Rain season in Japan begins around June til’ late July. I always use the Fairweather Rain Ponchos to commute in the rain.
I fortunately see a lot of cyclists around the neighborhood using the Fairweather Ponchos as well, but most of the people are riding without fenders. I always think that it would make a huge difference if they had fenders on their bike.
Yes, I understand that some people do not like how fenders look, but I want show you how much of a difference it makes.
I be the guinea pig for this experiment. I will compare how wet my pants will get, by riding a bike with full fenders and a bike without fenders on my 25 minute commute.
Here’s what my pants looked like after riding without fenders.
The knee down is soaked and the butt area is just a disaster. I had my poncho on as always, so my upper body wasn’t as wet, but the lower body was completely soaked in rain.
Now let’s look at the damage from riding a fender bike.
Look at the difference. It only gets wet around the hem. If you roll up the hem below the knee and wear sandals (or boots if it’s cold), you’ll be totally fine.
The reason why the buttocks is wet is because I got off the bike once and sat on a wet saddle. If I went straight to work, it would’ve been dry.
I won’t lie, I was a bit surprised by how much water splashes from the front tire though. I think mud flaps would clear this issue.
I hope this’ll make some of you like full fenders.
