Waterproof Commuting Trousers

laurentian

As the peak of summer is the best time to buy stuff for the depths of winter, does anyone have any recommendations for waterproof cycling specific over trousers?

As they are going to be used daily and get wet, dirty, oily etc etc, it seems daft to go "Full Rapha" (it always seems daft to go "Full Rapha")

Altura do some at around £40 that look OK to me but I have little experience of such things.

Any help greatly appreciated.

leskenn

Mudguards and lycra for me. Waterproof trousers would be very sweaty.

laurentian

leskenn said:

Mudguards and lycra for me. Waterproof trousers would be very sweaty.

Have mudguards on my commuting bike and lycra on me. Commute is entirely in open countryside and I have to go up and over a big hill on my way to and from work. It can get very windy and very wet up there in the middle of winter. I appreciate the "boil-in-the-bag" issues that can arise but they are perhaps preferable to freezing cold legs due to aforementioned midwinter wind and rain

daniel_b

There's no such thing (afaik) as breathable waterproof trousers.

If it were me, and it will be soon, I'd be looking at knee warmers \ leg warmers \ bib tights.

Something such as sportful no rain, castelli nanoflex stylie.

Pair the warmers with some thermal bibs and it could work really well, as in one direction it might be colder and wetter than the other, and you can shelve the warmers for one of the two journeys.

I'm sure there are many other options out there, but those ones spring to mind.

fenix

What about waterproof shorts ? Not as sweaty.

https://off.road.cc/content/buying/the-best-waterproof-mountain-bike-shorts-tested-reviewed-rated

laurentian

daniel_b said:

There's no such thing (afaik) as breathable waterproof trousers.

If it were me, and it will be soon, I'd be looking at knee warmers \ leg warmers \ bib tights.

Something such as sportful no rain, castelli nanoflex stylie.

Pair the warmers with some thermal bibs and it could work really well, as in one direction it might be colder and wetter than the other, and you can shelve the warmers for one of the two journeys.

I'm sure there are many other options out there, but those ones spring to mind.

Thanks for the above

I fully appreciate that "breathable" and "waterproof" are rarely acheivable in the same garment.

I already use knee warmers (Castelli nanoflex) and went through last winter combining those with thermal bibtights. Top half is not so much of an issue as I can combine base layer, jersey, long sleeved jersey, jacket or waterproof according to the conditions and forecast.

I suppose the problem I have with the bottom half is that, when its p155ing down on my way in, I cannot dry out the kit I ride to work in by the time I cycle home.

My thought being that waterproof overtrousers could help to keep the rest of whatever I'm wearing dry (or at least drier) for the return journey.