il padrone wrote:wombatK wrote:My first pair of overshoes were a similar BBB model - with waterproof zip at the back. They didn't fit snuggly at the back of the shoes - maybe due to my skinny ankles, and tended to let water in there. Couldn't find any way of tying them onto my leg better - zipper was too bulky.
Sounds like you may benefit from some waterproof overpants. These can be placed outside the overboots so water runs off the top of them, rather tham trickling into the booties. They are difficult to find these days. Netti used to do a good pair in the entrant fabric - waterproof and breathable - but now they don't make them. I plan to get some of te Showers Pass eVent fabric pants in future. If you're interested sharktamin can order them in, or you can order direct from Oregon.
wombatK wrote:My commute is 28 km each way - and the haven't failed me (longest exposure to rain was about 20 km, wearing long knicks, no overpants).
Hmm. That's a long haul. You might find overpants a bit sweaty I guess, but worth a try.
Thanks for the suggestion Pete. I've tried rainbird (plastic) overpants, but haven't used them much mainly because it's too inconvenient pulling them on and off for the 10 to 20 minutes of showers I might encounter. Sweating wasn't a big problem - but that might be because I'm a relative slow poke averaging around 23 to 25 kph.
Breathable overpants with easy-on/off zips might work better. You're right about them being difficult to find. When I looked for better options, about all I found was the showers pass event ones which were very expensive ($US200) and didn't look to be zip-on/zip-off. Sizing info particularly on leg length was a bit short-on too.
At least in Sydney's temperatures, I'm still comfortable with lycra longs or leg warmers exposed to the rain. If I was down your way, I'd probably look for the breathable overpants option a bit more closely. If you try them, I'd be interested to hear how well they work - particularly if you could ride all day in them (i.e. not have to pull on when showers started).
With the overpants lapped over the boots, water didn't get in the top, but water still worked its way back in at the heel (probably as heel gets nearest to horizontal on the up-stroke, and bottom of overpants rides up a bit). So I think boot covers need to fit snuggly to be effective, even with overpants.