Commuter Jeans for a 12-year old?

October 16, 2016 11:45 AM

My son (12, going on 13 in a month) rides his bike to/from school in the PNW. This means wind, rain, wet, damp, etc. He prefers to wear jeans, but doesn't like how long they take to dry, so I'm hoping for some good suggestions from the hive.mind.

He wears a 33x32 in Levi's, and we looked at both of their "Commuter Jeans" options, but they all had really horrible reviews.

Ideally I'd rather not spend $100+ on jeans he'll grow out of in 6 months, but if it's the only way to make him comfortable, I'll do it.

The rest of the usual "commuter" features don't really matter - durability (he'll grow out of them before they wear out), high back for when he bends over his bike, articulated kneed, etc - the only real criteria is "jeans" and "water-resistant".

Thanks in advance!

posted by dotgirl to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (13 answers total)

What about a pair of rainproof pants he can pull over his regular jeans instead? Look for ones with zips by the ankles so he doesn't have to take his shoes on and off. Here are the options at REI, some as low as $50.
posted by charmedimsure at 11:48 AM on October 16, 2016 [5 favorites]

Could you spray them with some sort of waterproofing product?
posted by BoscosMom at 12:01 PM on October 16, 2016

Yeah, the levi's stuff is kind of terrible. The first run of them they ever did were awesome, but they changed them to that really light fabric that sucks. They were nice because they sat right in the middle of the price options for water resistant pants.

Cheapest option: wax a pair of jeans. Otter wax and the Fjallraven wax are both pretty great. This will up the water resistance of the jeans, but they will by no means be waterproof. This assumes of course you have a pair of jeans you're willing to wax.

2nd cheapest option: just get some pull-over rain pants. They make really lightweight ones that collapse into their own pockets. They're cheap, kinda durable-ish, and they keep the rain off.

Expensive options; Rapha, Outlier, Chrome Industries and Mission Workshop all have great gear, but the price point is much higher. Showers pass is also pretty good, and their 'commuter' style pant might fit the bill...but yeah, kind of spendy.
posted by furnace.heart at 12:10 PM on October 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

If he's anything like me, and if he has fenders on his bike, h mostly gets wet on the front of the thighs of his pants. Enter Rainlegs, which are much easier to take off, more like a jacket than overpants. I find that I sweat like crazy in most types of rain pants and end up just as soggy.
posted by supercres at 12:18 PM on October 16, 2016 [3 favorites]

(I say that as an alternative to both water resistant commuter jeans -- expensive and grow-out-able -- and full-on rain pants, which I find to be more of a hassle than they're worth. Perhaps he does too.)
posted by supercres at 12:21 PM on October 16, 2016

> What about a pair of rainproof pants he can pull over his regular jeans instead

That's what my bike-commuting-to-school-in-the-PNW-teen does. The catch: make sure he remembers to hang his rainpants up to dry when he gets home.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:29 PM on October 16, 2016

My first thought, like BoscosMom, was ScotchGuard. It's cheap enough to be worth a try. Waxing is also not a bad idea (Otter Wax) but it does change the look of the fabric.
posted by jrobin276 at 2:11 PM on October 16, 2016

My pants techniques for bike commuting in the rain, though not quite PNW-level, are similar to what's been said:

Fenders, which probably goes without saying but just in case, there's a world of difference.

Wearing something else to ride, usually shorts, then changing into jeans once I get there. (Shorts because, in addition to the fronts of my thighs, I get a lot of spray around my cuffs from the "upward rain". I also bring separate shoes.)

Pull-over rain pants. This is the best in the cold rain/snow mix seasons where you don't know what you're going to get but it'll be tough.
posted by traveler_ at 2:23 PM on October 16, 2016

nthing the waxed jeans. He can take a pair of jeans that he likes and waterproof them with wax.
posted by ethical_caligula at 2:49 PM on October 16, 2016

The waxing idea is intriguing! I use both Rain Legs and Showers Pass rain pants. I would recommend the Rain Legs for lighter rain or for isolated showers. In heavier rain, I have experienced plenty of water-creep around the edges. The Showers Pass pants go over your regular pants and I can verify that they keep out heavy rain completely for at least an hour. As supercres mentions, they do cause sweating. I can't stand wearing them when it's over 50°.

You might also consider gaiters to keep his feet dry. I recommend these from Vaude.
posted by oxisos at 4:01 PM on October 16, 2016

Dutch teens have relied on the combination of fenders and rain pants for many long years.
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:03 AM on October 17, 2016

If I was in his situation, I would do what's been suggested above and wear something else on the bike and change into my jeans when I got to my destination.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:57 AM on October 17, 2016

I want to like rainlegs, but when I wore them in a heavy rain, my pants were soaked by the time I'd gone about 5 blocks from my house--in lighter rain, they might be more effective (also there were a lot of jokes from my friends about my weird rain chaps). I like rain pants for the PNW because usually if it's raining, it's also cold enough that I won't be sweating too much (in the midwest, I just brought a change of pants if I was going to need to be dry after biking in the rain). I have a pair from REI that was reasonably inexpensive (maybe $40? It's been a few years, though) and is reasonably effective and a pair from Showers Pass that cost way more and is slightly more effective. Features to look for: reflective bits, zippers at the ankles to let you pull them on/off over shoes, velcro to tighten them at the ankle so they can't get caught in the bike chain.
posted by Vibrissa at 4:04 PM on October 17, 2016