Originally Posted by
balto charlie
I still haven't seen your pictures. Work must block them. Water pipe insulation is good. I use to use it but haven't recently. I may resort back to it. My hands took a beating this morn' When I ride bike 1 I have no hand problems but when I get to bike 2 the cold sets in. Bike 2 sits out all night in the bike box so everything is really cold. This AM 9F. Even with my mountaineering gloves my hands felt cold. I may give you insulation pipe a try. I don't know about you guys but this winter is getting friggin' old.
I was at Walgreen's yesterday and I saw a package of microfiber cleaning cloths. This stuff is really soft. So, I thought to myself, "Hey, this may make some good insulative padding for the handlebars!" So, for $4, I bought a pack that contains 4 - 16" x 16" cloths.
The first one, I cut in half and used Gorilla Tape to mount each to the tops of my handlebars.
The second cloth I used, I cut a hole by a corner, slid it over the left shifter/brake actuators, wrapped it around the hoods grabbing a fist's length above the hoods and cutting it off there. Then, I wrapped and taped it in place. Ditto for the right shifter.
So, now I have cloth covered hoods and top tube that insulate my hands from the alloy handlebars more than just bar tape. Same for the hoods. There's some places on the hoods that just suck the warmth right out of your fingers.