Originally Posted by
datlas
Now that winter is here, I have my annual frustration of cold fingers. Before I post in “Winter Cycling,” let’s see what the Addiction brain trust says.
My quest is for gloves that will keep my fingers warm when temps go well below freezing and remain so for the whole ride (say 3-4 hours). I have tried several cold weather gloves, including last year’s purchase of pricey Castelli Estremo gloves. They are fine for temps above freezing. They are ok for a ride that starts a few degrees below freezing (say 25+) if the temps will rise to above freezing within an hour or so. However, every glove I have tried for hours in subfreezing temps leaves me with painful and/or numb fingers within an hour into the ride.
I have tried adding glove liners to the gloves, which at these temps sadly don’t do much. I have tried those chemical hand warmers, which keep my hands warm (not a problem anyway) but fingers are still too cold/numb/painful.
So far the only solution is to use mittens with thin glove liners (and chemical warner if extreme cold). This works, but the dexterity for shifting and braking are compromised more than I like.
I know about pogies, which I expect do work, but the compromise is you are limited to one hand position (hoods).
I have NOT tried lobster claw gloves, but am considering. Ditto electric “heated gloves.”
tl;dr Any ideas on how to best keep fingers warm on subfreezing rides while maintaining digital dexterity??
I thought you were happy with over-mitts.
This is my most difficult winter cycling issue and I have a few thoughts, but they’re not that helpful. First, I am sure heat losses are most significant from the palmar side of the hand and digits, both because of its greater skin vascularity and because it’s in contact with the bars, which seem to conduct heat, even when taped with foam tape. However, most winter gloves are most heavily insulated on the dorsum. I have two pairs of lobster gloves, one of which has wonderful high loft stuff on the back and thin palms for better control and the other set are thinner on the back and thicker over the palm. The second pair are much warmer, but scare me when descending in the drops.
I tried a pair of Castelli Estremo gloves recently in a warm bike shop. They seemed very well insulated and had nice tacky silicone stuff on the fingers. The are 99 bucks
I have pogies and they work, but I hate them for drop bars for the reason you cite. They were fantastic when I was riding a flat bar bike to work.
I have electric gloves. Of course the heating elements are on the back, greatly reducing their effectiveness, IMO. I imagine they’d get destroyed if they were on the palm. They work okay, but I don’t use them on the bike because they were very expensive and I don’t want to destroy them.
I have tried chemical warmers on my feet, but not my hands.
Don’t dismiss vapor barriers. I think a pair of latex or nitrile gloves on a long ride would keep your gloves from getting sweat-soaked and losing effectiveness, not to mention making them much easier to put back on after stops.