Winter glove options?
 

Hello,

It's finally starting to get cold here in Columbus, Ohio! The gloves that I currently have are the Pearl Izumi Cyclone & the lobster. I wear them layered... however it's just not working for me. One my fingers are still cold and two it's so clunky that switching positions on the bike... just not quite that easy.

Suggestions?

I've figured out the legs and the feet... still working on the fingers.

Forgot to mention... I'm riding about 12+ miles round trip and would like to increase to 24+ miles round trip here soon.

Someone else just started a gloves thread:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=487552

As I posted over there, I just picked up a pair of orange hunting gloves at Meijer for $8.99 and they were toasty warm this morning. Hunting clothes are warm and cheap and easy to find everywhere this time of year. They're basically orange ski gloves, but hunting stuff is way cheaper than ski stuff. Probably not built as well, but they should hold up OK, and they don't cost the $90 I paid for ski gloves way back when.

As a bonus, they're bright orange, so my turn signals are visible at night.

I have a problem with cold hands. The layer option does not work for me. I found that with gloves and glove liners, my hands got cold and without the glove liners (just the same glove) my hands didn't get cold. I know this is counterintuitive but try the gloves without layering.

Not counter-intuitive at all. If your fingers are compressed by too-tight layering, I'll bet that blood flow is restricted ==> less body heat in hands.

Buy non-cycling specific leather palm winter work gloves. My favorite are the Patagonia work gloves. Marmot, North Face, OR, Cloudveil, Mountain Hardwear all make them in their own style. I have not had to use liners once I started wearing these gloves. They are toasty warm.

Patagonia.

Capilene glove liners + windproof fingerless gloves


Lightweight Liners on clearance:
http://www.skirack.com/browse.cfm/4,2077.html

Fingerless gloves (these are AWESOME, marked way down by Patagonia if you can use a small--otherwise hard to find as they're mostly gone from stores for now: )
http://www.patagonia.com/usa/product...ODUCTS&ws=true


There are also these, but they're harder to layer:
Heavyweight liners:
http://www.backcountry.com/store/PAT...272&mv_pc=r126

Expedition weight liners:
http://www.masseysoutfitters.com/sho...ELAID=63718748

This is almost certainly not a result of layering, but of squeezing your hands too tight and cutting off blood flow.

I have the same effect with my feet. Two pair of socks is colder than one because they cut off blood flow. To get warmer, I have to switch to larger shoes that allow more socks, or put booties on the OUTSIDE of the shoes.

I use a 3 layer system - base is thin cotton photo gloves (bought at Ritz Camera), then my regular cycling gloves, then brown jersey work gloves over top. I have two different weight of work gloves, and I can remove layers if I need to.
Cheap and flexible.

Makes perfect sense. You need air space inside a glove.

This is my main problem with winter gloves. I need at least a XXL glove, and even some of those are tight. I finally found a specialized glove that was sold with liners. Without the liners the glove is actually a little loose and works great in really cold temps. Another specialized glove that's designed to fit tight is a thicker glove, but freezes my hands.

If you have the option, definitely go up a size, and if you're going to wear liners, go up two sizes.

More Options
 

Here are some options that I have tested...

1/ Shooting Gloves for Cold Weather. Bought a pair at Walmart. The glove were made of fleece, but had "leather" pads on the fingers and palms for gripping a rifle. The work very well on chilly mornings. The only drawback was the cuffs tore off at the seam with the glove. Some times I'll put light cycling gloves inside them for extra warmth. Also you can wipe your nose with the fleece part (ick).

2/ Paddling Gloves. Also found at Walmart. The neoprene gloves are waterproof and windproof. My hands are toasty in them. They grip the bike very well. They also provide a nice layer of padding (whcih was nice when I fell during the freezing rain on Monday morning). The drawback is that if I use them in summer during a downpour, my hands are "pruny" from sweating when I get home. Get a XL or XXL pair and put glove in them to soak up the sweat.

3/ Overmitts. Fooled you. These came from the MEC in Calgary. A woman at work gave them to me as they too hot for her. These roomy mitts need to have a glove or mitt inside them. If I wear them when it is above 0° C (32°F) they can be too hot. http://www.mec.ca/ search for overmitt

4/ Hand knitted wool mittens. Made by my Dad. They are poor in the wet and not at all wind resistant. The good thing is that if it is cool, but not cold, your hands do not overheat.

5/ Handle bar mitts. The idea was taken from US Patent #05740700. A person where I used to work made them from ballistic nylon, with some velcro. The secret was coat hanger wire inserted (a circular cuff and lengthwise) into them to keep them in the position you wanted. I tested them once. They were fantastic. There was plenty of room as they fit over the brakes and shifters. You could wear your normal gloves. He made them loose enough that you could easily get your hands out. Here is a link to a sample. http://www.discountramps.com/atv-handlebar-mitts.htm My coworkers were not as bulky. (If a person from Nexen reads this. How about posting your pattern for all of us to use?)

Actually I wasn't squeezing my hands as neither the liners or the gloves were remotely tight, the problem was lack of air space around my digits, all the air space was being taken up with loose material. Without the liners, problem solved.

Hi guys thanks for all the responses. I returned the lobster claws was at another bike store and got the Chiba... omg they are warm... used them to ride in today.

I have just been wearing ski gloves.

I use a clove made by 'Seirus' not sure of the model but their stuff all be it more for ski types is pretty top notch.

For real nastiness try wearing surgical gloves under your other gloves. They keep your hands dry and really help with the cold.

You should be able to buy them in bulk so they are not so expensive.

Sugoi Firewall Z

http://www.eurekacyclesports.co.uk/u...U.BLK.BACK.jpg

awesome gloves, however if I wear them above 32F - (wore them last year at -16F when I was offroading in a blizzard and was totally comfortable!) - my hands sweat, so I have a lighter pair of full finger gloves for >32F.

Ugh. I bought a pair of neoprene gloves thinking they'd be great in cold rain. The problem is, they don't let water (or vapor) OUT either. I wore them exactly one ride - when I got to work I peeled them off and poured out a few ounces of sweat.

I'd have to assume that I'd have the same problem (if not worse) wearing surgical gloves.

Personally if my hands are going to be soaked anyway I'd just as soon have it be rainwater. At least it's not as disgusting.

Hand warmers from the drug store work for me. It feels like I'm cheating but they work on the coldest days and no gloves I have tried do.

I use neoprene (I can't spell) paddling gloves, they seem to work well. But then again it doesn't get too much below freezing where I'm from.

I use cheap knit stretchy gloves from target as an underlayer, with cheap target wind/waterproof gloves as an outer layer until it drops below 20F. Then I use Ice fishing mittens as the outer layer. They are really too warm until about 15F, but are worth it to keep my thumbs warm.

I bought great gloves from Cabelas last year after trying all kinds of options in sub-zero winter weather. They are too warm for anything over 20-something degrees out, but I love em. I guess they are made for people working up on the pipeline in Alaska and stuff like that.

Check out TJ Maxx. I got a pair of Man***** mittens there last year for $20. They work for me from 35f down to 12f last year.

Someone had posted using Grandoe Primo Elite gloves and I bought a pair from REI as a result. They're no longer available from REI but are for sale elsewhere:

http://www.shopwiki.com/detail/d=Gra...jumpToFirst=t/

They're warmer than Pearl Izumi Lobster claw gloves and work very well. I find they're actually slightly too warm with the windchill into the 20s if you have good core layering.

Kinco ski gloves:

http://www.keepsafesolutions.net/mai...&reviews_id=20


Amazing and much cheaper than big name ski golves

From other threads on these forums, Moose Mitts are reportedly very warm and made specifically for bikes, not ATV's/motorcycles. Both standard and road versions, standard version has internal pocket for a chemical hand warmer.

The gloves actually breathe fairly well (for a latex glove!). I've only used them in the nastiest of conditions and they were a life saver in those situations. For day-to-day use I think they would be impractical, however.

Pearl Izumi Amfib gloves are really warm. I don't bother wearing mine unless the temperature is below freezing because they are too warm otherwise. When the weather starts getting really cold, I often wear the Amfibs on my morning commute and bring and lighter pair of gloves in my seatbag to wear in the afternoon.

I've heard of backpackers using vapor barriers to keep their other layers dry. I remember that the skin produces less sweat because it's already saturated with moisture, but I might be wrong.

Between sweating on uphills, and freezing on downhills, some disposable rubber gloves might help keep warm gloves from getting too wet.

Also -- I had the same result with glove liners that were a tight fit inside my winter gloves. I tried one hand with a liner and one without - they were both equally cold.

from this web page: