Riding in the Rain

Rode home in the dark today while it was raining.  It was a very pleasant time all things considered.  It wasn't raining very hard and I arrived at home without any water spots on my glasses .  I have been experimenting with the size of the wheel well opening to allow clearance for the handlebar and your hand with the original under the seat steering setup.  I bolted in a part off the mould that closed this area in completely and then slowly removed material until I have the minimum sized opening.  The reduction in the opening is about 50%.  I closed off part the the remaining area with some thin foam that flexes out of the way when your hand or the handlebar intrudes on it.  I also removed the fender as with a good cover over the remaining opening it should not longer be necessary.  Not having completely closed off the remaining area some spray still made it inside  but about half way home the potential solution suddenly presented itself.  I had been thinking of a cloth cover but that looked like it would be complex to make the pattern for.  It would need some stiffeners or battens added to the fabric to keep it from getting too close to the wheel.  An overly complex solution to a simple problem.  I will try the new idea out with some scrap foam we get when we order foam blanks for our kayak seats.  The scrap is the skins cut off the foam buns to get it to the thickness we use.  It is sent along with the foam to protect but I suspect it is mostly packed with it so the supplier doesn't have the throw it out.  We use it  to pack our kayaks for shipment.  Now it has a new use.