Bikewolf

Does anyone has (winter) experience with wearing gloves (= base layer) in combination with shell mittens (= out layer)?
Shell mittens being thin breathable mittens as a heavy rain cover.
Obviously, mitten size would be greater.

wolfchild

I use a combination of thin gloves or glove liners with insulated mittens. I have few pairs of different mitts, some thicker and some thinner. Gloves + mittens is the only combination that works for me on longer rides during very cold weather. Gloves alone are not enough..

79pmooney

I've been using deerskin leather chopper mitts for decades with wool inner mittens. I buy them as big as I can get. XXL if I can find them. I grease them once a year, maybe twice with lots of SnoSeal. They have wonderful grip so while you lose hand positions due to the lack of separated fingers, you gain some in positions that would be far too tiring in summer. I've tried ski mittens with high cuffs but the grip is so poor that they are not good for more than short rides.

2_i 

I have thin mittens that serve as rain protection incorporated into the sleeves of my Magic Parka. When I need them I just slip them out. They are a very nice resource in cold rain.

dabac

I’ve got two pairs that come with their own liners that I sometimes use as shells for gloves.
They give me the same issue that I have with most warm hand wear - the balance between being warm enough yet being ventilating enough not to become sweat soaked.
Shells+liner does have the advantage of drying out faster. Gloves as liner means there’s a range of things you can do w/o having to go bare-handed.
But my absolute favourite setup for winter riding is Bar Mitts/pogies. And then gloves.

Alligator

I only wear mittens. Big ones. I feel like my fingers give each other warmth when together, and it give me a lot of freedom of movement in my mittens. Plus, I like the fact that when I signal a turn, it presents a large object for cars to see.

_ForceD_

To answer your OP question, no. I had been using the Pearl iZumi 'lobster gloves/mittens' that I purchased about 10-15 years ago. But as I started to venture out in colder and colder temps I realized they weren't providing the best warmth. I didn't care for the way they're constructed in that the inner layer is a glove...i.e. your fingers are separated. I'm a firm believer that if your fingers are all together...skin-to-skin...they stay warmer because they're working together. So, I ended up getting a pair of regular, wind/water proof mittens. They have longer cuffs so they cover my wrists well too. Best part...I picked them up at a closeout store for $10.00. They are without a doubt the best hand protection from the cold that I've ever had. At temps into the teens F° my hands/fingers stay comfy.


Dan

schiavonec

C'est depend! I have different setups depending on the weather and moisture. UL liners and shells (OR brand H2o proof) if wet and not to cold ( ~45f), same shells w/ heavywright fleece type material (~32f), ul liner+ insulated mits < ~ 32f and heavy liner + mits 09 to 28f. I dont go lower than that. Most shells are not roomy enough for enough insulation IMO due to tailored fitting if you wear large gloves.

Imo, buy BIGGER shells for flexibility. I go with xl for my outer hand layer, and large for liners. Ymmv

rumrunn6

fyi the newer units are not like that

Miele Man

I wear fleece-like gloves under nylon mittens when it's quite cold out. One thing to be aware of with nylon mittens is that unless they have some sort of anti-slip material on the palms t hey can be quite slippery when trying to grip.

Cheers

Nyah

I have some from about the same period as ForceD's, and even THOSE don't have an inner layer with separations.

BobbyG

A few winters back I tried lighter mittens with breathable gloves underneath. They kept my fingers warmm but not sweaty. But my thumbs were cold. Also, the mittens worked fine on my old 12-speed with downtube shifters, but not so well on my newer bike with brifters.

Mittens also didn't work so well with my straight-bar snow bike with trigger-shifters, but still better than brifters.

Prior to this winter I converted the snow bike to drop bars with bar-end shifters, I tried the mittens again just this past week. They kept my fingers warm, but my thumbs were cold. I could operate the shifters just fine, but on these new bars the palm of the mittens would begin "wrapping" around the bars and constrict my fingers...something they didn't do on the other drop bars,

I got lucky with the heavy gloves I found three years ago. They seem to keep my fingers and thumbs warm down to my 5F limit, and they breath enough to prevent icing. They're not a name brand and were just a lucky find.

Also, since you were interested in the "shell" concept...my main non-biking winter gloves fell apart a couple of years ago, so I grabbed some cheapies at the grocery store on the way home from work. They needed to be warmer, so I put some light cotton work gloves on under them and they work well enough that I haven't replaced the original better-quality gloves.

I don't know how well cotton would work as a liner for extended winter riding.