Commuting in the rain?

CantGetNoSleep

I know there are a lot of commuting threads recently so please excuse me

I've commuted year round by bike for five or six years & I love it - but until now I've always gone by car or public transport on the rainiest of days, but I've moved house and that option is much less convenient so this year I'm going to need to try to go by bike every day aside from if there is snow or ice. Today it was lashing but I wasn't prepared so took the car and want to try avoid doing that again (an hour of moving at snail pace among aggressive drivers beeping at each other .

My commute is about 8km through the city but quite hilly. I've used a mix of different bikes from road, a light hybrid (Canyon Commuter - shouldn't have sold it), Brompton and ebike. On dryer days & all this summer I've gotten away with not changing clothes at all - either by going a bit slower or by using an ebike, so I just wear my work clothes and have a Galibier Tourmalet jacket in case there is a bit of rain. I'd only commute with full mudguards and usually have panniers and a rack.

This morning I've noticed that there are showers and lockers in my office building (nice discovery) - so I'm trying to decide how I do it for the winter. I'm thinking either road bike and full lycra and shower / change at the office (I can leave clean clothes in a locker) - or something more along the lines of what I do now but maybe with an ebike and full wet gear over my work clothes and have clean shoes and socks at the office, or a combination of the above using wet gear and just putting on a clean shirt at work.

How do others do it over a similar distance (both in terms of bike and clothes)?

Squidgy Black

I do similar but just throw SKS raceblades on my road bike, full lycra is handy in terms of how quick they dry and you can just stick wet gear over them if the weathers really bad, but most of the time I don’t bother with bibs and just wear those quick dry running shorts.

I normally just carry laptop, microfibre towel, t-shirt and jeans plus jocks and socks in a backpack, pair of runners in the office and toiletries etc.

Means regardless of the weather you’re always able to just hop in a warm shower and put clean dry clothes on at the end.

Ferris

I commute 16km each way on an ebike. In cold weather i get away with office slacks and a light cycling jacket. With gloves / helmet I rarely get cold. I pack lycra and wear that based on the weather.

Maybe you can agree a hybrid working arrangement with work if the weather is going to be really bad? Other than that you can just use a taxi on the bad days. I have the 1st arrangement but use it sparingly. This has allowed me to rid myself of the my car permanently which has been great on an number of levels.

eeeee

20k each way commute. Track bike and raceblades and lycra for me, backpack with rain cover. Change when I get in and kit is dry by the end of the day.

Over shoes are a must though, wet shoes are 0 fun!

Kind of bike doesn't matter, as long as it has mudguards you'll be grand. Snow is also grand to cycle in, but again if you have the right kit you're fine. Once you keep warm and you can see (and it's not icy, I won't pedal on ice) weather doesn't really matter, particularly rain. Wind however, wind is a pita, makes things colder and slower!

Merino base layers and jerseys underneath a showerproof layer and good gloves, with over shoes will see ya through the worst weather.

07Lapierre

8k wont take that long (1/2 an hour with traffic/traffic lights?), So you only need dry weather for this time each morning. Doesn't really matter it it rains on your way home does it?

Plastik

23km each way from Bray to D2, generally about 50 min all-in. Road bike, full length proper mudguards, lycra. Pre-covid doing it 5 days a week I'd bring in fresh gear in a backpack once/twice a week. Bring gear in, leave it in work, travel as many other days as possible without the backpack until it's needed again. Invested in a top of the range rain-jacket - Gore Shakedry. Really, it's not needed all that regularly but when it is, it's a godsend.