I live just a couple of degrees of the equator, its hot all year daytime temps are 28-34 C, nights is 4 or 5 degrees off that. It's never cold. When it rains, well its like nothing most of you will have seen, but in general rain is over with quickly and then everything drys off quickly. I wear armoured jeans on the bottom. A the moment I have a partial mesh jacket, and when it rains I put a rain suit over it. So I'm looking for something that will keep me cool and a lightwiegh rain jacket and pants. Any ideas fot regularly wet and hot rides?
long sleeve ld comfort shirt. ldcomfort.com i will never wear anything else, now that I know I survived 39 C, with its cooling abilities when wet.
I find BMW carbon black trousers and an Rjays mesh jacket the best in above 35C, soak 'em in the pool before I leave and hose myself at every petrol stop, or earlier as required. I pulled up one real hot day in Cardwell, north QLD, saw the servo owner hosing the concrete, asked him whether he'd be in a shit stir and he agreed. I fuelled the bike went inside to pay for the fuel, came out and started to abuse the owner (in front of heaps of tourist's) about what a theivin' bastard he was! He responded with similar abuse and hosed me down, the response from the bystanders cracked us both up and I rode away laughin' me head off...and cool!
I live close by in Singapore. Started with Motoport Kevlar mesh jacket and pants. Kept me nice and cool. When it rains I put on the liner and that kept me dry. Problem is I gotta stop and put that liner on. So now I use a BMW street guard jacket and pants. A little warm sometimes buy no more worries about rain. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks for all the input, I will start hunting in January when I next travel to land where my size is easier to get...
Hi deaninkl, I live just -6 degrees south of the equator, in Jakarta, Indonesia so we pretty much ride in the same climate. I commute every day on my bike and, out of several jackets that I have, the jacket that is the most comfortable to wear is a mesh jacket. I wear a Dainese Air Frame jacket or a Levi's trucker jacket and forcefield strap-on arm protector. The mesh jacket still feels warm when stopping in traffic light (the jeans jacket is hotter) but once moving, even in a slow stop-and-go traffic jam, the mesh works and it's cold. But I only wear the mesh jacket for commuting. For weekend rides or long rides, I wear my Alpinestars perforated leather jacket. As for pants, I wear office pants with forcefield strap-on knee protector and on weekend I just wear my jeans. Now, rain gear. I hate rain gear when commuting. It makes it really hot in a stop-and-go traffic. So I only wear the rain pants and leave the upper (rain jacket) at home. I carry a shirt in a tail bag and I always change in the office, so if it rains and I get wet, it doesn't really matter, I always change in the office anyway.
For daily riding in North Thailand I wear a BMW AirFlow 3 jacket, upgraded with Forcefield forearm and back armour, zipped to Motoport Cordura jeans. Underneath, a synthetic athletics shirt copes with the humidity without getting clammy. Much better than a cotton T-shirt. The Motoport Cordura jeans are very comfortable. If I ordered them again, I would ask for stirrups to stop the legs from riding up in a slide. I keep a fluorescent yellow plastic over-cape on the bike for rain, and wear TCX touring boots. Gloves are a problem since leather gloves that are ventilated for hot weather tend to deteriorate badly when wet. That said, a pair of Spada Air-something gloves has lasted about two years. I have ordered some Velocity Gear Exhibition Pro´s. For special occasions, such as a blast over the mountains in the early morning, I wear a semi-perforated BKS leather suit with perforated Oxtar boots. But by 11am it is too hot to wear.
I lived in Singapore for 10 years. I found that mesh jackets worked best, but I also used a Hein Gericke Air jacket: not mesh, better protection, but very good ventilation. I preferred it to mesh, except in heavy traffic. I also had Clover pants which had some panels in mesh, and liked it a lot. To stay dry in an equatorial rainstorm, nothing beats RS Taichi Drymaster rain gear. It is made of a high-tech, lightweight material which keeps the rain out, but it is breathable and won't leave you sweating like a pig within minutes.
Bump re-initialing this conversation. Old gear worn out. Trying to figure out what's available for tropical rain forest daily MC Gear that: A) keeps you warm in higher elevations where the temperature is normally in the 50s at night (cause that's where home is). Temp range 90 to 55. B) keeps you dry (for the most part) in a rain forest that averages 260+ inches of rain per year - a lot of constant inundation and monsoon deluge rain as well being up in the cloud forest. c) doesn't require that you stop and pull a shell out of your pack to put over your jacket, as the rain is a daily and sometimes multi-times daily (multi-times an hour) condition. d) is adequately armored so that it actually will protect you in the event of an unfortunate lay down and is meant to be used on all your riding adventures. Anyone have any thoughts?
