"Showerproof"

secretsam

...does not mean waterproof, as I found out in the monsoon this morning

My Lidl Rain resistant £10 tiny pack a mac was totally ineffective, I was soaked by the end of the ride

Light rain only for that in future, next time I'll use a proper wettie

:oops:

Clever Pun

didn't Lidl and £10 not give you a clue it might not be up to scratch?

secretsam

Clever Pun wrote:

didn't Lidl and £10 not give you a clue it might not be up to scratch?

Well, to be fair I have some of their other stuff (jersey, gilet) and have been pretty pleased with it...however...

Butterd2

It's far too warm to be wearing waterproofs anyway. I had a lovely ride in the rain this morning, soaking wet and happy.

Confusedboy

Unless it says waterproof, it won't be, and this applies to some quite expensive gear as well. Shower-, rain-, or stormproof mean nothing, just marketing bo**ocks. Even waterproof gear will leak at the seams eventually.

daviesee

You can't win - you WILL get wet.

Even if you buy a fully guaranteed 100% waterproof jacket you will get hot, sweaty and - wet.

Not to mention your head, hands, legs and especially feet in the rain. If it heavy rain for a long period of time, keeping warm but not hot is the best you can hope for.

shouldbeinbed

waterproof just means you'll get wet from the inside rather than the outside. boil in the bag stuff.

GyatsoLa

*tut*, shoulda bought Rapha, you'd be elegantly sweaty instead of soaking wet.

vorsprung

daviesee wrote:

You can't win - you WILL get wet.

Even if you buy a fully guaranteed 100% waterproof jacket you will get hot, sweaty and - wet.

Not to mention your head, hands, legs and especially feet in the rain. If it heavy rain for a long period of time, keeping warm but not hot is the best you can hope for.

Unless you have a Paramo

daviesee

vorsprung wrote:

daviesee wrote:

You can't win - you WILL get wet.

Even if you buy a fully guaranteed 100% waterproof jacket you will get hot, sweaty and - wet.

Not to mention your head, hands, legs and especially feet in the rain. If it heavy rain for a long period of time, keeping warm but not hot is the best you can hope for.

Unless you have a Paramo

I have a Nikwax jacket as per Paramo. Starts off brilliant. After a year of so of heavy use and washing to get oily crud spray off it loses it's effectiveness. Re-coating helps but doesn't bring it back.
I am looking for the holy grail and hope to find it but doubt I will.

Clever Pun

GyatsoLa wrote:

*tut*, shoulda bought Rapha, you'd be elegantly sweaty instead of soaking wet.

actually, I wore my Rapha waterproof today and I arrived dry on the inside... it's a really very good jacket. really pleased with it, actually breathable

Crawler2

Or get a Showers Pass softshell. I wore mine in today and arrived at work warm and dry, well from the waist up.

It ain't cheap, but quality is remembered after cost is forgotton...

bigmat

Wore my Aldi boil in bag Hi-Viz jacket today, arrived dry and warm. Shorts and shoes soaked mind.

Headhuunter

I've got a Dare 2 B lightweight windproof and shower proof jacket. It weighs nothing and packs into the back pocket of a jersey. List price was something like £40, but I got it in a sale, so it was certainly more expensive than the LIDL variety but it certainly isn't waterproof... Wore it yesterday on a sportive ride and it soaked straight through... Good against wind though...

CRAIGO5000

Endura Singletrack "splash resistant" shorts are also not so hot when it comes to repeated splashing or around 1 minute of light rain.

The guy in Evans made out they'd be alot more resistant than normal shorts, but they're not - and they were around £50. :roll:

jimmypippa

daviesee wrote:

vorsprung wrote:

daviesee wrote:

You can't win - you WILL get wet.

Even if you buy a fully guaranteed 100% waterproof jacket you will get hot, sweaty and - wet.

Not to mention your head, hands, legs and especially feet in the rain. If it heavy rain for a long period of time, keeping warm but not hot is the best you can hope for.

Unless you have a Paramo

I have a Nikwax jacket as per Paramo. Starts off brilliant. After a year of so of heavy use and washing to get oily crud spray off it loses it's effectiveness. Re-coating helps but doesn't bring it back.
I am looking for the holy grail and hope to find it but doubt I will.

Have you tried washing in normal washing powder, then in the nikwax cleaner (to remove the detergent) then with their wash in waterproofing? I did that once when my jacket got very oily and the performance reappeared.

Paramo is too warm for cycling IMO.

I still use a paramo jacket that I bought in 1992 and it still works well especially for cold wet weather whilst climbing hills quickly on foot - I just bought a more lightweight version (a smock with huge side vents) that is just about suitable for cycling - except it is all black.

The non-cycling jacket that I use is a slightly different version of this jacket:

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/clothing/jackets/product/review-paramo-velez-adventure-light-smock-09-34496



For cycling, I have compromised and have an eVent jacket, and a windproof for most situations.

cyclingpast

I had a showerproof top on yesterday evening in the downpour, worked incredibly well.


Only problem was I had it on inside out and ended up with a swimming pool inside my jacket...

Aguila

Clever Pun wrote:

GyatsoLa wrote:

*tut*, shoulda bought Rapha, you'd be elegantly sweaty instead of soaking wet.

actually, I wore my Rapha waterproof today and I arrived dry on the inside... it's a really very good jacket. really pleased with it, actually breathable

+1, the Stowaway jacket, now called wind jacket is superb. Very close to perfect balance of water resistance and breathability. I've done a 100 mile sportive in continuous rain in mine, yes I had damp arms at the end but torso toasty warm and dry. You get what you pay for.

daviesee

jimmypippa wrote:

Have you tried washing in normal washing powder, then in the nikwax cleaner (to remove the detergent) then with their wash in waterproofing? I did that once when my jacket got very oily and the performance reappeared.

Yup! Do that. Did it last week and will have to do it all again this week. Actually, I throw in and extra rinse after the normal wash. The roads up here are in terrible condition :evil: I know it is too much washing but what else can you do when you arrive home splattered?
Now it finally comes out the machine still stained and with proofing for a light shower but not rain. It is still excellent as a wind jacket, light and pocket-able so it will do.

The Rookie

Did it rain somewhere yesterday then, bright sunshine up here all day!

Simon

MichaelW

Whilst this thread has drifted onto Paramo treatment, have you tried dry-cleaning? Mine gets done about once/year, then washed in soap and nikwaxed.
The Paramo clean/reproof is more effective than home treatment. They did it after both repairs. My 10yr old jacket has been repaired twice and comes back in very good condition.

Road spray is bad for any waterproof, all the oil, diesel, rubber dust and dogdoo mix together into a mucky emulsion. Mudguards will keep all that dirt at bay.

thelawnet

Clever Pun wrote:

didn't Lidl and £10 not give you a clue it might not be up to scratch?

My £100 Altura Nightvision Evo is not waterproof either....

alfablue

wash or soak in waterproofing, like Nikwax, Grangers etc, will never make a leaking jacket waterproof. The fabric needs to be waterproof in the first place, many more sophisticated jackets (Gore, eVent etc) rely on a laminated fabric with a ptfe membrane to be waterproof and breathable. The outer surface of the fabric needs to have a Durable Water Repellent (DWR) finish to make water bead-up rather than "wetting-out" the surface. When wetted out the breathability stops and the rider gets wet (from sweat, not leaks).

So, if your jacket leaks before Nikwax, it most likely will after, and if it was intended to be waterproof, it now isn't and won't be, get a replacement (Gore are in the process of exchanging my 6th Paclite jacket - they have a lifetime guarantee).

(Windproofs also benefit from DWR but of course aren't intended to be waterproof).

daviesee

alfablue wrote:

(Gore are in the process of exchanging my 6th Paclite jacket - they have a lifetime guarantee).

That has to be the single most useful piece of information on this site :P

alfablue

daviesee wrote:

alfablue wrote:

(Gore are in the process of exchanging my 6th Paclite jacket - they have a lifetime guarantee).

That has to be the single most useful piece of information on this site :P

Well, I am not entirely happy - first I want a waterproof jacket that stays waterproof forever (the holy grail) - none seem to do this. Unfortunately, even when spending £180 on a Paclite, I still have to take a spare when on a touring holiday, as remote camping is not fun if you are cold and wet for days, and they do fail without warning.

I have tried other brands (and have an eVent as my spare, but its too warm really) but most fail even more readily (some don't work at all in heavy rain).

At least I know with Gore that I will get a replacement when this happens, I think I bought the first one about 15 years ago and have had the replacements with no extra expenditure.

Mr Sworld

Cycle nekid.... Your skin is 100% waterproof and has amazing breathability!

Clever Pun

thelawnet wrote:

Clever Pun wrote:

didn't Lidl and £10 not give you a clue it might not be up to scratch?

My £100 Altura Nightvision Evo is not waterproof either....

ouch... bad research?

jimmypippa

daviesee wrote:

jimmypippa wrote:

Have you tried washing in normal washing powder, then in the nikwax cleaner (to remove the detergent) then with their wash in waterproofing? I did that once when my jacket got very oily and the performance reappeared.

Yup! Do that. Did it last week and will have to do it all again this week. Actually, I throw in and extra rinse after the normal wash. The roads up here are in terrible condition :evil: I know it is too much washing but what else can you do when you arrive home splattered?
Now it finally comes out the machine still stained and with proofing for a light shower but not rain. It is still excellent as a wind jacket, light and pocket-able so it will do.

Ah, I guess it doesn't have their "pump liner" and it is only supposed to be windproof. Is it called something like "fuera"?

The paramo "waterproofs"* are not "light" - except possibly compared to buffalo etc "pile and pertex"


There is debate as to whether they are technically waterproof, but effectively they are, and I have been dry when people have been soaking in goretex (after about 6-hours on Cross Fell in heavy rain, sleet and snow).

MonkeyMonster

You guys have read that goretex actually needs heat to re-align the fibres after being crudded/wet/detergented. Try running it in the tumble dryer (if you have one). I do after each time I've washed mine and proofness hasn't dropped by much over the years tbh.

edhornby

the instructions for my e-vent jacket are to wash using handwash detergent and then cool iron

Kieran_Burns

edhornby wrote:

the instructions for my e-vent jacket are to wash using handwash detergent and then cool iron

iron?

Errrr..... I wash mine on a hand wash cycle and tumble dry on low heat. works a charm, the water still beads on it.