i might be commuting into town year round on the bike soon, interested to know what you guys & gals do with your stuff?
What do you do with wet stuff at work?
have you got somewhere speacial to put it?
Any good tips for drying it out?
Where do you put it at home to dry it out?
Do you have more than one set of wet bike gear?
Any good tricks of the trade?
Hi mate
I commute 100 miles a day, all year round
One of the best things (apart from sliced bread) is a ‘dry sack’ You can keep clothes, socks etc that you want to keep dry.
I’ve recently fitted oxford heated grips and i can highly recommend them. When your hands get wet, they at least stay warm.
As far as drying stuff out goes, i have a woodburning stove that dries most things overnight.:w00t:
I work in a different office most days which can be a problem when trying to dry wet gear but most places have somewhere I can hang my gear to dry out, even if its in the toilet if its dripping wet. Once it’s got past the dripping stage hanging it in the office off the back of the chair or coat stand normally means it’s dry by the time I go home.
I would say my current gear made by Rev’it dries a lot quicker than my old stuff used to.
At Work I can hang my stuff up near the aircone unit so it dries out rather quickly. Good thing is that it is fully waterproof too, which is sooooo nice.
At home I hang it up near the radiator, and it is all usually dry by morning.
Buy Goretex, then you just need to let the water drip off…
Get friendly with building maintenance, so you can hang your stuff in/near the plenum (?) room at work…
(loads of air circulating there)
Hang it in boiler cupboard at home or over a towel…
Decent boots and gloves may feel a bit damp after a heavy downpour…but I found this is usually the cold feeling, rather than leaking etc. (Goretex again)
Stuff them with newspaper and change it after a couple of hours.
(I’ve got some reusable dryers that I’ve had for years, for boots and gloves
that you warm up in the microwave…like a small bean bag, will see if I can find the details:
DryZone.)
I use dianese gear and it’s great!
if I leave my aircon unit on at the end of the day it starts at 7 and for some reason is pumping out at 50-60 deg when I come in. great for warming up shoes and drying gloves.
as for the rest of my gear, it gets hung on a hatstand and put near the aircon too.
The worst thing you can do is put your stuff too near a scource of heat to dry off.
You need to let it dry out reasonably slowly and naturally to avoid damage.
This is especially true for leathers - keep well away from radiators.
A constant flow of warm dry air is the best thing - air cons are fine although the air can sometimes be a bit too cold to be very effective, but still better than nothing.
The best advice I can give is to try and not let you’r main gear get wet in the first place - best thing to get is a decent oversuit. They are only a few quid, look a bit crap but keep your main gear dry. If water does get past its only going to be on the surface and will dry off in no time at work. Also they pack away nice and small for when the weather is ok.
Gloves are the worst as in my experience no glove is 100% waterproof - if anyone has found one please let me know :w00t:
My Rukka Mars are 100% waterproof as far as I can tell. They’re not warm, though. And the first pair I had leaked (these are a warranty replacement pair).
At work I hang my stuff on the side of the server rack to dry (once it’s stopped dripping) and it’s normally wearably dry by the time I leave to go home again.
At home if it’s only me, over the back of a chair with a fan blowing on it to dry it. But there’s normally three or four sets of kit to dry, so we get a fire going to warm us up, and hang the clothes at the other side of the room. Plenty of warm air movement, but it’s really not that warm where they are.
Plan is to get a second set of stuff, but I can’t afford it yet…
i wear my leathers and have a waterproof oversuite, nothing really needs to dry out then. works a treat!
Totally chucked it down this morning for my journey in. Got to work, oversuit wet but main jacket and trousers still bone dry
Its just part of biking aint it but you can make it all alot more bareable in the right way…
The over suit sounds a good plan, i have one of those horrid rubber/plastic rompersuit things somewhere, over the top of the gortex to stop that gettin drenched…
nice
I have Alpinestar Jet Road Goretex and recently bought some Oxford Hybrid Bone Dry
and both have been 100% waterproof.
I always carry a second set of gloves just in case the morning pair are still damp when it comes to going home time.
+1
just take an umbrella!!
:w00t:
seriously tho goretex is the way to go… i never wear waterproofs over them and i just let them hung to dry near (but not too close) to a radiator.
Yeah, Goretex jacket and trousers and gloves if you’ve got the budget. Heated Grips 
Pinlock or HyperOptiks in your visor, Sport touring tyres.
Slip and slide your way into work on a Monday morning. Walk into the office drippin all the way to your desk, strip off the overgear, splashing everyone, hang it all up, job done Surf internet, stand round chatting and clockwatch till hometime, put on damp gear (but dry inside) go home faster than anyone else, hang up stuff in the kitchen on the clothes airer. Repeat 4 times and its the weekend
Perfect
£30 oversuit from J&S Accessories was one of the best things I bought a couple of years ago.
Apart from that, I find putting newspaper inside wet gloves and boots help dry it out (again, keep it away from radiators, the leather will crack). If they’re very wet, just remember to replace the newspaper after an hour or something.
Lastly, get a second pair of winter gloves for the day after those very wet days, or get used to putting on damp gloves in the morning
makes sense, ive got a couple of pairs of leather gloves, always take a spare pair to track days. I’ll have to go shopping for some more winter ones…
When I did commute I got tired of the jacket being constantly damp when it rained all week. Never had the problem when I switch to a Rukka Armadillo jacket. The Goretex is bonded to the outer shell which results in far less water soaking into the jacket. Plus just hanging on the back of the chair it would be dry by lunch time.
