By Chris Cameron
Outdoors NW Bicycle Commuting Editor

   Here’s some of the bicycle stuff – and tips I’ve developed – that makes my bicycle commuting and weekend jaunts more enjoyable and comfortable when riding in a Northwest downpour.

Rain Jackets
    I love local favorite Shower’s Pass Elite 2.0 ($230). This venerable article has become a NW classic among all levels of cyclists for its reliability, function, and durability. A key consideration for me is that it moves without restricting my shoulders or elbows as I move through various riding positions. It has the prerequisite “duck-ass” tail extension and I also appreciate the HVAC “pit-zips” and wide range of wrist cuff adjustments. Be sure to buy the brightest color for safety’s sake. www.showerspass.com

    Though known for their high-end road racing/training garb, the Portland-based Castelli has gone out of its way to produce beautifully made, technically superior rain jackets that I love for one reason above any others: their intelligent application of reflective elements is without peer.

    All cycling rain wear manufacturers should take note of Castelli’s attention to this critical element to see how effectively, and dare I say it, stylishly it can be done. Please look at their Londra, Dublino, and Goccia jackets and Pioggia rain pant. Not inexpensive. www.castelli-us.com

Rain Pants
    My favorite pant is offered by another Northwest outfit, Foxwear (www.foxwear.net). Its Rainpant retails for $110 and built to last with simple, meaningful function.

    For those who get too hot from fully covered legs and need to keep their thighs and knees warm on rainy rides, look at Leg Protectors ($75) from the English company Rainlegs (www.rainlegs.co.uk). I like these unconventional rain “chaps” for their minimal simplicity and notable performance.

Booties
    I never leave for a rain excursion without waterproof booties. I have grown fond of the illumiNite Bootie ($60). They are easy to pull over my road and mountain bike shoes AND they feature their proprietary material that although is colored black, shines like a beacon of safety in a vehicle’s headlight beam. www.illuminite.com

    Of all the reflective elements that make a visible difference, it’s ones located on your shoes or lower legs that have the most dramatic effect as the refection moves up and down with dramatic attention grabbing results. Sugoi’s Resistor ($40), Pearl Izumi’s AmFib ($60) and Louis Garneau’s Stop Tech ($40) are also models to look at.

    Make sure you bring your riding shoes to the store to ensure the booties easily over your footwear as well as clear your shoe’s cleat/sole configuration. I usually buy a size larger than recommended for ease of fit. Remember to tuck your pants/tights over the bootie to keep the rain cascading down your legs. www.sugoi.com, www.pearlizumi.com, www.louisgarneau.com

Socks
    Midweight wool. Period. Smartwool’s Adrenaline or Phd series ($15-20); Castelli “Cashmere” ($60).

    Ride with wool when it’s wet. Socks, glove liners and under layers will make a huge difference in comfort should you become wet under your protective outer layer. You’ve read the benefits of wool-blend active wear a million times, so I’ll sum it up here: Wool good. Plastic and cotton bad. www.smartwool.com.

Helmet Covers
    Gore Bike Wear makes a waterproof beanie to keep rain from soaking your head ($50). Some riders love them, but they hold in too much heat for me. I use a very thin “skull cap” that is used basically to cover my ears and behind booties, if you will, making riding a pleasure in cool/rainy conditions. www.gorebikewear.com

Eyewear
    I favor clear lenses for rain and yellow-tinted lenses for dusk. Unfortunately/fortunately, I have tested enough glasses over the years to know the more pricey lenses make a marked difference in optical quality for seeing what’s ahead of me.

    My two picks in protective eye wear are Rudy Project’s Noyz ($195) and Oakley’s Radar ($175). These lenses don’t distort like less expensive brands and have a hydrophobic coating that makes water bead and roll off the surface. That alone is worth the price of admission for me when it’s pouring, in traffic or at top speed. It is the clear, uninterrupted vision, after all, that keeps me out of potholes and trouble. I suggest packing a microfiber lens cloth in a zip bag to do any cleaning/drying and always slip your glasses in a protective sack to keep the delicate lenses scratch-free when not in use. www.rudyproject.com, www.oakley.com

    I also use Rain-X Original on my prescription glasses that delivers amazing moisture-shedding performance. Available at most automotive stores. Ask your optic store or sunglass manufacturer if it’s advisable for your particular lens and coating before applying Rain-X as it may not be compatible.

Bike Care
    The Rusty Golden Rule: Don’t leave a bike out in the rain. It won’t love you anymore and, just as in life...will make you pay dearly for your selfish inattentiveness. Wipe your bike down as thoroughly as possible after it is subjected to moisture.

    If you don’t do your own bike maintenance...take a course or have a friend show you the basics and progress to overhauling the whole rig. For the best bike maintenance book available, purchase Park Bicycle Tool’s Big Blue Book by Calvin Jones. It’s easy to understand and has lots of step-by-step photographs that make disassembly (and more importantly reassembly) a breeze. Bicycle maintenance is especially important for safe and efficient bicycle operations to someone who rides a bike in the rain a lot (Yes, I mean you, Outdoors NW readers!).

Bearings and Lube
    If you’re buying a new bike or are upgrading components, sealed bearings really help keep things running smoother longer. Bearing components include: wheel hubs/freehubs, bottom brackets, rear derailleur pulleys and headsets (perhaps the most rain and grit vulnerable part.)

    Look for Portland’s Chris King premium brand of rebuildable headsets, bottom bracket and hubs as well as Phil Wood’s line of legendary ultra-low maintenance, last-forever hubs and bottom brackets. Expensive initially, but they will be the last ones you buy. (I still ride my Phil bottom bracket I installed 35-years ago).

    Rain quickly strips your bike of lubrication and safe function unless you keep on top of it. Wipe oil off your chain regularly with a heavier bike lubricant like Phil’s BioLube. I hold a facecloth in my hand, grab the chain with the cloth and pedal the chain backwards after every ride. I then lightly oil the part of the chain that comes into contact with the cogs and run the chain through the cloth again. My bike always shifts well, never rusts and rarely gets mucky. Look for stainless steel/nickel chains as they are less prone to corrosion.

    Lubricate brakes and shifter cables every week or two to keep things gliding along. I give a blast of Boeshield T-9 lubricant where ever brake and shifter cables enter the outer housing/casing. Replace cables with stainless steel and not the cheap “rust magnet” galvanized versions. I also apply T-9 to my clip-in pedals and shoe cleats for predictable releasing and to abate any squeaking that inevitably ensues when the unlubed parts rub against each other.

    If any part on your bike is badly rusted (especially bolts) replace them immediately with compatible stainless steel hardware. www.chrisking.com, www.philwood.com

Fenders
    You MUST have a set of fenders. Only buy “full-coverage” models, not the half-fenders. The half fender design is to equip bicycles without enough clearance between the tire and the frame/fork for fender insertion. I will admit they are better than nothing but the good news is most good bike mechanics know how to cut full fenders in half, incorporate a Fullwood Reacharound adapter (their name, not mine) and give sport bikes the full splatter-shielding benefits of proper fenders. If you are buying a new bike, make sure you can fit a minimum of 700 X 32mm tires with proper clearance for your fenders.

    I like Axiom Gear’s 2009 line of Reflex fenders because they incorporate a permanent full-length “racing stripe” of 3M reflective tape for low-light conditions. Make sure you get the ones with the revised “classic nut/bolt attachment” and not the gray plastic screws which proved finicky. Also notable: Planet Bike’s Cascadia line. The best design feature is the fender’s mudflap that hangs closer to the road than others giving you (and those riding behind you) better rooster-tail-tagging than shorter models. For those of you with a heightened fetish of fender fashion, conduct an on-line search for “wooden bicycle fenders.” www.axiomgear.com, www.planetbike.com

Brakes
    Disk brakes for rainy conditions rule supreme. They stop just as well when wet as they do when dry. You cannot retrofit a bike with them, so if you are looking at for a new bike...begin your search with this design consideration. Should you have rim brakes, like most of us, inspect your pads frequently. Brake pads quickly become contaminated in rain conditions from lubricants and grime as well as impregnated with small metal filings that literally grind and groove your rims.

    I take a file to my pads every couple of weeks and expose a fresh layer of rubber. If I find those insidious little metal pins and can’t remove them with tweezers, I replace them.

    Kool-Stop’s Salmon Red brake pads are the color of choice for wet-weather performance.

   SwissStop’s Green and Yellow pads are also excellent choices, but are quite expensive. www.koolstop.com, www.swissstop.ch.

Tires
    Ride as wide a tire as your bike fender combination will allow and a pressure 15-25 percent lower than the recommended maximum psi molded on the tire’s sidewall. Are you like most, and pump your skinny road tires to 120-130psi? Experiment with a wider tire or lower pressure. You will go faster, be more comfortable, experience less punctures, corner and stop better as well as have better traction in the rain.

    Trust me on this one. The one-day riders on STP last year whom I “convinced” to try lower tire pressures at the start line were somewhat flabbergasted at the finish line with personal best times and less fatigue.

   Vittoria and Schwable tire companies have the best range of tires in my opinion. Vittoria offer several models with “rain-specific” compounds/treads as well as reflective sidewalls which alone is worth paying for. In a 700c road tire, I recommend a minimum width of 28mm and generally stop around 34mm. The tires will read 700 X 30mm when buying a 30mm wide tire. www.vittoria.com, www.schwalbetires.com

Carrying your stuff
    One word: Ortlieb. This German company is internationally recognized as doing one thing better than any of their competitors...keeping your stuff dry. Their bags are simple, easy to put on and take off a front or rear rack and can literally be pulled underwater without leaking. They also make a line of cycling ruksacks/messenger bags.

    The quality is pure German with close attention to functional detail and a sparse Teutonic styling. These bags are de rigueur for all you commuters and campers alike. The most popular model is the Back Roller Classic ($165). Please only buy yellow or orange for visibility sake.

Chris Cameron is a Seattle-based author and incorrigible bon vivant is most notably recognized as the former Director of Cascade Bicycle Club’s bicycle commute program. He has taught thousands of NW cyclist to use their bicycles for transportation both for work and life play. As one of the architects for WSDOT’s Green Bike Project, he recently trained 300 King County car owners to discover the joys of trading in their vehicle trips for bicycle commutes. Chris is following his life long dream and building made-to-measure hand crafted transportation and specialty bikes. Rosebud Custom Bicycles will open in Seattle Spring 2009.