From: jlevine@rd.hydro.on.ca (Jody Levine)
Subject: Re: Riding in the rain
Keywords: rain gear, staying dry cheap.
Organization: Ontario Hydro - Research Division
Distribution: usa
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 19:48:37 GMT

In article <1992Nov20.193544.25936@ichips.intel.com> prem@pdx194 (Prem Pahlajrai) writes:
>
>  I've been riding more-or-less daily since summer, and so far my Langlitz 
>  leathers have been keeping me warm & dry enough. But the Nighthawk doesn't 
>  have much of a rear fender and upchucks a good bit. Even the front fender 
>  splatters my legs. As a result, these leathers are taking a good bit of 
>  abuse,

Oh dear. Leather will tend to dry up and crack if it gets wet a lot. This is
not the way to treat an expensive leather suit.

>  So now I'm looking for a rainsuit under $100 (you get what you pay for).
>  Something that I could wear over my leathers, which doesn't flap about
>  too much while riding, and easy to get in and out of. Any recommendations?

I'm beginning to feel like a broken record (remember those?). My Fieldsheer
two-piece rainsuit was $85 Cdn. It had barely a chance to dry all summer.
It is made of the usual PVC coated nylon with the nylon on the outside. The
pants come up to the waist only, but included elastic suspenders which I
removed becuase they were annoying and served no purpose. They zip at the
bottom (the only real flaw, velcro is much easier to deal with) and are a
little short but are long enough to cover the tops of my boots. They are
comfortable and don't flap around too much and have a useable pocket. The
jacket is fairly long, lined with a mesh material, has two good pockets, the
usual velcro in the front and looks good enough to be wear by itself when I
want to go for a walk at lunch. I have had no problems with leaking, binding,
discomfort, donning or doffing, or anything else. The suit has been through
city driving where the roads were flooded over the footpegs, 130 km/h highway 
stints in torrential downpours and has even done some gardening. Oh yeah, 
except for the gardening and the lunchtime walks, I always wore leathers 
under the rainsuit.

>  Right now the weakest part in my dress are my shoes - hiking boots with
>  nylon uppers. Even when its not wet, the feet get quite cold. Any 
>  suggestions on low cost ways of keeping the feetsies warm & dry?
>  (Atleast till I get mentally prepared to spend the big bucks on good
>  riding boots).

A cheap solution is rubber boot covers. Even when I'm riding on the highway
in cold weather (~ 0 C) my feet never get cold. Your hiking boots probaly leak
air like crazy and that's where you're losing the heat. I got the covers for
$10.

Motorcycle boots, a lot like the other leather gear really, make riding that
much more comfortable. I have tough, black Boulet boots without a steel
toe and without laces. They protect my feet form stones, glass, oil, and 
water, although if I know I'll be riding in rain I usually put the covers 
on to protect the boots.

I've        bike                      like       | Jody Levine  DoD #275 kV
     got a       you can        if you      -PF  | Jody.P.Levine@hydro.on.ca
                         ride it                 | Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles