When cycling in the rain the best clothing item I know of is the bike cape. In the US this is known as a poncho.
I have two in fact. One is a cheap yellow plastic one that has lasted for years and is still good today. The only real problem I had with it was that it was just a bit too small for me. For short commutes this was no problem, but with longer commutes then it was a nuisance.
In November 2007 I bought a new cape from Carradice. It is the Duxback Rain Poncho (Super). You can see it at their website here. In that pic there are the trousers, spats and jacket. I also have the jacket but I’m saving writing about that for a future post. I bet you can’t wait!
You can see mine in the pic above. There it is taken from the back. It’s not a very photogenic item and not very flattering when worn.
The great thing about the cape is that it goes over the bars and hands and is tent-like. The bottom is open and so it remains well ventilated. It is rather an old fashioned thing but it beats the very hi-tech modern designs of bicycle clothing imho. When I do wear the cape I confess I feel a bit like the District Nurse, but I haven’t got the uniform to go with it.
For a long time I have dismissed the possibility of recumbent bicycles for wet weather cycling simply because there is no way you could wear a cape on one. However I see there is a German company called Alfred’s AWS buiding cape-like things for recumbents. I don’t know if they would be regarded as clothing or fairings. It all looks rather complicated compared with simply wearing the cape on the regular bicycle but it is good to see that such things exist.