Product Testing - Bike Touring PA style

We test our gear on a variety of levels. Our athletes and ambassadors are responsible for putting the latest designs and fabrics through the paces before we'll add a new product to our lineup. But just because something reaches our shelves doesn't mean testing is over. Once a new item shows up in our catalogs, our Customer Service staff gets busy ground-truthing the latest offerings. They know the questions our customers will be asking, and turn that attention to our gear.
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Product Report  -  Spraymaster Jacket, Wool 2, Lightweight Endurance Ankle Socks, and MLC Wheelie
Activity -  Bike Touring, Bound for Cheesesteaks in Happy Valley
Tested by -  Chia (yes, like the pet) S., Patagonia Customer Service

It all started with a bluebird morning on Wednesday the 3rd. I had an early flight to catch and still had a few last-minute things to stuff into my luggage. But the first order of business was to flip open the laptop and double-check the weather. I was especially interested in the weather back east, as there was some hurricane activity brewing and I wanted to know if I was gonna be stuck testing gear in an airport somewhere between Reno and Philadelphia. Hurricane Hanna(H) was creeping along the Atlantic but she seemed far enough off the coast that I was confident I would not have any weather delays.   

The plan was to get to Pennsylvania and meet up with my good friend Gym (yes, I spelled it right), drive to Gettysburg for a 3-day bike tour back to his house in Happy Valley, eat the best cheesesteak on the planet, and then catch an afternoon flight back to the BLC, all while trying to avoid hurricanes Hanna and Ike. 

The Gear.  Alright, with the mix of weather that I could possibly come across, I grabbed a bunch of gear before I left and layed it out across the floor and started to narrow down. The first thing I grabbed was a Spraymaster Jacket. It's light, waterproof, stretchy, and it would hardly take up any space in my bike panniers. I then reached for socks. I decided to take a few pair of the Lightweight Endurance Ankle Socks. A little heavier than a typical cycling sock, but I was thinking maybe a little more comfort with the amount of time I'd be in my cycling shoes. I then grabbed a set of Wool 2 Top & Bottoms just in case it cooled down at night. Also, if I was gonna be cycling in the rain, the wool would still keep me warm and not absorb any body odor. The last thing I grabbed was the MLC Wheelie; though unsure I'd even be using any of the above items, I would definitely be using this at the airport. 

Our first 2 days were sunny and hot with no hints of hurricane Hanna and we found ourselves using sunblock and refueling with bottles of water, gatorade, eating jellybelly sport beans, and I was stockpiling up on Macintosh apples from the fruit stands we would randomly pass. Sure enough, it didn't last. Around midnight on the second night we were awoken by the taps of water droplets hitting the rain fly. I expected to be biking in the rain all the way back to Gym's house on the last day, and welcomed the chance to try out the Spraymaster Jacket. If nothing else, the rain was keeping the temps down a few degrees. By the time we had packed up camp and hopped on the saddle the rain had pretty much stopped, it sprinkled here and there and stayed overcast. What we were not prepared for as we approached Happy Valley was the Penn State traffic on game day. 

As for the gear, I was happy with my choice on the socks, they dried quickly when draped over the bike at camp. I cycle with the Spraymaster Jacket in the cooler months in Reno almost daily, but I have yet to really use it in foul weather. The hood would fit tight over some bike helmets, but the length and stretch of the jacket make it a great choice for cycling. The wool baselayer is always a favorite in the winter for snowboarding for me, it stays stink-free and is extremely warm for how lightweight it is. That was the case for this trip, I threw the wool on at camp the first night, but it was a bit too warm to keep on. As for the MLC Wheelie, I stuffed that thing full of crap, made the zippers bulge and it still fit fine in the overhead bins on the plane, my shorter flight back I actually stuffed it underneath the seat in front of me.  My only complaint would be with the telescopic handle. You can lock it out at a couple different lengths, but it wiggles and just never really felt durable. Also, with it being a single pole handle, you are unable to wheel the bag across the airport and piggyback another bag on top of it. 

All in all, everything I had with me worked well, including a sample top I had of ours, and for some reason we decided not to put it into production. As for Gym, he decided to do the whole trip on a comfort bike, carried beer the whole way, refused to let me carry part of the tent that he let me sleep in, mapped out the ride, and navigated us home safely.

[All trip photos: Chia Snyder]

Comments

[Skot Nelson]

Interesting choices. Wool base layers are definitely my favourite for cycling, and just about everything else. I kayaked for 6 days, it rained for 4: I wore the one piece of wool I took the whole time. I also commute daily to work by bike in the rainy pacific northwest. On a 10 mile commute each way, wool is the way to go.

The Spraymaster jacket doesn't have a tail: fenders are better than a tail anyway. I've never had a jacket with a tail that did any good.

It also seems to have almost no reflective material. My light weight rain jacket is a Patagonia Velocity shell that's over a decade old: it also has no reflective material. Cycling stuff with no reflective material makes no sense.

I can't tell from the photo whether the sleeves have velcro tabs. Neither one of my cycling jackets have them anymore, and I find it's much easier on the bike when you stretch out. Fasten that velcro wrong and you pull the sleeves.

I find hoods get in the way cycling, and a helmet cover would be a better choice (or simply a skull cap: if I didn't already have one, I'd be buying this the Lightweight Alpine Beanie.)

I wear a Sugoi Defiant once the heavy rain sets in: they've stopped making it. It's by far the best cycling jacket I've ever had. By far.

The socks you chose are a good choice. If I didn't already have a collection of wool cycling socks, I'd buy them.

Nice to see some cycling info though. Next year, I'm planning on cycling the California coast. See you in Ventura!

[Darcy McGee]

For a great example of creative integration of reflective material into everyday clothes see this:
http://www.cordarounds.com/

for any clothing to be more cycling friendly, it needs to include reflective material.

[jenn]

I live in Portland Oregon and I ride every day to work in the rainy months, wearing the Spraymaster jacket. Personally, I love how it's lightweight, layers, is "stretchy" and breathes well. While it doesn't have a "tail", it is slightly longer in the back; which makes it nice for cycling. Not only does it keep some extra rain out, but also it keeps everyone from seeing my underwear (a pretty important factor). Also, I wouldn't recommend using the hood over a helmet as it cuts down peripheral vision, just accept the fact your head is going to get wet when it rains. In regards to reflective material, true... it doesn't have any, but I've purchased reflective tape that you can stick to anything to make it more reflective. Also, buy the coat in a lighter shade and make sure you use some blinky lights after dark.

Interesting. I've been commuting and running in my Spray Master for a few years now and, I gotta say, I'm pretty unhappy with the shoddy water repellence and breathability.

The jacket "wets out" real quick even in light rain. I hoped Nik Wix would solve the problem but there was little or no improvement. And, it's breathability is so poor the condensation builds up and runs down the inside of the sleeves, wetting out the cuffs from the inside! I should really just send the Spray Master back.

I ended up getting up a Houdini jacket to fill its place. I'd recommend that brilliantly designed jacket to anyone.

[lowellbellew]

I'd like to echo Skot's point on availability of reflective gear.

I just got back from riding along the lake front here in Chicago on a fantastic autumn day. I rocked the wool 2 (again, echoing the existing comments about wool - L.O.V.E. it -- bummed that the wool 3 T disappeared - by far my favorite T.

Over the wool, I'm rocking the wind track jacket, another store favorite for Chicago cyclists/gearheads. I love this piece, too (and I don't take the term lightly. However, I stopped at the new REI in town to see if anyone had come up with one innovation that would make the piece (and many, many other pieces) better, in my opinion: a waterproofed pocket. To clarify, the wind track has two very important chest pockets. I carry a phone in one of those pockets. when I move, as with 99%+ of the population, I sweat. This sweat then builds up on the electronics in my chest pocket: bummer.

Another solution would be to add a small-of-the-back pocket to... well, to any of your nordic / velocity line garments -- it's a sorely missed feature, and would be unique to the industry, so far as everyone at REI seems to know.

I don't see a more appropriate place for product innovation feedback, so please let me know if I should be directing this kind of suggestion elsewhere. Would it be better to file a provisional patent and contact the Design team?

CPF&A
JLB

[localcrew]

JLB, thanks for the kind words, observations, and recommendations. I can't speak for our designers, but I can speculate some of the reasons you don't see such a feature on more of our garments.

Reason #1 would have to do with construction. Waterproof and non-waterproof fabrics have highly differing degrees of dynamic stretch. Whenever you try to sew these together, a slew of production and engineering challenges are created. Each fabric uses different tools and procedures. A second hurdle is durability. Sewing a non-stretch fabric to a piece of high-stretch material virtually guarantees seam failure.

Reason #2 is a little more pointy-headed. , In my own experience, I've noticed regarless of which jacket I'm wearing (100% waterproof or no), the pocket almost always gets damp during exertion. The more humid the environment, the more likely this is to happen. If the air that gets into the pocket is damp, the temperature differential within the pocket (between the body-side and the exterior side) can cause the water in the damp air within the pocket to condense out.

Also, it's almost impossible to prevent moisture from entering your pocket using most modern fabrics. Virtually all waterproof fabrics used in high quality outerwear are also breathable. If they weren't, they would feel like trash bags. These fabrics qualify as "breathable" when they permit perspiration in the form of water vapor to pass through them. What this means is that you're pushing the water off of your skin, through whatever clothing you're wearing. In this case, through the back (body) side of the waterproof fabric and into the pocket. The water pushed off your skin and into the pocket, then needs to clear one more layer of waterproof fabric (the exterior layer). This moisture transport requires a substantial heat differential in order to work properly; what manufacturers refer to as "driving force." This is the difference between your body temp and outside air. Waterproof-breathables work best when this differential is high (say, a skin temp of over 90 degrees and an outdoor temp of 30) and the fabric is thin.

Each successive layer of waterproof breathable fabric requires an increase in the required driving force needed to push water vapor to the exterior of the jacket. The presence of an item in your pocket also expands its volume, allowing additional air (a superior insulator) into the pocket. It seems insignificant, but it's enough to "short-circuit" the driving force you've created. Those little droplets of water vapor you've worked so hard to wick off your skin, push through your baselayer, and then cram through the inside of your garment reach that pocket, pass through its interior, and then encounter an impassable wall. Either the droplets have grown too big, the temperature differential too weak, or both, but the moisture begins to condense and voilà! damp inner pocket.

Hope this explanation helps a bit.
cheers,
localcrew