Wet weather gear.

[barry905]

Back in the late '80s I left the UK in part because I was tired of the continuous rain (the other part was Maggie T). After a brief stop in Europe I settled in the Ottawa area, where the sun regularly shines. But for the last 6 months or so there have been precious few periods of more than a couple of days when we haven't had precipitation of some sort! That's fine during winter/spring, when the temperature really makes riding unpleasant/dangerous. But in summer - the riding season is short enough!

But on to my point. Over the past week I have been soaked to the skin three times: one of these I tried using the trousers from a set of Wetskins rain gear that I bought for dog walking. Useless. The rain soaked through them in about 10 minutes. The time has come to invest in a set of rain gear that will keep me dry whilst I am riding my GS. So my question is this: what are you people using to keep dry, and how successful is it. I would prefer a one piece solution, and obviously as cheap as possible, but it must work. I'd love to hear about your experience and opinions please.

Barry

[Suzuki Stevo]

I own 5 motorcycles.......and a Subaru 

Sorry I couldn't help myself, but I do believe two of the big players in this field will be Carhartt and Gerbing rain gear

[Watcher]

Having lived in Chicago most my life and ridden through many a rain-storm, I've got essentially 3 pieces of kit that I wouldn't ride without.

The first is the rain suit (or basically all the riding garments).  I had a set of what's called Frogg Toggs.  They're an interesting material, it almost feels like weed paper.  But they're the only thing waterproof I've experienced that actually BREATHES.  Staying dry is mostly about the forces outside, but nobody thinks about getting wet from the inside and many of the standard PVC/Vinyl suits will make you SWEAT.
Swamp-arse is almost worse than just being soaked...
I never actually used waterproof gloves, but I was worse for it.  My leathers got really damaged by the weather, and your hands get COLD while they're wet.  I'd layer up with glove liners, and it would help a lot.  Icon makes a nice set of rain gloves with a squeegee built in to the fingers so you can wipe off your helmet shield.
I also had a nice pair of waterproof boots, but those were challenging to work in so I'd often bring a change of shoes to work.  That being said, even though Frogg Toggs are breathable they ARE an extra layer, so it's a good idea to bring a change of clothes regardless.

So the second is a dry-bag.  I originally had something simple I got at a military surplus store for a few bucks.  Typically they're "roll top" and really allow you to compress down whatever is inside.  The one I had originally had no sort of carrying straps or anything so I would just bungee net it to the tail.
Eventually I upgraded to the Kriega WP Sling bag.  Waterproof main compartment, a couple of water resistant accessory pockets, all on a shoulder-bag type arrangement.  Expensive but well worth the money.

The last item I had was a dry-box.  A small one, specifically a Pelican 1040.  It can fit my Galaxy Note 3 just fine in addition to my wallet and any other small things I need.  These are under $20 and can be found on Amazon.
My tank-bag came with a rain cover but I either never liked how it worked or found it to be too much of a hassle, so I just box up my important items and put them in the tank-bag as it is, and if anything else within gets wet I'm usually not that concerned with it (bagged food items and beverages mostly).  Bonus points, the pelican is crush proof!  So if you can invision a scenario where you slip and fall riding in the rain, if your bike goes tank-first into a wall or the tank bag gets ejected and run over your phone won't be destroyed on impact...


Obviously this stuff can add up quick.  I'll bet the pelican case and a mil-surp dry-bag will actually be the cheapest items, so if you don't mind getting wet and having to change then I'd get those two items, then wait a paycheck until you can afford a suit+boots+gloves.
If you can, buy the suit+boots at the same time.  Waterproof boots with no waterproof pants turns the boots into little swimming pools, the other way around soaks your feet pretty severely...

[MichaelM3]

I'm a fan of Olympia AirGlide pants ( https://olympiamotosports.com/en-CA ). It's a two-piece system. The outer pants are mesh for good cooling and air flow. These have safety padding in the right places. The best feature is the ankle-to-hip zips. This means you can get dressed ready for work, put your boots on, and then step into the pants.

The inner, water proof pants are surprisingly light but really effective. The east coast of NSW Australia has copped some pretty bad weather of late - days of very heavy driving rain. I've ridden through all of it and these pants have work exceptionally well. The inner pants also have ankle-to-hip zips. The beauty of this is that you don't have to take your boots off or find somewhere to sit when you want to get into your rain gear. I really can't over-state the convenience of this.

One piece suits are great if you're touring and you know you'll be geared up all day. Otherwise, they can be a pain to get in and out of. For commuting you really want convenience.

On the top I wear a mesh jacket with a Fox Fluid rain jacket over the top. These are really cheap - they're just a clear PVC jacket. Yep, they can make you sweat. But in really nasty weather they are seriously water and wind proof.

This may sounded a bit like a sales pitch, but it's just my experience.

[yamahonkawazuki]

i bought a cheap rainsuit back in the day. i kept it in the backpack when i rode. the material was similar to that of a windbreaker. which i used over the leathers.
Aaron

[Big Rich]

No experience with one piece suits here - sorry. I prefer 2 pc suits just because of the ease of use and versatility (tossing the jacket on when around camp, etc).

There are many options for rain suits though. If you have the $$$, Klim makes proper riding gear using Goretex. There's also Aerostich, which will make you a waterproof suit. If you are looking at a less expensive option, I have a 2 pc Joe Rocket suit that hasn't leaked a drop in YEARS. Being PVC however, I try not to use it except when highway riding since I seat so bad underneath. Frogg Toggs makes a suit for motorcycle riding (the ones at walmart are not - they shred apart from the wind) but I think their MC suit needs a heat resistant panel on the legs.

I have waterproof boots, and I can confirm they will hold water in just as well as hold it out. For my hands I like to have 2 options - a pair of proper MC waterproof (well, they try amyway......) gloves and a pair of glove covers. The covers aren't nearly as comfortable as the proper gloves, but they are always with me and slip on and off.

[barry905]

Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences. I thoink I'm going to go with the Frogg Toggs gear as that seems to be the best compromise between cost and dryness. Ansd the overwhelming opinion is that 2 piece is better, so again, that's the one I will go with. And once I do, the rin will stop.

Again, thanks to everyone.

[Watcher]

And once I do, the rin will stop.

That's EXACTLY what happened to me 3 days ago.

Was looking nasty out and starting to drizzle so before I left work I got a new set, didn't end up raining...
That's ok, I got to use my gear yesterday.

Still need gloves and boots...

[construct09]

+ 1 for Frog Toggs, picked up a 2 piece suit for $40 on an ebay auction (brand new)