Just curious though....why do you find it hard to put on a rain shell when you need it. It takes only a few minutes to gear up at the side of the road.

Besides once you ride long enough, you can read the weather pretty good and know when you really have to stop for rain gear.

If just light drizzle I won't bother. You'd probably dry up fast.

Check the weather via app or just by looking up before you ride , If it rains when you're riding, Stop in a safe location and wear it. Also good to have is shoe cover.

the most important is plan for the unplanned, do not rush if the weather sets you back

the mentality is very important, sometimes just need to do a reality check, and don't just tunnel vision into riding towards the destination. Like jaycee1 said, sometimes all u need is a coffee break and the worst weather passes

my rain gear is stupid difficult to attach, the internal liner type.
so it's clear I do not have one suitable for quick on-off for touring purpose. Key is to get the right gear.

I know what you mean, haha... 5 seconds is enough to soak. Taiping is well known for rain.

Back to your question, I did a 600km ride with that rain liner attached, with sprinkles of rain along the way. I think keeping dry as much as possible at the destination was important. Otherwise, I don't mind getting soaked. The rain liner was not comfortable, so I zip down the jacket and that definitely helps. Was it the right choice? Given the circumstance, I think it was the right call.

There are other considerations as well, like, how cold will it get? Will it affect riding comfort and deteriorate the fatigue level?
I can ride 10+ hours a day for short weekend trips on my sports bike, so it's worth knowing how much riding mana I have.

One of the best feeling is riding dry and warm in a heavy rain, and a good quality water flinging visor. It's definitely better than riding all soaking wet, feeling cold and with almost zero vision.

Riding comfort is very important, and water proofing is one key aspects for touring.

Oh, another consideration to stop is other cars, they tend to aquaplane and... u know la.

My HJC C70 doesn't come with pinlock , so I just open a bit the visor during thunderstorm/heavy rain. so far so good, no water droplets manage to seep in and i still can see properly.

But then again I am empathetic on new riders on a budget. Not everyone can afford to drop 5k on the "right equipment."  I'm certainly not going to thumb my noses on someone that want to start on the cheaper range of equipment. One could technically get fairly well equipped with decent atuff for a budget of around 1500.

1) decent basic helmet - 500 to 600
2) riding jeans with armour - 150
3) riding jacket - 300
4) basic boots/shoes - 300
5) gloves - 100
6) good set of rain gear - 150

Total 1500. And you can upgrade from there....and the sky is the limit.

some spent all 1.5k on the helmet first...

Secondary branded jackets. Armour typically suck but they are simple to replace or upgrade. Even branded ones sometimes don't come with a back pad, you will need to buy hem separately.

But 300 bux is an alternative to nothing at all so there you go.

Benkia seems to have pretty decent gear at a fraction of the 1st tier brands.



I'm using this benkia glove. Half leather/mesh. Comfortable. Ripoff of a Revit glove. Also using a benkia rain shell set@200rm. Pretty decent for the price.

My go to app for real time weather report.
I'd check it before going on any long or short distance ride.


Since it's real time I sometime check while I'm on the bike if in front of me looked dark and rainy.
Most of the time it's accurate. Then decide if I wanna wear raincoat over the jacket.