Preferring to cycle in the rain/overcast

[Ming the Merciless]

A bike with mudguards and decent clothing and rain poses no barrier to riding. Doesn't affect traffic on my routes either as I favour quiet lanes that see little of the motorised variety.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

All my bikes are fitted with mudguards. I would never buy any frame that didn't have generous clearance for mudguards and wider tyres.

All of mine have the mounting points and at least some mudguard clearance, but neither of my drop bar bikes actually have them fitted, and nor do a couple of my MTB's. I don't see much benefit to fitting them to bikes that I have no intention of riding in the rain on. Conventional full mudguards are easily damaged by objects jamming in them, and they also can add a bit of a buzz/rattle factor where they vibrate and generate noise on what might otherwise be an almost silent ride.
My hybrids have factory-fitted mudguards, and they also have hefty 35/38 mm Schwalbes fitted so they have a somewhat different, and more utilitarian, feel to that of either my MTB's or drop bar machines. If I suspect it might rain before I finish a ride, I generally take a bike out with mudguards - and hope I don't need them. If it's actually raining when I stick my head out of the front door, I normally forget about riding on that occasion and go and find something else to amuse myself with instead. Riding in the rain doesn't make me feel virtuous for having done it, it just makes me rather grumpy and bad tempered, in direct proportion to how cold and wet I get.

 

[Blue Hills]

I ride mainly on suburban roads which are busier with cars when wet as people would rather drive than ride. What annoys me most about a really wet ride is muddy silt that accumulates in your shoes and socks meaning you have to wash them rather than just drying them. So no I don't like the rain and will drive to work if it's pissing it down.

You don't normally wash your socks?

 

[Blue Hills]

The best part of going out in horrible weather is when you get home again.

“To enjoy bodily warmth, some small part of you must be cold, for there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself. If you flatter yourself that you are all over comfortable, and have been so a long time, then you cannot be said to be comfortable any more. [...] For the height of this sort of deliciousness is to have nothing but the blanket between you and your snugness and the cold of the outer air. Then there you lie like the one warm spark in the heart of an arctic crystal.” - Herman Melville, Moby Dick

You also get to feel obnoxiously smug about going out while others cry off.

Nice thoughts. Lots of truth in it.
But just checking that that's not the whale speaking?

Me - have had some nice rides in rain, one recently in the dales.

 

[Banjo]

The only weather event am really scared of is a low blinding sun. If I am struggling to see then drivers peering through grimy windscreens have no chance.Cant allways be avoided but if I can avoid it by going earlier or later then I will.

 

[ianrauk]

The only weather event am really scared of is a low blinding sun. If I am struggling to see then drivers peering through grimy windscreens have no chance.Cant allways be avoided but if I can avoid it by going earlier or later then I will.

It was actually quite terrible on the commute this morning.
One of the worst coming together with a metal box I have had was due to low blinding sun.

 

[Andy in Germany]

I go out in all weathers, but then I'm kind of honour bound as a tree hugging car-free hippy: complaining about the rain on a bike would go against most of the lifestyle decisions I've made.

I generally enjoy it too: I like the sound of rain and the empty roads. That said, I do have the option to travel on public transport when it gets really nasty, and on most routes I barely touch a busy road and only have to use residential roads occasionally.

I don't like having a mucky bike though, so I have been known to clean it in the pouring rain, much to the bemusement of the neighbours.

 

[EasyPeez]

I mostly enjoy riding in rain, unless it's really cold. Or at least I do if I'm on a borrowed bike. On my own bike I can't enjoy it for fretting about all the water and filth getting into the bearings and transmission.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

. On my own bike I can't enjoy it for fretting about all the water and filth getting into the bearings and transmission.

That's what hub geared 3-speeds are for. Ride them in the rain, leave them parked outside in the rain. Don't even bother to wash them. So long as the chain and cables gets the odd squirt of oil they will run for years like that with virtually no attention.

 

[Andy in Germany]

That's what hub geared 3-speeds are for. Ride them in the rain, leave them parked outside in the rain. Don't even bother to wash them. So long as the chain and cables gets the odd squirt of oil they will run for years like that with virtually no attention.

They're a pig on our hills though.

 

[rivers]

I don't mind the rain. But i hate the wind

 

[Andy in Germany]

I don't mind the rain. But i hate the wind

This, in spades.

 

[HLaB]

It was actually quite terrible on the commute this morning.
One of the worst coming together with a metal box I have had was due to low blinding sun.

I hope it wasn't too bad. I was lucky (if you can call it luck) when it happened to me the blinded driver's (muppet's) car clipped my bars and being on the fixed I was unable to hold it and ended up in a ditch. A sore calf was about the limits of my injuries and the bike faired OK.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Moderate rain doesn't bother me at all. Heavy rain just means I'll put waterproofs on.

If it's combined with cold I need to dress up a bit more but I'll probably still go out, unless it's very very cold plus maybe windy.

I don't get much time to go out cycling so if I have a ride scheduled it takes a lot to stop me.

 

[recumbentpanda]

Bad weather always looks worse from indoors.

-I’ll get my (over) coat . . .