ehdeeboi

I have an assortment of gloves from cycling specific to winter/ski gloves and most of the time, my hands are warm or at least not cold except for my thumbs. Is there gloves with more insulation for the thumb area? Or tricks you can share to keeping my thumb as toasty as the other fingers?

Hezz

This could be caused by several things. First make sure that what ever gloves that you use are fully cleaned and dried out before you go on your ride.

I have found that the problem is generally a combination of not wearing enough on the feet and body and a lack of circulation in the hands caused from pressure from the handle bars. If your sure you are wearing enough on the rest of your body you may wish to try to tackle the hand circulation issue first.

There are several important nerves in your hands and depending on your personal anatomy your could be putting excessive pressure on one of them depending on your favorite hand position on the handle bars. If you are using mountain bike style handle bars I would recommend that you use the nice anatomical type of grips. they are more comfortable and have more surface area to support the hand so it puts less pressure on the hand. I also use long bar ends with a thick wrap of tape to put my hands in other positions to reduce hand pressure in the same spot.

Generally, cyclist want their bikes to be as light as possible so they use little bar wrap on the handlebars. This is good in hot and warm weather. But during the cold the hand needs more insulation and pressure relief from the bars. I wrap my drop type handlebars with polyurethane garage door weather striping for a super thick and padded handlebar. It works very well as it's tough and has a firm sponginess that soaks up a lot of shock and spreads out the pressure. It also insulates your hand from the cold metal handlebar.

I also have found cycling and ski gloves ineffective for really cold weather riding. Ski gloves don't work well in a constantly sweaty environment and cycling gloves are generally not heavy enough for really cold conditions. What I have done that works the best for me is to use a standard cheap single layer medium thick or thick fleece glove. You want it to be cheap and completely breathable. then you need to get a good quality ski glove or mountaineering glove shell to put over it for wind protection. You can take them apart really easy to wash the liner and the combination is really warm.

Cheap ski gloves from Walmart with the linings removed work well for the shell and will do nicely in a pinch. Make sure that all waterproof linings have been removed.

PaddleFoot

Hello,

Keep your circulation going. I regularly drop my arm to the side and totally relax it, then I shake the elbow a bit while the forearm stays totally relaxed. I find this helpful in warm or cold and relax each arm as I ride.

Good reply about hand positioning above but too much padding is a bad thing for me.

Best of luck to you,

2manybikes

Wiggle your thumbs around until they get warm.
One at a time spin your arm around like a windmill to force blood to the hand..
Ride harder. Sprint up a hill. Go full blast for a bit
Let go of the handlebars and wrap your fingers around your thumb. Keep your hands touching the bars enough to steer.

rumrunn6

my hands warm up after approx 30 min of riding. but during that time it helps to be wearing something w pockets. I can alternate putting one hand in a pocket to flex it & warm it up, then the other hand. so far the best thing I wore for this is a thick fleece North Face jacket. I've also used the pockets in a thin cycling vest but it's not as good for that

ehdeeboi

I appreciate all the responses

Hezz - very informative response. I think circulation to the thumb is probably my biggest issue since my other fingers are ok.

]2manybikes and Paddlefoot - funny you listed all those things and yes I do all of them. I sometimes put my gloves on the heater vents to warm them up a bit before I put them on. It feels good for the first few minutes.

FWIW - I normally wear a liner and gloves and live in the DC area. Not as cold as NY but definitely not as warm as FL during winter

fietsbob

Pogies.. its like a sleeping bag over the ends of your handlebars.. Original design comes from Eskimo Arctic Ocean hunters in Kayaks.

pdlamb

On level, straight stretches, I've had success tucking my thumbs under my palms to get them out of the wind.

Leebo

+2 for pogies.

rdrsonthstrm

INBIKE Men's winter cycling bike gloves are excellent from my personal experience. I've dipped my hands in freezing ponds for several minutes then carried on riding in sub-zero air temperatures for hours afterward without much discomfort.

rumrunn6

my hands warm as I ride, as opposed to my toes. regardless of what glove or bar mitt I use, that thumb may still pose a challenge. sometimes I will make a fist inside my glove, sometimes I will blow warm air into my glove & on my hand(s) especially the thumb & it's thumb glove pocket. take care of your thumb & it will take care of you

I.B.Roots

Thought I would point out, that usually blowing on hands has a negative effect after the initial warmth of it. You are basically adding more moisture to your gloves.

2manybikes

When it gets to the low 20's F I switch from the ski gloves to leather goose down mittens. I can (carefully) shift brifters and rapid fire levers. I got my mittens around 1970. First for skiing, then motorcycles, then bicycles. On a bicycle they are too warm over low 30 F. It takes a while, just like any clothing on a bike. You need to start out a little cold, so as you ride, you don't get too hot. Many people I know expect to be warm at the start. That's OK for maybe a mile. In deep snow much less.

If one needs to take off your mittens or gloves, tuck the gauntlet of one glove into the other. That works for a very short time. Maybe just as couple of sips of hot coffee If it's going to be longer put the gloves under your jacket. The fastest way I warm my hands is riding hard.

2manybikes

I have had good results with chemical toe warmers. They are much thinner than the hand warmers. I don't use them these days because they only work for very few hours.
Can't remember how long exactly. I dress so don't need them now.

rumrunn6

I thought so too, but found that the moisture from a cpl breaths is insignificant, but the warming effect IS significant. so the trade off works for me. forgot my winter cycling gloves Saturday & wound up using the lighter back up gloves I had with me, cotton football fan gloves & a pair of glove liners. everything was great until I reached my turnaround at a small lake where I snacked w/o gloves. it was 30 degrees & windy. by time I started back my hands were too cold for comfort. I warmed them & my gloves with my breath & it worked quite well, as usual

2manybikes

That also works on frozen padlocks if you hold them in your hands too. And, some car locks.

Miele Man

When it's really cold I use a pair of fabric (often fleece-like) thin gloves inside an outer larger mitten. The thumb is away from the rest of the hand so it has a tendency to get colder sooner. I often tuck my thumb inside the mitt to warm the thumb. Something I've considered doing is getting another slightly larger pair of gloves and cutting off the thumb section to put over my regular gloves. I'd use a bit of contact cement to keep that piece in place. The trick is to have a loose enough fit so that you have air pockets and to not restrict circulation. Ditto for the feet - keep socks and shoes a bit loose so as not to impair circulation.

Oh, check the seam at the thumb main body to be sure air isn't getting in through there. I put some seam sealer on my nylon outer mitts for precisely that reason and it made a big difference.

Cheers