Gloves for Sub-Freezing Road Rides? Electric?
 

I like to ride in the winter, but my fingers always get cold/frozen when temps go below freezing.. I have tried a few "winter" gloves which are fine down to the freezing point, but for sustained temps below freezing my fingers get cold and painful within an hour of riding.

So far, the best solution I have found is winter mittens with glove-liners and a chemical hand warmer. This works great for temps in the teens and twenties, which is pretty much all I need. But....

My frustration is that with mittens I lose a great deal of dexterity for braking and shifting. It's a compromise that I understand I may need to accept, but I am still hopeful I could find a glove that keeps fingers warm and allows the dexterity I miss when going to mittens on those really cold winter rides.

I know pogies/bar mitts are an option, but as a road cyclist I want to be able to use the drops, hoods, and tops....the ones I have seen pretty much force you to use the hoods only.

Last winter I paid a decent amount for cycling specific winter gloves (Castelli Estremo) that were "rated" down to about 20F but they still give me cold fingers below 30F. Phooey!! Adding glove liners seems to add bulk but does NOT make fingers less cold.

I have seen a wide variety of electric heated gloves and am willing to consider them, the prices and online reviews are all over the place.

Suggestions??

There is only so much space between your fingers. The glove can only be half that distance on adjacent fingers. Nothing you can do about that. Maybe the electric gloves are better than they were 50 Year ago, I don't know.

been using these for the last three years.
REI carries some and you can test them and return them if you don't like them.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Have you tried lobster claws? Not electric, but a reasonable compromise between gloves and mittens.

And then there are bar mitts.

I tried some Lobster Claw covers a few years ago, and dexterity problem was still an issue as well as freezing fingers. Am hoping for other options but thanks for the suggestion.

I'm not sure how much dexterity one needs to ride a bicycle. I can operate my shifters and brakes with lobster claws and I can toggle the switches on my Wahoo. But if you need more than that, then probably electric gloves are your best hope.

What are you wearing on your arms? It's possible you're losing more heat on the way to your hands than you think.

I wear a long-sleeve jersey as well as an outer jacket/shell. I don't think it's an arm issue as my arms and even my hands are comfortable. It's the fingers/thumbs that are the problem.

Okay. I just know that I can lose a fair bit of warmth from my arms before they feel chilly, and my fingers are more sensitive, too. :)

Ride a mountain bike with big knobbys. You can put out the same amount of effort with less wind chill. Ride in the snow and ice with studded tires. That will have you sweaty in no time. Next spring you will be nice and strong. It will improve your handling skills on the road bike.

Oh, almost forgot, it's fun too.

Excellent point. Your tastes and preferences most assuredly would be true for everybody else if they would only follow your example.

Those poor people, :)

I appreciate the suggestion, but I don't have a mountain bike. And the fanciest gloves are going to be less expensive than a new bike.

If you do get some electric gloves I would like to hear about them.

I ride in mittens every Winter, yet, don't recognize any relative issues with braking, shifting or anything else.

Ok, I ordered a pair. Will report once I have used them on a subfreezing day.

Excellent.

if you like them get an extra set of batteries. I have found mine accident get turned on when I carry them in my bag and get d=draiend sometimes when I need them. but thats because its portland where the weather changes all the time so I have to carry two pair,

The fancy cycling specific gloves I tried so far do not work for temps approaching freezing, like the Estremo, Q36.5, Gore and Assos Ultraz winter gloves.

same with me but that may just be me. I found no glove but my heated ones that help below 40

for some unknown moronic reason I like riding in storms. I've grown quite fond of bar mitts. they are like a rain coat for your hands. you can still wear gloves, but it opens up more possibilities. the protection from the wind, precipitation & cold have been life changing. ok maybe a bit dramatic but a bunch of us use them. you might find them useful too
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...98ae0aec6d.jpg

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...69fbc5fca5.jpg

before I got barmitts I got these
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...cea049c194.jpg

they are very good
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7aceeb47e6.jpg

I guess it's almost time to put them on again ... (post #67 was a fun reminder what March around here is like)
https://www.bikeforums.net/winter-cy...r-mitts-3.html

A couple of weeks ago I bought some Giro Ambient's. I've always avoided temps below freezing but for this winter I decided to finally get some proper winter gloves and shoes (Lake MXZ176). This morning it was in the 20's so I decided to put them to the test. The weather website said it was 27 degrees but my gps read 22, my water did start to freeze on the ride. So it was cold.

The first couple of miles my fingertips were starting to get a little cold but by mile 4 or so my hands warmed up and were good to go for the rest of the 28 mile ride. My hands actually sweat a little, the inside of the gloves were wet when I got home so I wouldn't even want anything warmer. Giro says they're good from 35-45 degrees but they're good in the 20's.

The pearl izumi's mentioned above are no way warm enough for me in 20 above let alone cold weather. After years freezing hands, my wife and I use Warmspace heated gloves. It has been a while and I don't remember which model. The batteries are lightweight LiPo's with zippered pocket on the back to charge with a two headed charger that will do both batteries at the same time. Many places to get them just showing link to one store at random, but a place i have bought from successfully. Takes a few weeks to get anything from asia.
good luck
https://www.banggood.com/search/warm...l?ab_version=1

I concur with Mike_Kelly above WRT to Pear iZumi “lobster” gloves. I have a pair…but as my winter rides got longer they just weren’t keeping my hands warm enough. Eventually I decided to try a pair of regular wind-proof mittens that I got for like $10 at the local close out store. They work great. I just think the physics of all the fingers being in contact…instead of separated like a glove…makes for a warmer experience.

Dan

What size bar mitts you have. Do you just match up
your glove size. Ie. Med for Med gloves.