Cycling under the rain

[Deleted member 4366]

I know it's only water. But it's always raining in london. Would like to have something simple and practical. The jacket is a little bit annoying to wear.

I use a cape that has a hood and goes over the handlebars. It cost about £8 in Aldi when they did the bike stuff, You can also get them in Wilkinsons for about £10. When it rains, you just throw it over your head and handlebars and away you go - like you're in a tent. A little unstable when very windy, but most of the time OK. It can be stored in one of those little bags that clips on the back of your seat.

 

[funkylyn]

I use a cape that has a hood and goes over the handlebars. It cost about £8 in Aldi when they did the bike stuff, You can also get them in Wilkinsons for about £10. When it rains, you just throw it over your head and handlebars and away you go - like you're in a tent. A little unstable when very windy, but most of the time OK. It can be stored in one of those little bags that clips on the back of your seat.

At last...the voice of reason...there you go cwah, I dare you to object to that solution.....waterproof, cheap, simple and highly unlikely to ever propel you under a bus...simples
Maybe now we can all heave a sigh of relief......and you will have more time to concentrate on your next project.....

lynda

 

[Scimitar]

I suspect a cape isn't techy enough.
Bicycle fairing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
MHP fairings for the Upright Bicycles

 

[cwah]

Cape is a good idea D8veh, I'm going to check that.

A fairing cover would be better of course, but it needs very specific tool or a big wallet

Not sure what's the best solution yet..

 

[jackhandy]

I suspect a cape isn't techy enough.
Bicycle fairing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
MHP fairings for the Upright Bicycles

Blimey - don't fancy my chances with one of them up on St. Breock Downs, by the wind farm with a tail wind

 

[flecc]

Cape is a good idea D8veh, I'm going to check that.

Have a look at the second post in this entire thread cwah, my reply to your original post about a brolly, and you'll see that a cape was exactly what I recommended!!!!!!!!

First reply in thread

 

[funkylyn]

Have a look at the second post in this entire thread cwah, my reply to your original post about a brolly, and you'll see that a cape was exactly what I recommended!!!!!!!!

First reply in thread

Aah yes...so it was....but at least we have had some fun since then

I will look forward to seeing a pic of cwah in his cape sometime soon........or am I being way too optimistic !

I think my method is best.....a simple rainproof lightweight jacket and when that gets wet through I head for home, if its torrential rain to start with I prefer to not go out cycling and activate my plan B which is talking about cycling instead on here

Lynda

 

[flecc]

I think my method is best.....a simple rainproof lightweight jacket and when that gets wet through I head for home, if its torrential rain to start with I prefer to not go out cycling and activate my plan B which is talking about cycling instead on here

Lynda

My strategy too Lynda, cycling for pleasure, not pain.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I tried normal waterproofs, but I got wet from the inside instead.

I'd heard that capes were no good, but I remembered when I was in Bali there was torrential rain, and nearly all the thousands of bike, motorbike and scooter riders would stop and put on their capes (nearly all the same one) and then carry on, so I thought I'd give one a try and it was a surprisingly pleasant experience. I was quite dry underneath, but i got rain on my glasses so I had to look over the top of them like those guys with half-lens reading glasses. Even my feet stayed dry when there was no wind, but last time, when it was windy and torrential, I could feel my feet getting wet.

The best thing about a cape is that you can put it on and take it off really quickly because you only have to throw it over your head, while as with waterproofs, you have to stop and wrestle your way into them, which isn't worth the effort, so you carry on without them hoping the rain might stop, but it doesn't so you get wet.

 

[easycommuter]

Hi

First of all, thank you for your update

Going back to your (very honest) 27/8 update (p6), I can see how a collapsible umbrella is particularly out of the way, when not in use.

Just a thought, is the Senz umbrella you're thinking of getting collapsible?
If it is, does it fold up easily after use, or do you have to do some manual folding etc?
If not, would the size of it get in the way, when you are cycling, when it's not being used?

A previous post to the Forum about a year ago(?) posted the a link to a Bike Fairing manufacturer
Range - Veltop Classic - Bicycle cycle protection Veltop Classic, Transport, Mobility, Recumbent, Cyclo-Sy.

 

[Tinker]

Wow, you'd need one of the Xipi superbikes to push those fairings through a headwind, mind you with one of those fitted it would never get to 45mph

 

[Scimitar]

I think my method is best.....a simple rainproof lightweight jacket and when that gets wet through I head for home, if its torrential rain to start with I prefer to not go out cycling and activate my plan B which is talking about cycling instead on here

Lynda

Yeps, sod that. I'm strictly a fair-weather cyclist. I'm putting the car off the road and a motorcycle back on, full time, so it's not as if I'm a fair-weather rider all together. It's only in the past decade I've always had a car or van on the road full-time and prior to that, my main mode of transport was a motorcycle of one sort or another.
I'm well used to the weather of these islands and can say with a degree of non-rosy-tints that it rained less than 5% of the time I was out on a bike/motorbike, even riding one for a living.

 

[flecc]

Cwah, watching a report on the BBC London News on TV tonight made me think of you. A kite surfer had been quietly standing on the beach at Southend preparing his kit when a sudden gust of wind caught the kite, picked him up and smashed him against a breakwater.

He was helicoptered to hospital with multiple injuries including severe damage to both legs and a ruptured heart valve. While I appreciate your brollies are not as large as the kite, this illustrates the considerable forces that you are dealing with.

 

[cwah]

Have a look at the second post in this entire thread cwah, my reply to your original post about a brolly, and you'll see that a cape was exactly what I recommended!!!!!!!!

First reply in thread

Oh sorry flecc, but I thought your one was something like a second waterproof cloth, whereas the what d8veh said is simply something you put between you and the handlebar. But I have to look for the existing model and see if it can work

 

[cwah]

Hi

First of all, thank you for your update

Going back to your (very honest) 27/8 update (p6), I can see how a collapsible umbrella is particularly out of the way, when not in use.

Just a thought, is the Senz umbrella you're thinking of getting collapsible?
If it is, does it fold up easily after use, or do you have to do some manual folding etc?
If not, would the size of it get in the way, when you are cycling, when it's not being used?

A previous post to the Forum about a year ago(?) posted the a link to a Bike Fairing manufacturer
Range - Veltop Classic - Bicycle cycle protection Veltop Classic, Transport, Mobility, Recumbent, Cyclo-Sy.

That fairing stuff is precisely what I'm looking for!! Thanks for sharing!

The biggest issue is that it's damn ugly and damn expensive lol, will try to see if other cheaper or better looking model exist.

The senz umbrella is collapsible but I'm not planning to use it for now, I'm a bit afraid to be pulled out into the road with the wind

 

[jazper53]

Looks like some fancy Kite, does it come with a anchor for when you start to take off?

 

[flecc]

Here's an example of a cycling cape cwah,

 

[cwah]

Here's an example of a cycling cape cwah,

Hmm... I was thinking of something else. I thought it would almost be a fairing cap that you would put between the handlebar and you lol

 

[flecc]

When most of Britain cycled following WW2, capes were what everyone used to keep dry in this wet island. I those days capes didn't have a hood, so a hat called a Sou' Wester was worn with the cape. It was similar to the hats that fishermen sometimes use at sea and they can still be bought. Example

 

[jackhandy]

Gets right up my nose when I see something I need at "nine pounds online" and the cheapest listed is 14 quid when you add delivery charges.

I paid 15 quid in Argos for my cape - and wore it home.