Bikewolf

Layering, YES!

I’ve come to appreciate liners. Very useful in the autumn and spring: when your morning ride starts cool but you heat up midway or so, and your ride back has a warm day temperature. But also in winter: sometimes you’re generating a little too much heat due to exercice I guess, and then it’s really kinda fun to cycle with liners only.

berner

That's what I use also for the coldest rides. I also have a variety of gloves from plain liner gloves that can be used with or without a wind proof shell and wind block fleece gloves. Check out Home Depot and Walmart and discount stores in your area. Here in R. I. we have Ocean State Job Lot with great prices on gloves and merino wool socks.

3S1M

I was going to give you a little ribbing cuz being from the midwest we have to give you Californian's some crap now and then. I live in Wisconsin and it seems like our state is always deemed the butt of every joke in the movies. Or inevitably someone "weird" is from "Wesconsin". Type of a thing.

But you get props for riding a good while in 33 degree weather and especially since you must not be used to temps that cold.

I second the ski gloves. You can't go wrong. To me, for riding, the types of materials that are used for windbreaker material is going to help. Typically, like mechanics gloves or just cotton is just going to let the wind through.

I was a hunter for years until I got lyme disease and the best way I kept my hands warm was to wear mittens with some liners. I would just pull my hand out of my mitten if I needed to shoot. Although really, I kept my hands warm best by moving around. But that doesn't help you as much because that's just walking.

Another source of really warm gloves are ones made for snowmobilers. I don't own one but one winter we rented some and I bought some decent snowmobiling gloves and they were toasty. I lost them though and the best thing I have now if I was going to be out in the really cold is Suede leather mittens with fluffy wool lining. Mittens keep the heat of your hand in much better than gloves. And you can rub your fingers together to get friction and warm them up.

So, to recap, ski gloves, snowmobile gloves and mittens that have a bit of a harder outer shell. Not just cotton. And some lining. Those are the warmest choices, IMHO. I will tell you this. One year I vowed to see if I could make it all winter without wearing any gloves. And somehow I did. I was young though. And that winter I didn't spend a whole lot of times outdoors. I certainly wasn't riding a bike. But getting in your car when it's 20 below, even for a few minutes is freaking cold. But stuffing hand in pockets while your car warms up is pretty easy to do.

noglider 

I've had bad luck layering gloves. The inner glove gets bunched up under the outer glove. It drives me crazy.

Since the temperature can change throughout the day, it sometimes makes sense for me to carry two pairs of gloves. If my hands get too warm, I get irritatingly hot. But having cold hands is painful. My heavy gloves are the lobster kind. They are the first gloves I've had that are adequate in the cold, and yet, I'd like something even warmer. Maybe one day I'll spend the bucks on bar mitts.

baldilocks

https://www.harborfreight.com/touchs...rge-64365.html

Bought a pair of these to split wood. They worked so well, I started wearing them to the ice rink. (I used to work part time at the outdoor rink, so 6.5 hours outside) So when I started riding in the winter, I used them for that as well. Rode one day when it was 3 degrees out. My fingers were a-little cold. Otherwise, no complaints.

mbailey

Rapha Deep Winter gloves with merino liners are good for me below freezing. Too much below freezing I add chemical warmers.

bpcyclist

Well, I knew I was in trouble this morning when I went to engage my brakes and could not pull on the front brake lever. I was, for lack of a better term, paralyzed. Just could not apply any force whatsoever to the lever. Had to recruit my whole left upper body to get any stopping power at all. This was after having been out for about two hours, average temp. of maybe 35F. Not much wind, surprisingly and thankfully. Wearing North Face gloves I have used the last couple years. Nothing fancy. Just gloves. But no match for the altitude and temp., which resulted in my left hand being basically non-functional due to the cold. Never even heard of that before, and I've been a skier since I was 4.

So, on to a new pair of gloves, I guess. Hate to do that, I really liked these North Face things. But they are clearly not going to work in the mid- to low-thirties here. It is not good when you can't use your brakes. More to follow.

rumrunn6

had that happen to me twice:

1st time (in my 20s), an open water SCUBA dive in Long Island Sound. my buddy & I were were the last ones out of the water & back in the group van. I couldn't unzip my wet suit cuz my hands weren't working.

2nd time (in my 30s), showing off in the ocean swimming out to a buoy but my arms stopped working. Fortunately I was able to roll over on my back & "scull" back to shore. (sculling water is a basic swimming technique where you use quick horizontal movements of the hands in the water to maintain your head above the water surface)

crazyravr

Bar Mitts saved me. If the temp start to get close to 0C I put those on the bike. Best thing I ever bought for colder weather commuting.

rumrunn6

+1! I've got them for drop bars & straight!

schiavonec

In the 50s, some smartwool lw liners; 40s call for Series winter gloves, or the sw liners and OR shells on top, lower 40s may even run the series + shells; 30s rei gauntlet style primaloft insulated mitts, or half leather OR ski gloves; upper teens/20s call for Series gloves under rei gauntlet style insulated mitts. I dont ride below 15 but I am fortunate to have that as a choice.