your rain jacket when touring?

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RonK
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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby RonK » Mon Apr 25, 2016 10:59 am

johnfordau wrote:if you are going touring why, for crying in the wilderness, would you elect to go touring in the rainy part of the year
Are you totally unable to understand that there are parts of Australia which are highly desirable to tour, but where it may rain, sometimes even snow at any time of the year? Yes, even in the middle of summer.

Does it not occur to you that life commitments - work, family, etc. may limit touring opportunities to other than the ideal season?

Can you not understand that rainfall is quite likely happen when you are not conveniently near shelter? A motel or a bus station?

Is it too difficult to imagine that many of us have broader horizons and don't confine our touring to Australia?

No? Still don't get it? Quite clearly then, you have no idea.

Unlike some others - most here are not fair weather cyclists, and besides running for shelter is often not an option.

So don't bother to lecture me about consumption - I'll choose how I spend my money, what I need, when I need it, and it'll be for practical reasons which have nothing to do with consumption, and are none of your damned business.

And don't lecture me about the rainfall in Northern Australia either - I grew up there and know all about it.

You are free to choose how you want to tour - don't try to dictate to others how they should.
Last edited by RonK on Mon Apr 25, 2016 11:47 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby RonK » Mon Apr 25, 2016 11:11 am

Hmmm, since I started digging I've discovered that the Marmot Essence is currently the best rated jacket for lightweight and breathability.

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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby Trevtassie » Mon Apr 25, 2016 11:16 am

johnfordau wrote:Wow .. such thoughtful responses ..

Old enough to have pedalled more miles than most posting on here .. before the days when people bought $300 rain jackets or $3000 touring bikes.

If it's cold enough to get hypothermia what are your touring? Alternatively, you could leave Melbourne and live where riding is a pleasure and not a test of physical or financial endurance.

Enjoy
You sir, are a troll. Says Trevor who lives in Tasmania where it can snow all year round. I remember one particular day when it was 35 deg in the morning, by that evening there was 20cm of snow on the ground, by the following morning a metre. And in January. So maybe scratch Tassie off your list obviously not worth touring.

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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby Trevtassie » Mon Apr 25, 2016 11:26 am

Another good jacket source from a country where they know a thing or two about rain. http://www.groundeffect.co.nz/collections/bargain-bin I have the old model Stormtrooper. Works pretty good. I like the fact it converts into a waist belt, handy for those on and off days... Possibly the only thing that would add to it is a back vent, but I think that would complicate the bumbag feature. Looks like the new one is some kind of super breathable fabric.

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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby RonK » Mon Apr 25, 2016 11:45 am

Yeah Trev, I've been eyeing of the Flash Gordon for a while. I like the idea that you can zip the sleeves off and wear it as a vest.
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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby dalai47 » Mon Apr 25, 2016 1:08 pm

All this talk about shelters and rain jackets... Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at three o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of hot gravel, go to work at the mill every day for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were LUCKY! :lol:

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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby Trevtassie » Mon Apr 25, 2016 1:51 pm

dalai47 wrote:All this talk about shelters and rain jackets... Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at three o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of hot gravel, go to work at the mill every day for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were LUCKY! :lol:
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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby Aushiker » Mon Apr 25, 2016 2:11 pm

I have put my Showers Pass Elite 2.0 XL (Red) rain jacket up for sale in the Member to Member Bike and Gear Sales forum if anyone is interested.

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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby alfine8 » Mon Apr 25, 2016 7:54 pm

Aushiker wrote:
Boombibit wrote:Hi Andrew

It looks like the jacket can be bought with full zipper too : :)


$150 (pullover style), $155 (jacket style)
Yeah found that out after doing the research I should have done first :oops: I think with a full zipper it looks much more promising. I would like a brim on the hood but guess one could use a cap instead. I know Outdoor Research do a waterproof cap, the Halo Cap which looks a like lot a cycling cap and weighs 53 grams.
Andrew, if using a cap like the O.R Halo Cap, have you any thoughts of how to stop rain running down the back of your neck into the jacket.
I'm trying to get sorted for rain in the 0* - 15* temps wearing a Showers pass Elite, and no helmet.

Maybe sewing a legionnaires flap on the back of the cap, starting inside it, like the Tiagaworks helmet cap.

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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby Tim » Mon Apr 25, 2016 8:31 pm

ShowersPass make a hood for the Elite jacket .
It attaches to the outside of the jacket collar with velcro tabs.

https://www.showerspass.com/products/rain-hood

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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby il padrone » Mon Apr 25, 2016 8:36 pm

I use the Showerspass Portland Cap, in rain and cooler weather. Windproof, waterproof, breathable, and keeps the sun off my dome ;)

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Last edited by il padrone on Tue Apr 26, 2016 6:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby Aushiker » Tue Apr 26, 2016 2:44 pm

alfine8 wrote:Andrew, if using a cap like the O.R Halo Cap, have you any thoughts of how to stop rain running down the back of your neck into the jacket.
I have used normal cycling caps in the past which just wet out after awhile. I cannot recall them leading to water down the back of my neck but then I am generally getting wet anyway so probably didn't notice it.

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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby alfine8 » Tue Apr 26, 2016 5:59 pm

Tim wrote:ShowersPass make a hood for the Elite jacket .
It attaches to the outside of the jacket collar with velcro tabs.

https://www.showerspass.com/products/rain-hood
In the past when using attached hoods, I found that when I turned my head, the hood stayed facing forward, and so I was just looking into the hood.

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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby alfine8 » Tue Apr 26, 2016 6:01 pm

Aushiker wrote:
alfine8 wrote:Andrew, if using a cap like the O.R Halo Cap, have you any thoughts of how to stop rain running down the back of your neck into the jacket.
I have used normal cycling caps in the past which just wet out after awhile. I cannot recall them leading to water down the back of my neck but then I am generally getting wet anyway so probably didn't notice it.

Ok, thanks Andrew.

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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby alfine8 » Tue Apr 26, 2016 6:04 pm

Hey Ronk, reading back I see you have used the TiagaWorks rain cap, with the flap.
Did you find that the flap worked in keeping water out of the collar.

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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby RonK » Wed Apr 27, 2016 9:53 pm

alfine8 wrote:Hey Ronk, reading back I see you have used the TiagaWorks rain cap, with the flap.
Did you find that the flap worked in keeping water out of the collar.
It's a helmet hat - it fits onto your helmet. So it doesn't feel claustrophobic or make you hot.

Thiroughly tested under New Zealand conditions - the flap works very well at keeping water out of your collar, and the peak keeps it out of your eyes.

An excellent investment - I wouldn't tour without it.
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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby alfine8 » Thu Apr 28, 2016 5:33 am

Thanks Ronk, Good recomendation.

I might try and make up something similar for no helmets.

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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby il padrone » Thu Apr 28, 2016 12:09 pm

From the good ol' days of 'no-helmets' :wink:

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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby johnfordau » Sun May 01, 2016 3:19 pm

Trevtassie wrote: You sir, are a troll. Says Trevor who lives in Tasmania where it can snow all year round. I remember one particular day when it was 35 deg in the morning, by that evening there was 20cm of snow on the ground, by the following morning a metre. And in January. So maybe scratch Tassie off your list obviously not worth touring.
You are wrong on any number of accounts. I am not a troll. Unless you mean by 'troll' anyone who does not bow down to you online abuse.

Second .. I have toured Tasmania. Beautiful weather .. glorious sunshine .. tad cool at night .. no rain ..

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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby Mike Ayling » Sun May 01, 2016 4:18 pm

Aushiker wrote:I have put my Showers Pass Elite 2.0 XL (Red) rain jacket up for sale in the Member to Member Bike and Gear Sales forum if anyone is interested.

Image
What have you replaced it with?

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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby avolve » Sun May 01, 2016 5:06 pm

johnfordau wrote: I am not a troll. Unless you mean by 'troll' anyone who does not bow down to you online abuse.
You have come here, not having participated in the community, telling people what constitutes cycle touring and how to enjoy oneself doing so, according to your own 'rules'.

Take a step back and you may see why some might label you as such... As such, the latter part of your repsonse smells like a bit of hypocrisy.
Last edited by avolve on Sun May 01, 2016 8:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby il padrone » Sun May 01, 2016 7:00 pm

johnfordau wrote:Excuse me chiming in here .. but why would you need a rain jacket if you are touring in Australia?

If you get wet you keep riding and when it stops raining the forward motion of the rider will create the idea drying machine.

If it rains at night .. get a tent or seek that other well know establishment a motel.

The only place it rains for days on end is in Darwin or the tropical far north coast of Queensland and you certainly don't want to wear anything then let alone a rain jacket.

If you don't like the rain .. catch the next bus south.

Let's get real here.
Do you live in Australia? Especially the cooler, damper, coastal and southern regions ??

Melbourne - "Four seasons in one day....." Same goes for the rest of southern Victoria, Tasmania, and even the NSW coast (300mm in a few hours is something that is unheard of in Victoria, but occasionally happens in places like Wollongong and Coffs Harbour).

Hiking gear in summer, Lake Dove, Tasmania, Jan 9th. Yes, we carried a rainjacket each. Temp - about 9-10C at this warm time of day.
Image

Snow in the crevices of Cradle Mountain, Tasmania, Jan 9th. Temp at 9am was about 0C with snow flurries in the camping ground. Thankfully we were inside a nice warm, enclosed camp kitchen, but the -3C saw us out in our tents, and still warm despite the snow.
Image

Do you also suggest that bothering to use a tent at night is a foolish and pointless exercise in the great dry land of Australia ???

I do agree with your recommendation of choosing the best time of year to tour a specific region. However sometimes despite this, the weather will go to crappola. And then sometimes people choose, or are forced, to tour out of the ideal, often peak season. You do yourself a disservice by speaking like someone who has a very European view of Australia as a place of eternal sunshine and kangaroos hopping down the city streets. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valour.
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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby Aushiker » Sun May 01, 2016 10:09 pm

Mike Ayling wrote:Mike
Nothing as yet. I am going to just use my Berghaus Gore-Tex PacLite jacket for now.

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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby Trevtassie » Sun May 01, 2016 10:17 pm

Oh no, because he toured in Tasmania once and it didn't rain, raincoats are unnecessary. To suggest otherwise is bullying. What would I know, I just live here.

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Re: your rain jacket when touring?

Postby johnfordau » Mon May 02, 2016 9:57 am

il padrone wrote: Do you live in Australia?
Yes.
Especially the cooler, damper, coastal and southern regions ??
Not now .. I did but then decided I had enough of room full of winter clothes .. moved to Queensland .. best move I ever made .. couple of jumpers and tracksuit is all that is needed to get through what we call winter ..
Melbourne - "Four seasons in one day....." Same goes for the rest of southern Victoria, Tasmania, and even the NSW coast (300mm in a few hours is something that is unheard of in Victoria, but occasionally happens in places like Wollongong and Coffs Harbour).
Agreed .. but who goes 'touring' in Melbourne for crying in the wilderness .. and Yes .. it does get wet but you don't need to turn touring into a fashion statement .. it's suppose to be fun ..

But if you are into endurance testing then be my guest .. I am writing for those who love touring ..
Do you also suggest that bothering to use a tent at night is a foolish and pointless exercise in the great dry land of Australia ???
Glad you bought that up because I was hammered in another post about this very matter. The best tent in one that will do the job and wont buckle the bankcard. I use the $12 ones at Big W. Good enough and if they break .. buy another ..
I do agree with your recommendation of choosing the best time of year to tour a specific region. However sometimes despite this, the weather will go to crappola. And then sometimes people choose, or are forced, to tour out of the ideal, often peak season. You do yourself a disservice by speaking like someone who has a very European view of Australia as a place of eternal sunshine and kangaroos hopping down the city streets. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valour.
Indeed .. but there is always a way out .. bridges are really really handy .. and generally empty because all the endurance tourists have headed for the nearest motel and hot showers .. cow sheds are good .. so is there nearest homestead .. railway stations .. culverts .. I think you get the idea.

The one thing that does scare me is the thunderstorm .. the lightening part .. so don't pitch you $400 tent under a tree .. in fact don't go anywhere near a tree ..

Touring is fun. If, as many here indicate, touring is nothing less than a fashion statement or you join the 'see how much can I spend' mob then you are not touring .. you are doing something else ..

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