Winter Cycling - anti mitten prejudice

I started shopping for inexpensive heavy mittens and couldnt find any. All the 'general' stores have heavy gloves but no mittens. I dont get it. Heavy gloves are just as cumbersome as heavy mittens and not as warm. Mittens should also be cheaper to make and sell. I finally find one pair of mittens and they are light knit. ARG! Again,dumb, with light knit construction gloves actually have some dexterity advantage over mittens. Finally went to Gander Mtn and found one type of heavy mittens mixed in with 10-15 types of heavy gloves. Price wasn't bad but I bet it would be halved if all the people who would be better off with mittens BOUGHT MITTENS.

Either:
A. People are actually ignorant that mittens are warmer.
B. They are simply convinced that the appearance of mittens is unacceptable(child-like?) even if they have colder fingers in gloves.

Ok, for bicycling light gloves and pogies may be better(I need to try sometime) but that is a separate issue. Even there the pogies are sort of super mittens with your fingers thumb and bars all in one largish warmed space.


Yes, I am the type of person who finds it aggravating to see a rack full of full-suspension mtn bikes that never see dirt much less rough, high speed downhills. :)

Have you been to Walmart?

Yes, one. multiple types of gloves, no mittens

Even the website only has some strange bed mittens

I feel your pain. I'm a mitten fan, and have noticed a similar lack of variety in the offerings. Another irritating thing is all the flip-open-type mitten/gloves.

I used to have a pair of knitted, fairly heavy mittens that worked great for snowshoeing. They disappeared somewhere, and I got some replacements for Christmas, but they were hard to find, and not exactly the same when found. Finally found them here:
http://www.thehikingspot.com/pc-117-19-ragg-wool-mittens.aspx
I think Campmor had them one day, then not the next when I went back to the site. For snowshoeing, these would work great down to 20 degrees or so. Bicycling, with the wind factor, maybe down to 35 or 40 depending on headwind or tailwind.

I've also got a pair of heavy Zero-brand mittens. They are waterproof, but also make my hands sweat. So I use them when I need to (did this morning, for example, 33 degrees + 20 mph headwind per the internet weather), but don't really like them that much.

Check at REI and skiing places. I got those either at REI or at Jax in Fort Collins.

Yes, one. multiple types of gloves, no mittens

Even the website only has some strange bed mittens

You tried both the ladies' and the men's departments?

What about your local dollar stores?

No point in ladies dept. Hard to find big enough in mens. I ideally want them big enough to go over light gloves so I never have to have bare hands to lock the bike or whatever in below zero wind chills.

Of course mittens are warmer, but they lack dexterity. Really all of my outdoor winter activities, like cycling, I want and need to use my fingers. I think I'm not the only one. It's pretty simple.

L L Bean

Try visiting a snowmobile shop. Snowmobilers love mittens.....well, the shops used to have tons of them, but i haven't been snowmobiling for about a decade so things may have changed. Call first.

Army/Navy ftw. I can't say enough good things about the lobster-claw shooting gloves I got at mine. And I can shoot while wearing them, if I am so inclined.

jim

The last time I bought mittens found them in the snowboarding section of a sporting goods store. I love them, but with STI, I can't use them on the bike. Lobsters work fine though.

Repeat L L Bean and they have 100% wool ones

i use mittens on my STI set up without any trouble. i bought a pair of waterproof+breathable mitts at EMS (East coast REI, for you West coasters) for $40; they came with a pair of cloth glove inserts---so when i need just gloves (fixing something, etc.) i have them, but when i'm riding... it's all mitten warmth and lovin'. i can shift no problem using my Ultergra brifters, and braking isn't an issue either.

BUT... they are so warm i can only really wear them when the temperature is below 25°F. For warmer temps i just wear my gore gloves.

I found some awesome wool interior mittens at a thrift store for 50 cents once. You could always snoop around and see if you get lucky. If mittens are so undesirable as you say, they should have gobs of them piling up at such stores.

I buy my mittens at Marshalls (a discount store) or at a Job Lot. I look for a really good deal and buy in bulk. If I can get what I want for $5-10 I'll buy two pairs, less than $5- 3 pairs. Then I'm good for a couple of years and no running around every year to buy new gloves or if I lose a pair I've got back ups, which I can use as a replacement single or as a new pair and hold the old one as a back up.

My set up down to 0〫F is one set of thin gloves, then a pair of glove/mittens- by this I mean half-fingered gloves with a fold over mitten flap and then a gore-tex mitten cover. It's worked for me for years, in rain, snow, sleet and dark of night.

Find out where climbers and other outdoor-enthusiasts shop. I get my best gloves (and they sell mittons too!) at a store that caters to ice-climbers, backcountry-skiers, snowshoers, and others who are out in serious cold for long periods of time far from a warm house.

Here's a link to a nice pair of mittons:

http://www.bdel.com/gear/patrol_mitt.php

Black Diamond has several other models. Their stuff's expensive, but it's good quality.

Of course mittens are warmer, but they lack dexterity. Really all of my outdoor winter activities, like cycling, I want and need to use my fingers. I think I'm not the only one. It's pretty simple.

Yes, that's the simple and obvious answer. It's also, in my personal experience at least, wrong. Any gloves I find that are warm enough for below freezing temps are as clumsy as mittens. They basically reduce my hands to clamps. The least dextrous handwear I have is a pair of heavy ski-racing gauntleted gloves. Even so I can still clamp the brakes just fine and prod the rapid fire shifters ok.

Have you found gloves good for MN winters that allow more dexterity than mittens?
What is it you do with them that you cant do with mittens? 2 finger braking maybe? I have no idea how fiddly road bike shifters,brakes,brifters,etc may be.

I keep my winter golf gloves under mittens or in my pockets in case I really need dexterity short term.

Dont waste your time shopping for good mittens in retail stores, they don't exist! I ended up getting these online. These keep we warm down to around 25F. Below that, my thumb starts to get numb after 40 minutes.

http://www.armysurpluswarehouse.com/product/trigger-finger-mittens-3938.cfm


Also get these:

http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/Product___40241

If you get the right sizes you can wear all three the same time which should be fine down to 0-10F.

It is starting to be the wrong time of year to buy winter gear ... the spring stuff is in the stores now. If you want a good selection of winter gear, you've got to shop for it in October.

However, have you tried the sporting good section (specifically hunting) of Walmart or your equivalent to Canadian Tire?

When I get "roun tuit" I plan to get or make a guard for in front of your hand like they have on dirt (motor) bikes.

The plastic hand protector thingey. The reason is to block the wind so I can get away with my old dog-eared scissor fingers (lobster claws)

When I get "roun tuit" I plan to get or make a guard for in front of your hand like they have on dirt (motor) bikes.

Do you know about "pogies"? Here's a link to an article w/some photos:

http://commutebybike.com/2008/01/18/pogies/

I wear fingerless merino knit gloves under Grenade brand lobster mittens made for snowboarding, i bought both at T.J. Maxx for about $30 total

Do you know about "pogies"? Here's a link to an article w/some photos:

http://commutebybike.com/2008/01/18/pogies/

Excellent Jonathan,
At the bottom of that link there was comments and this is one

"Last weekend, I got two milk jugs (gallon size) and cut them in half at the corners, so the mouth piece is cut in half, all the way to the bottom, then cut around the bottom so the handle side is free. You don’t need the handle part. The other side is the pogie. Up at the mouth piece, cut down the middle and then cut out a place for the cables. Next on the bottom, at the corner with no sides, cut out a hole for the end of your handlebar. Last open the slit for the cables and slide over the bars and put the cables in the hole. A hose clamp around the mouth piece and handlebar end in the hole will hold it in place. A milk jug is a good size; at it allow room for brakes and shifters. Then with something warm you can finish off the pogies. The milk jugs are not only wind and water proof they are free."

Another person mentioned that in China they were very common.

well, I dont know about the rest of you, but i have the coldest hands in the history of....well...ever. I tried mitts, lobster claws, double mitts etc. I finally gave up an ordered myself a pair of pogies from epic designs. still waiting for them, but i have high hopes!

I noticed my local Walmart just started carrying them. For the longest time they only had gloves, but after the New Year the mittens showed up. You may want to check again.

EA milk jug is a good size; at it allow room for brakes and shifters. Then with something warm you can finish off the pogies."

Oh, that's interesting. So is the idea to wrap the milk-jug shield in some sort of fabric or insulation? I notice that sentence about finishing off the milk-jug pogies with something warm.

Mittens are the way to go, gloves are evil.
I knit my own wool mittens, that way they are just the way I like them. It's cheap to so I have a number of pairs in different thickness. When it is really cold I use wind and/or water proof outer shells over the wool mittens.

Those Epic pogies are real bad boys...er girls.

I have very cold hands, due to age. I use fleece gloves for windchill in the 40s F. Add a thin liner glove for the 30s. Ski gloves for 20s.

I needed something for cold conditions on 3+ hour rides, not as cold as you get in Canada, but still the kind that freezes your water bottle solid in less than an hour, with windchill in the +10 F to -15 F range. I needed something that would warm up my hands if they got cold from getting things ready to go in my unheated garage, wearing no gloves, or if I had to go barehanded to fix something.

Once old hands go cold, warming them up again is tough. The problem is compounded when you run your core temp cool to minimize sweat accumulation: the body's strategy becomes, Shut down circulation to the extremities to conserve core heat.

I ordered Outdoor Research Alti Mitts from REI, thinking that if mitten naysayers were right about them being too clumsy on a bike, I could get return them for a refund, and try pogies.

They turned out to be dexterous enough for braking, shifting and adjusting zippers. They have a Gore-Tex outer shell with removable Primaloft-insulated liner mitt. At –4F WC yesterday, the liners alone were toasty. When it later warmed up to +10 WC, my hands were starting to sweat, so I switched to the shells and thin liner gloves.

The Epics give you a rock-solid grip on the bars and natural-feel shifting and braking dexterity, but unless you're doing technical offroad icebiking, the Altis do a reasonable job. They are also versatile, both because the two-piece components cover a very wide range of temperatures (-40 F/C full kit to maybe +35 F/ +2C shells alone), as well as being wearable for many non-cycling cold-weather activities from skiing to making coffee on a cold-morning campout.

Well I did pretty good eventually. 18$ XL leather shells with fleece liners at Gander Mtn. Stretchy comfy knit womens mittens from Marshalls(NO mens!) 7$.

Rode 6 miles at 8 degrees F this am and my hands were a little sweaty the whole way. This 25$ brute force layered mitten outfit is 20 degrees warmer than my high-tech 60$ ski racing gloves bought when I had a lot more free cash.

I am, just barely, secure enough in my masculinity to wear pink mittens - AS LINERS. Fortunately it looks like anything over 10F I'll be able to skip that layer. Over 20F my preferred solution of leather mitten shells over winter golf gloves should work fine.

Only problem is the thumb of the heavy mittens is borderline too short. When holding the bars the tip of my thumb presses against the end. I was worried about this causing a cold spot but it didnt on this ride, probably because my hands were so toasty overall. Otherwise I'd run back and grab a backup pair at that price.