I looking for a new rainsuit. I want something sturdy that is easy to put on without removing boots. I was using a Frog Togg, but when I couldn't find the motorcycle specific one, I bought one at Academy. It soaked my jacket sleeves and the bottoms leaked at the crotch. What works for you?
long answer…
From reading the posts it is apparent there is more to be considered when choosing a rain suit than “does it keep you dry when riding”.
Price, how it holds up in use (and how it holds up packed), ease of entry and exit and other ergonomic issues are a few of the points to consider.
I’ve been riding since 1969. Most of my riding has been in the Midwest. Sometimes my only mode of transportation has been a motorcycle. For 26-years; from 1990 to 2016 I commuted 30-miles round trip to work. This was a deciding factor in suit-choice.
Commuting required me to arrive at work at a set time and to be dressed business un-casual: I was in front of customers all day and had to wear a tie and sometimes a sport coat. I didn’t have a place to store an extra set of clothes; I had to be turnkey-ready.
But that was my most recent history. In the early days, I mostly got wet. I tried a rain poncho and either came close to being blown off my bike or having my helmet covered by the flapping poncho, or both. Then I started carrying a raincoat and rain pants. This was a vast improvement but it also required a place to stow the rain gear when not in use.
Being strapped to the bike was hard on the suit. Pinching it especially in hot or cold weather caused it to get sticky or crack. I decided to get a fairing which was not cheap. But this gave me a secure “glovebox” to protect the suit and not have to pack it so tightly. The fairing helped with the rain too but a drawback (even to modern fairings) is that the low pressure created behind a windshield and the turbulence generated behind the rider’s back blows rainwater up the back of any jacket which then runs down into the waterproof pants. Waterproofing works two ways: it doesn’t let water in and it doesn’t let it out.
Enter the one-piece rain suit. Water invasion between the jacket and pants was eliminated. Also eliminated was getting anything in or out of the pockets of clothing underneath including zippered fly. Number one was a hassle, number two was a crisis. A further problem with a one-piece rain suit is that the crotch-seams of the suit get heavily stretched and stressed. The reach and lean forward to the handle bars is a constant wedgie. The rubbing of the seams against the motorcycle’s seat wears out the suit’s threads and abrades the waterproof coating of the suit’s material.
Ergonomically, entering and exiting a one piece as well as a two piece suit takes Houdini-like skill. This is compounded when a rider waits to don the gear a little too long and gets “a little bit” wet. Trying to put on a plastic suit when already wet is like OJ attempting to put on his leather glove over a latex glove-its not pretty. And once wet inside the waterproof bag, one stays wet. The inverse is true too: putting on the suit on a hot day even before it rains ends up creating the “sauna” effect. The choice is between being immersed in freshwater or saltwater.
And even if the suit was on before the rain started, taking off a wet suit can get a rider almost as wet as having had no suit at all. And most important: stopping on the interstate, in the dark, in the rain to put on a rain suit is suicidal.
Then, when the rain stops, how do you pack a wet rain suit? If you are still on the road, it has to go somewhere on the bike. This gets other stuff wet. Do you turn it inside out (assuming its drier on the inside). It also takes up more room. If stopped for the day the suit can be hung up to dry. It should it be turned inside out so the inside dries first then turned to dry the outside. Many rain suits cannot be dried in a dryer which means much air drying-time is needed-maybe 10 hours or more.
Back to commuting. Many of the above problems can turn commuting into a nightmare. I have spent many an hour in front of a customer class with my students wondering what caused the big wet spot on my crotch. Disclaimer: these were adult students. In the Cincinnati area weather can change quickly as well as there can be wet and dry areas quite close together: I’ve seen it rain in my front yard and not rain in my backyard at the same time. So if rain is even a remote possibility, the suit goes on as there would be neither time nor a safe spot to don the suit in transit.
For me the best rain suit turned out to be a one piece Aerostitch Ultralight. It is an all weather, armored riding suit. They are pricey and about as fashionable as a football fan’s garbage bag rain-poncho. But it works. Easy to get into and out of even when wet. The simple sequence of removal avoids getting wet. Boot covers built into the lower shin areas are easy to deploy and slip over boots. Reach through, waterproof zippers, to lower clothing-pockets is easy. There are several outside waterproof pockets. It has good, zippered ventilation (again, waterproof zippers) and the entire suit breathes. It has good durability; my suit has about 100,000 miles on it. It needs seam sealing about every 40,000 miles. This can be done at home with an iron and replacement sealing tape. It has pretty good abrasion protection and good armor. A pavement-slide of 100 feet caused only a small 0.5-inch hole in one sleeve.
One additional benefit of the Aerostitch one-piece is it can be worn over “normal” clothing. It is possible, with a change from riding boots to situation-compatible shoes, to be disguised as a normal person once off the bike.
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