martslc

I’m a 55 year old, 6’3” male that lives in northern Utah looking for some good warm gloves. My hands are cold all the time but biking anything in the 40’s and below they turn to ice. I bike down into the 20’s. My circulation is terrible as I live with chronic neuropathy pain making it worse but cycling is my salvation.

Question, anyone with good leads to gloves that will help me and other tips?

Thanks so much guys!!
- Marty

corrado33

Bar Mitts really help if you're willing to use them.

Bar Mitts - Ride in Comfort

I, like you, have very bad circulation in my hands. I biked for a few winters in bozeman, trying to buy bigger and warmer gloves every year. It never worked. Bar mitts and pogies allow you to use thinner gloves and still control your bike. I personally use dogwood designs pogies on my flat bar bike, as they're actually insulated a bit more than the bar mitts. The dogwood design pogies only come in one size, but the bar mitts come in multiple sizes. I have relatively large hands, but wear a medium glove because I hate having room at the ends of my fingers I bought medium bar mitts (Yes I own bar mitts AND dogwood designs pogies). I wish I had bought larges.

This site has a few different styles of pogies/bar mitts for you to peruse.

Accessories - Pogies - Fatbikes

If you're not willing to use them, buy windproof lobster gloves (2 fingers) and hope for the best. You'll be spending multiple hundreds of dollars for gloves warm enough if you have really bad circulation. (My own experience.) I bought $250 mittens on sale last summer for half off. I can wear them down to about 20 °F. With my pogies or bar mitts I can wear much thinner gloves down to -20 °F.

EDIT: Well, with my dogwood designs pogies I can wear thinner gloves down to -20, with the bar mitts my limit is ~5 °F.

smarkinson

I don't ride in cold temperatures anymore but when I did (down to freezing temp) I used ski gloves.

The first thought was some sort of heating pads which you could slip into your gloves.

Also maybe try to get something that covers your wrists. Particularly where the arteries run close to the skin ie where you take your pulse. This might help prevent air cooling the blood.

Or you could go nuts and get some electric gloves:
Heated Gloves, Electric Gloves, Battery Heated Gloves - The Warming Store

PepeM

+1 on the Pogies.

corrado33

Definitely cover the wrists. When using the pogies on warm days my wrists are always VERY warm. (Which is slightly annoying, but better than the alternative.)

I debating heated gloves inside of the pogies, but they're not really necessary after the first 2 miles (you warm yourself up eventually.) I doubt heated gloves would do anything outside the pogie, as the wind would just blow any heat away.

WalksOn2Wheels

With a legitimate circulation problem, I'd also recommend electric gloves. It might be an extra hassle with more batteries to keep track of, but back in my motorcycling days, electric gloves had the huge advantage of not being super bulky and not requiring more mess on your bars and controls. I'm fine on the bike, but on a motorcycle, my large frame combined with a low resting heart rate meant almost nothing kept my hands warm. If I needed it on the bicycle, I would trade the hassle of batteries for the added flexibility and control of lighter electric gloves.

corrado33

While I agree with you that electric gloves would be sufficient, most electric gloves that only run on AAs are... well.. terrible. Look up reviews. The 12V ones for motorcycles work fine, even some of the 7.2V ones are OK, but the ones that would be easy to use on a bike would probably best be paired with pogies.

lupy

I'm somewhat the opposite of you. My hands are fine, but my feet go numb pretty quick sub 60 degrees. Make sure you have some sort of wind resistant shell on the outside. The electric gloves sound awesome if you could some how hook them up to a long enough lasting battery or even cooler hook them up to some sort of generator powered by your bike (got bored Bicycle Lights and Generators). I will probably get a bunch of glove warmers for when the weather gets cooler here and use those in my boots.

San Pedro

I just put a pair of the cheap magic gloves under some "winter" bike gloves, and my hands go from cold to toasty.

RandomEncounter

+1 to Bar Mitts. I have Raynaud's and would not be able to ride in the winter without them. Everything else I tried failed.

CafeVelo

Same. Down into the low 30s after a couple miles my hands are fine with long finger bravo gloves, which are completely uninsulated, and still doable to about 20. My feet though, cash in on me at about 40.

maybe some ski gloves or something really burly? In Utah you can probably find a well equipped outfitter.

ColaJacket

What kind of gloves are you using now that aren't working? That would be helpful. Otherwise, we might just recommend something similar to what you have now.

GH

Ajkollme

I have a pair of giro 100 proof lobster gloves. I replaced the liners that came with it with a pair of warm wool gloves and I am good below 20 degrees (and I have cold hands). The key though, is just riding faster.

CafeVelo

In cold weather I like climbing routes. You don't go fast enough to get chilled in the wind, but you get a good workout and definitely warm up.

mcours2006

I've thought about using Bar Mitts, but I ride in the drops a lot and it doesn't seem like these mitts allow you enough room to ride use the drops. Am I wrong about this?

lupy

I struggle with this because I live in rolling hills. I work up a sweat and then freeze descending. Any tips? sorry for the hijack.

CafeVelo

rollers are all I have around me, but if you look for it you can usually find something. I live at the top of a plateau, so I came up with a loop which attacks the plateau on four different roads, that I can ride four or five times for 20-24 miles and 1600-2000 ft. I'm never more than a mile and a half from my house, so I can bail if I'm freezing, and none of the climbs are more than a few hundred very punchy feet, so the frosty descents aren't that long either, most are over in thirty seconds or so. I've found similar routes can be created by riding near a river and crossing it at every opportunity as well, but you usually can't stay so close to home.

What are you wearing when you ride? I have a jacket that's made of windblocker material on the front only, so it breathes but keeps me from freezing from wind. You could also use the time honored trick of newspaper in your jersey, which blocks the wind and absorbs moisture. Bring some extra sheets in your pocket so you can swap them as they get saturated. I have also used plastic bags to make a wind proof layer, as well as a wetsuit in single digits and subzero weather. I am slowly acquiring actual cycling gear, which is much nicer.

corrado33

You're correct. You can only ride in the bar mitts while on the shifters. You can, however, take your hands OUT of the bar mitts and ride on the drops no problem (except you won't have easy access to the brakes.)

mcours2006

Kind of defeats the purpose of having them, doesn't it?

banerjek

In addition to suggestions already made, I'd recommend chemical warmers. Also, keep your forearms warm -- that will help your fingers as well

Carbonfiberboy 

+1 on the Giro gloves. Warmest cycling gloves I've ever used. Even good in rain.

Carbonfiberboy 

Yeah, don't insulate so that the sweat doesn't evaporate during the climb. You'll have to experiment to see what works for you. Usually the thing to avoid is garments that the wind can't penetrate, cause then the sweat doesn't evaporate either. Also avoid garments that soak up water. My PI Softshell is the worst thing I have in both those departments: wind doesn't penetrate and it soaks up sweat. In the dry, I don't even wear a wind jacket - a wind vest at most. The insulation is from layering with everything zipping except for the base layer. In the wet, I wear a wind jacket, but it's not waterproof.

In terms of gloves, the same principle applies. Don't let your hands sweat, though cold weather gloves need to be windproof or almost.

lupy

@CafeVelo @Carbonfiberboy

I think my problem is that I don't have a good enough wicking base layer. I just bought a convertible wind breaker jacket/vest which has helped a lot! Now I just need to figure out something for the in between temps. I'm learning though just very slowly (moved to NC from Miami so its a huge learning curve).

bogydave

+1
pogies when below 40°

CafeVelo

For just under 60° to about 40° I wear a thermal jersey and tights. Toward the top end I roll up my sleeves and pant legs and at the low end I wear thicker gloves, sweatbands on my wrists, toe warmers, and a cycling cap. Small items are what makes the difference.