Getting up this morning, I was surprised to see that the weather was overcast and that the rain that had started the night before had not let up. It wasn’t a stormy kind of rain, it was more of a persistent drizzle the one, I knew, I was going to enjoy riding in.

Call me crazy or a bit off the rocker, but I truly enjoy riding my Vespa in the rain. Anyone who has felt the the icy fingers of water slowly crawling down your back to your backside that eventually drenches your undies..in totality…will know what a different feeling it is. Given that life changing experience and the fact that I had to go to the office with relatively dry underwear, I had to dust off my trusty rain gear and see if it survived storage. FYI, I have two sets of raingear. One set permanently resides in my Vespas’ glove box, rain or shine, summer or rainy season. This is the cheap, SM Shoemart Poncho, a really thick piece of work which works perfectly well in ordinary rainy days and is the most convenient one to wear. Take off your helmet slip it on and your good to go. Travelling at high speed wearing this poncho is not advisable. I had the misfortune of having to wear this poncho on our ride home from La Union…..in the middle of a storm……in the North Luzon Expressway. I’m pretty sure I was a sight to behold. A zipping white Vespa travelling at around 100-110kph with what looks like a really big blue kite powering its every movement. Talk about drag……..eventually made it home, none the worst for wear. But it’s cheap and it works. Nuff said!

The other set I have is the “Touring” set. It’s composed of the Suomy rainjacket which I got from the now defunct Dreambikes for less than 2k. It’s a really good rain jacket. Double lined plastic with velcro straps all over. Textile lining around the neck to prevent chaffing. Really tight garter around the mid body to minimize the ballooning, which the poncho does so well to promote. It’s pretty water tight, but there are a few drops that go through the stiches of the Suomy patch. It’s an inconvenience compared to what can happen to you in the middle of a really bad Philippine storm. The lower half of this set is something I got from a friend, really chep too. I don’t know where it was inteded to be used but, heck it works perfect for riding on my Vespa. It’s really thin, so thin in fact that a couple of people were worried that it wouldn’t hold up in our weather. Well, a few storms later, they were firm believers. The fabric feels like it “breathes”. It’s really cool to wear, “cool” meaning cold not hip. Forget the fact that you look like a genie when you wear it. It’s really baggy and and when you strap the velcro around the ankles……well you catch my drift. But it does keep the rain out, keeps you cool and dry and it doesn’t hurt that it costs Php 500. I have an extra one at home just in case.