Originally Posted by
Newspaperguy
A lot of the bike-specific clothing I see is great for warm weather and mild weather use, but not for rough weather. Riding in rain, cold or snow involves solutions not normally found in the bike clothing stores.
My experience has been more with cold weather than with wet weather. There are no cycle-specific gloves or mittens I have found which are suitable for riding in -20 C temperatures or colder. There are no cycle-specific shoes for those temperatures. Headwear is also a huge problem. There are clothing solutions, but they are not found among cycle-specific garments.
Last winter was really tough, with temperatures below -20C for weeks on occasion and sometimes dropping below -30C. Winter specific cycling shoes and gloves did work until temps hit about -15C. After that it was all winter hiking wear (merino wool/polyamid blend base layer, medium to heavy wool mid layer and thick softshell outer). Cycling gear manufacturers probably don't expect anyone to actually ride in such low temperatures, or at least not enough people to make it worth for them..