GeraldF

Many mornings I find myself debating weather I should ride on cold, windy days. My hands are the biggest issue. Even with mittens (I wear "glittens actually), my thumb and fingertips feel like they're on the verge of frost bite after half an hour. I once purchased "windproof" cycling gloves; they absolutely were not windproof.

I've heard that some delivery riders wrap plastic bags around their hands to fight the wind. This seems quite practical, but I'm wondering if their is a less tacky way to keep my hands warm. My budget is around $30. Thanks for your input.

droy45

The way I see it, this cold won't last that much longer. I have not been riding that much lately because of the same issue. Its rare the wind chills are this low and last as many weeks as it has. Up here its been terrible lately. I use highly insulated snowmobile mittens at my hands are fine. The biggest problem I have is my nose and eyes I have considered getting ski gogles for that but then again, why bother, its just too cold and I decided to go ice skating instead.LOL.

JanMM

Windproof doesn't guarantee warmth. Have you tried thin liner gloves of polypro or similar under your glittens?

dyneq

Part of the problem is that, when cycling, your upper body is not really moving around much. If you have stretches on your route where you're not shifting gears or steering much, try moving your hands to different bar positions and flexing your fist to promote blood flow.

You can also mount windshields on each grip to block the wind. I know I've seen them while browsing these forums before. You could probably make your own with a little imagination.

terrapin44

I was thinking about trying some Cat Ears'Ear Covers' (https://www.cat-ears.com/Ear-Covers.html). Has anyone tried them?

terrapin44

PS: I know this isn't for hands, but same basic topic

cplager

For hands, I highly recommend bar mitts/pogies. I modified mine ($17 shipped) so I could stick out bar end mirrors. I find that these make my hands think it's at least 10 to 15 degrees warmer than it is and it really helps with wind.



Plastic bags, while tacky, are a great emergency backup. Getting too cold can have serious consequences. Do what you need to do to stay warm.

Ride safe,
Charles

Stryver

The pogies are an excellent idea, they're a stylish variant of the plastic bags. Wear a warm pair of gloves under them.

I have a pair of lobster mitts by PI that I acquired long, long ago. In the low 20s, I like them, much above that and I replace them after about 15 minutes on the bike, though they're still nice to begin with.

For other body parts, personally, I rarely have the top of my head feel cold, but my ears get chilly pretty easily. I have a pair of ear muffs that wrap around the back of my head and have a wire spring inside them. I keep them on the stem of the bike all the time, so I can pop them on my ears if it's chilly, and don't have to remember/think about them before heading out the door.

RGNY

my hand protection for a recent 0F day w/ 15mph winds was my PI PRO lobster mitts with polypro glove liners inside. i bought the mitts a size larger for precisely this purpose.

bluegoatwoods

Bar-mitts are definitely what you want. Having finally tried them about five years ago, I would never go back to riding winter without them.

And they have the added benefit of keeping your hands dry in the chilly spring rains.

DTG

+1 to the Pogies.

I thought they looked weird the first time I saw them but in areas of the country where it truly gets to a point to have them, I guess they aren't that funny looking. It doesn't get that cold out here but sometimes the rain does bite to make it feel colder. I've yet to see them in Portland but then again I ride away from the city to work while everyone is riding into downtown.

KLW2

My coldest ride was -32F wind chill / -25F air temperature and bar mitts kept my hands nice and warm. Wear a pair of medium weight wool mittens inside them.

fietsbob

Pogies have long been made for Sea Kayaking.. by the people who invented the Kayak .
and replicated by the settlers from Europe.. in Petrolium based synthetics.

It only got down to 31 this year, a keeping my fingers together helped, even with 4 finger gloves..
insulation between the fingers is usually thin,,

RGNY

i'll also advocate for Bar Mitts.

had to find another answer when i went to mustache bars on my commuter. but they were great for bare hands down to 35F in cold driving rain / high winds. down to 25 w/ just a light glove.

swwhite

I found, by accident, something that helps a bit. My brother made some mittens out of fake tiger fur. They come up almost to the elbow. They originally were several layers, a liner inside the outer tiger fur, but I found that the outer layer of fake fur, by itself, fit nicely over my regular mittens as an extra outer layer. For some reason it made a big difference in hand warmth. The only thing I can think of is that the furriness somehow had a wind-breaking effect. They are not perfect; when the temperature is down near zero I still get cold.

erig007

If your mittens have removable liners remove those liners and just add some aluminum foil inside your mittens under the outer layer, it cuts wind and reflect your own heat. My mittens are made with leather and I can go all the way up to -40F with them. I have tested them at -78F pseudo equivalent with windchill included without any hassle.
https://rk19-bielefeld-mitte.de/survival/FM/15.htm
https://www.equipped.com/21-76/ch15.pdf
cost (aluminum foil): more or less 1$

David Bierbaum

For me, it's not just the hands, but the entire arm that needs protected from cold, to keep my hands warm, so I wage a constant layers battle to keep my extremities warm while I allow my core to get rid of heat. This means leg warmers, arm warmers, and neck warmers, along with some cover for my bald head and my ears, and not much in the way of wind resistance so my core can "breathe".

Those tiger-fur elbow-mittens sound nice.

dramiscram

that's what I do And my commute is 27.2 kms. Last week I took the bike twice and on the coldest night the temp. drop to -24 celcius. I got home with my hands really warm.

400trix

I use Outdoor Research "Warrant" ice climbing gloves. The day I bought them it was 16° F, and for the first time ever my hands were warm in those conditions.

RubeRad

Ski gloves.

bici_mania

When it is very cold/windy I wear rubber/latex gloves under my regular gloves. It is cheap, effective and doesn't add a lot of bulk. I found it is also effective on my motor bike on all but the very coldest days. Latex gloves that are a bit loose seem to work a bit better than the tighter gloves.

tjspiel

Most of the glittens I've seen don't look like they'd be good for much more than a short time outdoors in weather that was at all cold, especially if it were windy or wet.

Any of the suggestions you've gotten would work better. One suggestion I haven't seen directly is to make sure you keep your wrists warm. If your wrists are cold your body will start to limit blood circulation to your fingertips, - which is what you were experiencing.

This time of year you can often find discounts on ski gloves and the like since March is only a few weeks away.

Leebo

As said , ski gloves or try some windproof fleece gloves. Your local outdoor/sports retailer should have something.

Booger1

Look for some Gordini gauntlet down gloves with Goretex liners.They can be had for about $35 if you look around.Gordini makes some nice gloves for the money.....from about $15 on up.

They make them in down or poly fill,take your pick.

Campmor has down ones right now for $34.95......toasty warm.

noglider 

I went to Campmor, which has clothing for many sports, including skiiing. I got the largest mittens I could find in my size. My hands look like feet now. But they're warm. Yay.

By the way, I put Vaseline on my cheeks to keep the wind off. And I find that wrapping a scarf around my neck a few times keeps my chin warm, even when the scarf doesn't cover in.