The online weather-forecast was alarming; black clouds and three raindrops for every hour of the day across the UK. It would be a tough test for the new rain suit I had ordered from Motogirl. I had been told by them that “Our waterproofs are designed to be worn in light showers for 2-3 hours and heavy downpours for an hour”. I had chosen an all-in-one suit in the hope that there would be no rain creeping up the trousers and under the jacket soaking my clothes. Although the 210T Polyester Taffeta fabric is light and pliable, it looked sturdy and reliable enough but would I be asking too much of it to cross the country in this weather?
The 3M ™ reflective stripes and logos picked up every gleam of light as the suit hung on the coat-stand at home and once or twice had made me jump out of my skin so I had no worries about not being seen in the gloom. An early start was called for as the rain hadn’t yet started but by the time I was on the road, a steady downpour had set in but at least it wasn’t cold.
Saturday morning traffic on the M4 towards London also threw tyre-tread loads of water at me but I didn’t care; I was warm and dry. I left the motorway at the Bracknell exit, then rode through Guildford and on through what I expect was very beautiful countryside in charmingly-named places like Holmbury St.Mary and Pease Pottage. It took me six hours with one tea-stop to get to my destination at the South of England Classic Motorcycle Show, where I could assess my situation, and was grateful to not experience the dismay familiar to all motorcyclists when water seeps through the seams at the crotch. Motogirl have definitely thought about that and have reinforced that area in this suit. Considering I had been sitting in a pool of water for six hours, I didn’t feel more than a slight dampness.
The zip runs from neck to above the right knee and has proven itself thoroughly waterproof as stated by the label that was attached. The design also makes it was easy to remove the suit to the waist due to the polyester mesh lining.
I felt my jacket to see if it was wet. It was only very slightly damp and no rain had dripped inside the collar thanks to the suit’s efficient and comfortable neck-fastening. Previous small men’s size waterproof jackets left unwanted collar ventilation gaps which water always finds, causing dripping between the helmet and neck-opening but now, with clothing made for women’s shape and size, this is a thing of the past. The elasticated wrists fitted inside the cuff of my gloves with no fiddling about with Velcro so no rain got up my sleeves either. I was dry!
This otherwise perfect suit which coped remarkably well with the relentless rain and wet road conditions for so long has one design flaw. The two-piece Motogirl rain suits have a choice of leg-lengths to allow for sitting on the bike with bent knees; excess length can be turned up when off the bike. The one-piece does not come with that option and the leg-ends did not stay over my boots. The elasticated leg cuffs rode up and clung to my calves. However, I discovered towards the end of my journey that if I left them unzipped, they draped over the top, directing the rain outside rather than inside my boots. Apart from arriving with wet feet, I thought this suit did an admirable job in the most demanding of conditions, and your legs may be proportionally shorter than mine of course! I am 5’2″ and Motogirl recommended size ‘S’ which fitted very well everywhere else.
The Waterproof One Piece is available in sizes XS-XL and comes in its own bag with a strap making it easy to carry or secure to your motorcycle.
It was £69 but the current sale price is a very reasonable £55.
See Motogirl for more info and details of their two-piece waterproofs
Jacqui Furneaux
