can transform from a bike geek to a relatively normal looking patron in a couple of seconds. For more on bike fashion, check out Diverse Bicycle Fashion.

Extremities

Last but certainly not least are extremities. I'll start with the feet. First of all let me set the context. If you are riding without clip-less pedals then you can obviously wear any kind of shoe which allows you to pick any kind of protection you want so the comments on footwear below are moot. You can skip to gloves. Likewise, cycling in snow can demand gear where some of the things outlined below are irrelevant. Nevertheless, what follows is my experience keeping my feet dry or, at least, comfortable while using clip-less pedals and shoes.

Feet: Socks

With clip-less pedals, you are obviously focused on pedaling performance which means you are already using a shoe that is stiff and pretty well ventilated. This means, that water is going to go right into and out of the shoe constantly unless you cover it with something. Although, there are rain guards for cycling shoes, I have found the exposed and wet scenario is actually fine provided you have the right socks.

I tried the little booties that slip over the shoes. They work great but they are not breathable so you can wind up with sopping wet feet from your own perspiration. Also, if rain does get in there, it doesn't easily come out. Finally, the booties are a bit of a pain to get on. As a remedy, I tried the "half-booty". These are slightly easier to get on but were pointless in the rain and not much help in the wind. They had the inconvenience of full booty installation without any of the moisture protection. The rain simply went up and over the half-booty and into my shoe.

Consequently, I now go out with nothing special on my shoes but something special on my feet. I wear soft nylon socks. They get wet but they dry so quickly that they feel pretty normal when I reach my destination.

I even leave them on at work. The obvious exception not yet covered is snow. If you are riding in snow then all bets are off regarding perspiration. In that case, the full booties are the way to go. I'm fond of the socks like these by DeFeet. They are cheap, they look great in business or cycling shoes, and they dry super-quick.

Hands: Gloves

For the hands, I use two options. If I'm commuting, then sooner or later I'm going to need a lot of finger dexterity to get my metro card out or money or something. I haven't found a full glove yet that does that well but I did recently find these cool mittens with a quick-release finger flap.

The finger compartment slides off when you need your fingers. Very cool when fumbling for your metro pass in a commuter line. The only issue has been that these slip a bit on my brake handles. I bought them at a runners shop so they are not designed for cycling. Otherwise, these are totally cool. Some cycling glove vendor needs to take note.

For a regular cold ride, I use Pearl Izumi full-fingered gloves. Very nice dexterity. I can even run a smart phone touch screen with them. The only bummer has been the netting in the palm tears easily during a crash and the gel pads fall out. However, most gloves don't last long when sliding on asphalt. Regardless, I forgive this because they feel so good the rest of the time.

This gear isn't the cheapest but I think it is the best. Again, I've wasted a lot of time and money trying to skimp. In the end, I wound up with this stuff and now I don't think twice about going out on any type of day. The gear keeps me perfectly dry and/or comfortable year-round. If cycling is going to become a serious form of transport, gear like this is what it is going to take.