This might be blatantly obvious but it made sense of things I have noticed before but never really thought about.

I had a chat with a guy from Halvarssons the other day and about "breathable" materials like Gortex and how they can work against you if you don't use them in the right way.

1. Base layer
2. Heat

1. If you wear a cotton base layer, you have already lost. It will absorb and trap moisture against you, making you wet and cold and stopping the breathable stuff from doing its job. Wear wool or man-made fibres.
(cotton is great under a mesh jacket for staying cool on hot days though)

Wearing too many clothes can be a problem too, if the inside of your jacket is well insulated from your body and doesn't get warm the membrane might transmit moisture from the outside to the inside

2. This heat business is important because the membrane tries to send moisture from the humid side to the less humid side. If it is wet and you turn on your (posh bike's) heated grips and/or seat the membrane starts to work in reverse. The warm, wet "armpit" atmosphere is now on the outside and it sends moisture to the cooler less humid inside

So I'm still cold wet and miserable but at least now I know why

cheers for th imfo mark, but I find after 35 years of riding, to -1, shove some old newspapers down the front of your jacket, -2, wear 2 pairs of "yizzers" to keep your bollox insulated, not forgetting to smear your crack with sudacrem to stop "chapped arse syndrome". -3, put on your 20 year old soiled thermal army issue trollies, they should have been binned years ago, but youve done that many winter miles in them, they are a kind of a good luck charm, finished off with a pair of orange welding gloves to keep your mitts warm, and thats it. Theres no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.

I defer to your superior bollock husbandry

I've never splashed out on Gore Tex clothing. I guess its fine if you are touring and want one set of clothing to be able to handle everything.

I have a variety of jackets, supplemented by a variety of thermal mid layers (otherwise known as woollys) as required! I always think the best way to keep rain out is the old fashioned plastic rain jackets and over trousers.

As for the winter, I've recently acquired a brilliant Weise cordura jacket that is really warm - and of course, heated jackets are wonderful...

horobags wrote: -2, wear 2 pairs of "yizzers" to keep your bollox insulated, not forgetting to smear your crack with sudacrem to stop "chapped arse syndrome". -

This is what you need Mark!
Full instructions included.
Hot item!

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Yamaha-TMAX-500- ... 4155184d13

if I had a heated seat, Liam, I'd shit myself about five times before we got to kent (the ugly bunch normandy trip),

Bluebottle wrote:Wear wool or man-made fibres.

i was under the impression natural (plant) fibres usually (there almost always being exceptions) breathed better than synthetics?

However i quite like gortex bike clothes.
I'm not as experienced as some here at what to wear, but the convenience of needing less layers, and a more moderate temperature is handy, as is the CE approved armour they typically have everywhere. Like at the Bert's tea hut, i just had a t-shirt plus my jacket (with it's thermal wind-stopper liner), trousers with no liner and wasnt cold at all. in summer yank out the liner, and it's cool enough until the temp gets over 25.

I started off getting gortex gloves (Rukka Mars), as i'd been thru three pairs of cheap gloves, and messing about with inners, overs and fat winter gloves is tiresome. My fingers get cold real easy too, so winter commuting in cold rain felt kinda dangerous when i'd start to lose proper feeling - hence my first purchase.
As i was impressed at how well the gloves did, after than i got trousers (Rukka Armadillos?), to mostly fix the problem is sitting in a puddle of water, and dunking your testicles in it each bump.
Last got my jacket (Hein Gericke master V) which meant a much easier late-for-work-and-just-pull-on-one-thing solution.

I guess you can pay quite a premium for goretex stuff, but all of mine i've bought on sale (end of line, as next years model comes out), and being premium to start with the build quality is very good. All the niggles i used to have in say Frank Thomas jackets disappeared: no little gaps where wind gets in, no leaks when it rains, stuff in pockets stays dry, good customisable fit means it's easier to move and walk in. As part of yearly/lifetime costs, and compared to paying for tube/train tickets, the price is minor (it's easily all been cheaper compare to total train costs would have been). Lastly, in the hope being dry and warm, if it makes me 1% more alert to dangers or protects 1% better in a crash than cheap stuff, then i dont mind paying But yes, realise why many see it as unneeded or overpriced

If you want to keep your hands warm, the best purchase is actually a heated vest.

No, I'm not joking. And it will help keep your feet warm too!

Far better than heated grips.

The best way to keep warm is to say in the house or go in the car

funnily enough meldrey, I remember a couple of years ago going for a ful day ride out, a lovely summer day, all around north yorks, a perfect day apart from the seams in me undies drove me mad, I ended up with a sore arse, you wouldn't believe a clothing seam could give so much bother. I started wearing my "mark spitz" looka- like swimming trunks after that. Problem solved.