From suggestions on here combined with my own experience the options do tend to fall into 2 camps for me depending on how far I've got to go and how bad the weather is:
1. Light rain and not going too far - decent regular cycling gear. As others have said, proper stuff will get wet but your body heat will keep the worst of it away from your skin, so you won't feel all soggy, cold and horrible. And it dries quick so hang it up and it'll all be dry by the time you finish work or start the next days riding or whathaveyou.
2. Heavier rain and/or over distance - really f***ing expensive waterproof gear. Not the cheap stuff as you'll get wetter from boiling in sweat than from the rain. The hotter you get, the more you have to spend. I dropped £120-odd on the slightly amusingly named Gore 'Ultrapants' over light leggings. Only have a basic-ish Evans-noob-special Altura night vision jacket but that is totally waterproof and reasonably breathable - one day I may drop £100+ on a fancy rain jacket.
1. Light rain and not going too far - decent regular cycling gear. As others have said, proper stuff will get wet but your body heat will keep the worst of it away from your skin, so you won't feel all soggy, cold and horrible. And it dries quick so hang it up and it'll all be dry by the time you finish work or start the next days riding or whathaveyou.
2. Heavier rain and/or over distance - really f***ing expensive waterproof gear. Not the cheap stuff as you'll get wetter from boiling in sweat than from the rain. The hotter you get, the more you have to spend. I dropped £120-odd on the slightly amusingly named Gore 'Ultrapants' over light leggings. Only have a basic-ish Evans-noob-special Altura night vision jacket but that is totally waterproof and reasonably breathable - one day I may drop £100+ on a fancy rain jacket.
