Had a near-perfect trip today; sunny, no wind, temperature 17 degrees (F), clothing almost perfectly tuned (had to make one stop to open up the jacket) so the cold air stripped off the heat as fast as I made it and I arrived with almost no perspiration. Everything was great EXCEPT the thumbs. That is the final body part I can't keep warm in cold weather. I am wondering if anyone else has solved that problem.

I have upgraded my mittens (based on ideas from this forum, by the way) to three layers; an outer leather shell, an inner wool (I think) layer hand-knitted by my late aunt, and a middle layer (hand made by me) of Windbloc Polar Fleece (ordered by the yard from the Malden Mills on-line store).

The only thing I can think of is that all that inner layer material jammed into the thumbs does make the mittens a bit tight about the thumbs, so maybe there is not enough air space, or impaired circulation.

I would go out to some place like REI and spend an obscene amount of money on super-duper mittens if I were sure they would do the job. I don't want to spend an obscene amount of money and find out that super-duper mittens are not better than my home-made ones, which are warm down to 20-below if I'm not on a bike.

My target temperature is to be able to ride at zero degrees (F).

Thank you all for any ideas.

You definately need an air space for your body heat to radiate warmth into. If they are tight in the thumbs that could be a contributing factor to the cold you are experiencing, the same as tight shoe/sock combo means frozen toes. Moving them while riding helps as well. Loosening a tight grip can help. Enjoy the winter riding.

Thanks to years of basketball (and stone hands) I have aquired poor circulation in some of my digits due to jamming my knuckles. My right thumb is the worst as it could never be "un-jammed" and is stuck with just partial movement. It suffers the most from the cold and I have tried multiple araingments to augment this situation. One thing I found out was that glove liners and layers of gloves made things worse. I now just use one thick (but loose) glove for the coldest mornings (I ride in at 4am and mornings are the bad part of the day for me). Sometimes I will add one of those chemical hand warmer thingies, but I am hoping someone will come up with a good electric hand warmer glove. I think it would be useful for skiers too.

Look at the local huntin' and fishin' shop for things like 9v electric mitts and socks.

How does the windbloc polar fleece work for wind? Is it a super material or a gimic? How hard would it be if I were to make a wind vest out of it?

Last year, thinking the same way you did but not really caring so much about money, bought some high priced mittens at a ski shop last year. My hands still get cold below 15 F. I wonder if those lobster mittens work better, but I'm not going to take the chance.

Can't speak for riding yet, but running early morning in 10-20F the polar fleece works well with an inner glove liner. I did make the mistake, early on, of having the outer glove too tight over the liners. When I went to a larger size glove, my hands stayed toasty warm. I've got leather overs to add to the mix when I start riding, but am still researching the bike.

I've got lobster mitts, and below ~-15, I need to throw something even more windproof over top, like the shells from some old mountaineering mitts. Then I'm good to -25. As far as thumbs go, having them too squished by gloves/mitts drastically reduces the circulation and they freeze in minutes. My ice bike is a SS, so I don't have to worry about shifting, and the brakes are easier to get at with full mittens.

When I go shopping for mitts, I look for an overabundance of insulation and a very windproof/waterproof outer shell. If I see a rating of -40, I know I'm good to at least -25, but I have to be careful past that. -25C + 40 km/h down a hill = a whole lotta windchill.

My approach: Loose grip and use the handlebars to block the wind for thumbs. Beyond that...deal with it.
(commute = 20-30 min one-way)

Things tried that I don't recommend: Blasting warm air into gloves pre-ride...The differential makes you feel cold sooner...multiple layers (more than 2)...compresses all the insulation and you just get colder....warming patches...keeps the palm area warm, but thumbs still cold.

Well, I don't think it's a gimmick. My mittens used to have a regular fabric liner as the middle liner, and then I replaced that middle liner with the Windbloc liner, and the mittens do seem warmer. Even the thumbs are warmer than they used to be, just not as warm as I want them to be. If I wear the mittens up in the 30-40 degree range, my hands sweat.

The material is about the thickness of regular Polar Fleece, but seems to have three layers. One side is orange, the other side is blue, and if you push a pin through it, as you do when sewing it, you can feel and hear a little pop as the needle pierces what I suspect is some sort of windproof membrane between the blue and the orange layers.

I purchased a test yard from the factory, over the internet, at:

https://www.maldenmillsstore.com/

It cost about 20 dollars, and they wanted a one-yard minimum order. I was willing to pay that because I wanted to experiment. I also tried making some glove liners, but I misjudged the size and they came out too small for my hands but too big to stuff into the leather glove shells. My brother once rode in 20-below weather and said he had to stuff some bubble wrap in his crotch to block the wind down there. If I have a chance to try that temperature this season, and it is really cold, I might try sewing up some fleece underwear. However, I don't expect to really need that since I have some good wool pants for those conditions.

I sewed my mitten liners by hand because I don't have a machine, so I can't say how the stuff goes through a machine.

How are you guys shifting with lobster gloves?

I've got a pair of LL Bean fleece mittens, and my thumbs stay pretty warm. If they do get chilly, I tuck them inside the fingers area to warm them up on long straigtaways -- works pretty good so far with temps in the low 20s.

Shifting? What's that? Both my commuters are single-speeds! Actually, they shift fine with thumbshifters, and pretty much all Shimano shifters, including Rapidfire. Campy Ergo might be a little tricky, but not too bad. I've never tried SRAM...

Campy Ergo would be fine too...its Shimano Road STIs that would be a challenge (excluding maybe Sora).

Yeah, I'm not worried about shifting on my MTB with lobsters. I commute on a road bike .

My frnt shifter's guts contract in the cold and won;t engage. Converting to SS this winter.