Rain Gear Rain pants

Fredo

Joined
Mar 23, 2015
Messages
16
Location
Crown Point, IN
Bike
1997 ST1100
I am looking for some rain pants that will keep my crotch dry. I have tried suits by several major brands to no avail. I finally shelled out the money to purchase a set of Klim Forecast Gortex rain pants. I was sure this would solve my problem but wallah - wet crotch again.
I typically just wear jeans so I have always purchased straight rain gear. Any suggestions?
 
Frog Togg bib pants are what I use. No complaints. You can buy from cheap to very expensive FT's. I have the cheap ones, and they work fine. I wear them over my riding pants and under my jacket.
 
+1 on all of the above. My one piece leaked once and I noticed it was the time I had the shoulder pads out, fitting right and not having the fold at the seat will help. Pants up to the chest, 3/4 jacket.
 
I wear Aerostich pants. The only time I have the wet crotch issue is when the rain is so heavy it collects and pools between my legs on the seat creating a puddle. I live in the Seattle area and ride in the rain A LOT. My solution is to once in a while stand up on the bike and let the water drain away, OR, some of my coworkers have bought beaded seat covers to allow for air and water to vent/drain out while riding. I think it's a common problem and hard to avoid even with a sealed and welded seam pant. Make sure the zipper is all the way up, and the storm flap is laying flat too. Sometimes if the storm flap is folded over in a weird way water will get in.
 
water is insidious and if you ride in heavy enough rain for long enough, it will find a way to get in eventually no matter what lol
 
If you have waist high rain pants, that is likely the issue DAMHIK. Bib Gore-Tex rain pants are the only way to stay fully dry in a continued downpour. Learned this after the 1st trip out west 16 years ago.
 
I use Frogg Toggs Bib Rain Pants - sort of like overalls.
When you put on the rain jacket over them it pretty much keeps water from getting into the 'low' zone. ;)
I use to buy the 'expensive' rain suits and finally realized that they last no longer at keeping the rain out than good old Frogg Toggs.
 
If you followed the last Iron Butt Rally (maybe it was the one before last), with major downpours, EVERY rider got soaked. @the Ferret got it right, as every sailor knows. There really is no such thing as truly waterproof gear...unless it is a submarine.
 
Beaded seat...it works wonders in the rain and especially in the heat to cool the cods. Takes a little getting used to......at first I didn't like it so I took em off....75 miles later I put them back on....that was 80000 miles ago....jme
I use Olympia rain gear, when it's too hot for the stich....
 
MidLife said:
Actually.....submarines are also supporting your point.

3A1. General. In submarines as in all ships, a certain amount of water from various sources accumulates inside the hull.

Submarine Trim and Drain Systems - Chapter 3

maritime.org maritime.org
Click to expand...
How deep do the nukes go - 600 to 1000 feet? I would hope they do not accumulate much salt water inside the hull. Condensation is ok, but seawater....?
 
SMSW said:
There really is no such thing as truly waterproof gear...unless it is a submarine.
Click to expand...
Five years on the newer nuke boats confirmed for me that water does, in fact, get inside submarines, and get this... we bring it onboard intentionally.
Aside from Navy dive suits, with which I have no personal experience, even the rain gear used on submarines for stores loads, weapons loads, or maneuvering watch or topside watch or whatever... USN-issued rain gear is no more waterproof than, and usually less than, commercially available offerings.
Due to lowest bidder for the contracts?
Or due to the nature of water, always going to find a way?
You decide.
How deep do the nukes go? In the 70s it was Classified, not so today, but crush depth was rated at 2000, max operating depth was 1200. We were allowed to tell civilians 600.
Some guys would freak out hearing the hull groan and pop when we went deep, but it also did that coming back up. Intense pressure does things to steel things filled with air.
 
Sadlsor said:
Some guys would freak out hearing the hull groan and pop when we went deep, but it also did that coming back up. Intense pressure does things to steel things filled with air.
Click to expand...
Not hearing the groaning would be more disconcerting.

If you haven't seen it, watch Down Periscope. :thumb:

 
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It's a Catch 22. If you have a waterproof liner built into some kind of overpant, your boots as you get in and out of the overpants will pull on the seams that are in the crotch. The result will be cold water coming in. If you have totally waterproof pants like some of the rubberized rain pants, you could easily sweat enough on the inside that it won't make any difference and your crotch will still get wet.

My "fix" for the leaking overpant with stretched & leaking seams is to apply duct tape over the area. ...of the overpant, not you. ;) When I was commuting on my Suzuki Burgman 400, I bought a beaded seat pad. It was way too cold to use in the winter, so I put duct tape over the top and edges of the seat pad. The result was the derrière was off the pool of water that collected on the seat. I stayed dry in Seattle rain.

Olympia Dakar pants had a unique way of waterproofing their pants. They used a separate waterproof pant, like a Gore-tex golf pant that you put on under the outer layer pant. I always spray my riding gear with waterproofing spray. It doesn't make it waterproof, but the water from a shower will often not make it through and it allows the gear to dry quicker since it didn't soak in the water. The waterproof layer underneath is also sprayed each year and keeps me dry. My old Olympia pants liner finally started leaking a bit, so I bought some REI rain pants with a full length side zipper.

If your seat has a flat area to accumulate water, even Gore-Tex will not keep you dry. Gore-Tex and other waterproofing layers like that are made for keeping you dry from water hitting you and running off. They will eventually leak through if you immerse them with water. Or don't keep up with DWR (durable water repellent) maintenance.

Chris
 
When I'm dry and warm, I don't mind riding in the rain.
Don't enjoy it nearly as much if I'm in lots of traffic... drivers here are as stupid as anywhere, so I like to leave lots of room in front of me. Drivers believe that's an open invitation to cut in front of me, at which point they must immediately slam on their brakes.
Less fun.
 
Thanks for all the input. I think I will try a set of the frog togg bibs and standing up every now and then to get the water out of the "pool". Beaded seat sounds like a good idea or perhaps something between my rear and the seat that will let the water run down.
 
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