Is there truely "waterproof" riding gear?

[Felix]

I have a Rainbird jacket, and it has been really good. It was about $100, not to be confused with the cheaper $50 Rainbird jackets. The material is better, and it has that 3M reflective stuff on it. Must do a review on it sometime...The only problem I ever had with it was one day after work it took me ages to get the zip undone so I could get it out of its pouch..grrr...

I also have DriRider pants. They are quite good and have kept me dry.

You do get quite hot though with this stuff on, and I have found that it keeps wind out quite well, too. Really becomes an issue when it is pouring down and 30 deg.

But I do remember about a year ago, I got drenched on my way home from the city to t'ba. I didn't have any wet weather gear on at the start, and the ippy motorway was a carpark, but due to poor visibility, and not knowing where things were, it wasn't until the other side of Ippy that I finally got a chance to put my wets on. While I was stopped, I had to empty (literally!) my boots, and I stopped inside the servo for coffee and some thawing out...I was freezing. Once I got the wets on, I stopped getting any wetter and I actually felt warm(ish) for the rest of the miserable trip home. Ahh, the memories...

[Stereo]

I used to have a full rain suit, it was like a set of overals......... it was completely waterproof.... cept for the gloves and boots ofcourse.... my boots were waterproof, but my gloves always take on water...

[Felix]

Yeah, when it's raining you need to put your gloves inside the sleeve of you jacket...otherwise the water runs down your arm and straight in to your gloves...

I should mention it took 4 days for my boots to dry out from that trip properly and 2 days for the gloves (they've never been the same since...which is actually a good thing, they were a bit tight on one hand...)

[Barrabob]

On the way home from the gp it rained from the oxley all the way back to brisbane, i was wearing a dririder 2 peice raincoat over the top of a rjays summer jacket and it was reasonably warm and dry considering we probably did 600kms in the rain.

Alpinestar boots arent so good they fill up via the toe sliders so i got soggy socks but they are a track boot rather than a touring boot.

You have to love doing the oxley in the rain because i dont think its ever dry.

[aardvark]

Yellow plastic raincoats and pants are the most waterproof

That's what we use, except ours a custom made. Have had blokes do over a thousand km's a day in them in pouring rain and not one word of complaint.

[Lainie]

I wear Dririder and have never gotten wet. The longest I have rode in the rain in for an hour though.

[ttc]

if water pools on your waterproof gear you will get wet. It's not designed for the water to sit there, it's like tent material, the water should sheet off, if it sits it'll soak through. (i'm talking about the normal off the shelf stuff)

With the waterproof pants buy the double stitched and seamed ones (ie motordry not the cheaper rjay ones)

Same as the jackets, look for the double stitching

And as for riding in the rain, i have to go to work and no car so not a lot of choice there

[photomike666]

I have Frank Thomas 1 piece oversuit that has been in use for nearly 10 years. It has an inside pocket that the suit folds into and carry strap for good measure. Sure it's now getting tatty around the edges, and it leaks at the crotch after a few hours in heavy rain. It's best of British and is designed for where it rains non stop. Can't say I've ever found gloves or boots that keep 100% of water out, but if they did they'd only get all sweaty and smelly.

[mick_dundee]

The secret lies in Strika's mates rain suit, everytime that's taken out on a ride it never rains evidently so pm Strika and ask him to ask his mate if he will sell it

[ty]

When's it's absolutely pissing down - and likely for the whole of my one hour trip - I'll wear 2 layers of wet gear. The rain pants and my normal jacket with a one-piece over the top. That way when the one-piece starts leaking after half an hour or so, the 2 piece can deal with it. This works most of the time.
The 2-piece stuff works reasonably well for half an hour or so too (though a recomendation is to hitch the pants up as high as possible - Irkle style).
For shorter rain periods in the summer I just deal with getting a bit wet. It doesn't take too long to dry, and in warm weather I often get wetter from sweating in the gear than the rain. And as that's wet from inside-out it takes longer to dry.
ty