I can currently stay pretty comfortable down to 0°F with bar pogies and a thick + thin glove on each hand. However, it’s been about -15°F in the mornings where I live and my fingers feel like they’re about to fall off by the time I get to work. I already don’t have great circulation to my hands and, predictably, it gets even worse when my body is ready to sacrifice my appendages to keep my core temperature up (even though I’m sweating by the time I get there sometimes).
Looking for recommendations for gloves/mittens based on personal experience if possible, all the review sites I’ve found either:
- Say something generic like “full winter range”. Not too helpful when that’s pretty regionally specific and cycling review sites are often in the UK and are more concerned about water than extreme cold (as far as I’m aware) or
- Are aggregating Amazon reviews and not doing any useful research on their own, just trying to collect affiliate link money
Any advice appreciated, thanks!
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At that kind of weather, wouldn’t you need to go like battery operated? I’ve done a few rides at like 10 degrees F, but my feet always got cold.
I’m Finnish and for me the answer is leather and wool, usually.
Going -25c and colder I’d change from my basic leather gloves to larger ones which aren’t as good though, but they reach further up the arm and have more filling in them so they’re warmer than the basic leather glove and make sure O don’t get wind up the arm or hand, but they let in wind more through the glove though, as they’re not leather, but the filling makes up for it when the trip is less than an hour.
If you smoke cigarettes or use nicotine, cutting that out will help tremendously with your peripheral circulation, which is what freezes your hands.
My problem has usually been the face. Covering up mostly is easy enough and if it’s sunny I can wear shades. But it’s not usually sunny in the winter in Finland and I need to see so I had to leave eyes open usually. Which sucks ass when you’re driving 35km/h into ice crystals in the air.
But today I finally got myself a pair of driving goggles.
Don’t have a solution, just want to say I feel ya! Wisconsin here - below 0 first thing I do when I get in is make coffee and just hold the mug for like 5 minutes
I used to live in northern Vermont and bicycle was my only transportation. I live in a more temperate region now, but my partner has Reynaud Syndrome, so the challenges persist. Just not for my hands.
For sub-zero F temps, pogies are the way, although it sounds like they aren’t quite working well enough for you. For long rides, I put a chemical handwarmer in each pogie, and that let me run a lighter glove. While wasteful, there are ways to mitigate the consumption of disposables.
For my bike without pogies, I used Pearl Izumi AmFib lobster claws. Those served me well to -28F, which was the lowest temp I saw when I lived there.
The following isn’t a gear solution per se, but more of a prophylaxis: hunting reaction training. Our peripheral blood vessels rotate through a set of responses when exposed to cold. That rotation is called “hunting.” It’s “simple” to retrain our hunting reaction to maintain blood flow to hands and feet when cold. And holy hell, it’s unpleasant. The short of it: keep your hands and feet hot while letting the rest of your body get cold. Like serious discomfort levels of cold. Do that for an hour everyday. For me, I noticed improvements in about ten days, and then only need maintenance training every few weeks and again in late Fall. My partner’s Reynaud flares dropped to maybe once per winter after ~20 days of training.
The source you want for hunting reaction training is Army Cold Weather Warfare (Research Center?). I’m on mobile and can’t find the original paper right meow.
This led to some fascinating reading on Wikipedia, I never realized our bodies cycled through contraction/dilation like that. I’m going to pay attention to see if I notice it next time I’m outside for a while.
Have you considered electrically heated gloves?
Counterpoint (because I’ve gone through a ton of heated gloves), most are heated because they are poorly insulated to begin with. Good gloves shouldn’t need to be heated, and good heated gloves tend to be pretty bulky.
Yeah, I can see both sides here. Definitely considered heated gloves or maybe even heated liners or some sort of hand warmer, but I’d like to avoid screwing around with batteries.
but I’d like to avoid screwing around with batteries.
Yeah, the bulk and just needing to worry about charging your gloves is off-putting to me. They can work well if you are stationary and aren’t able to generate enough body heat for your hands to stay warm, but I don’t find them to be ideal for riding with.
Good luck in your search. Where are you based out of curiosity? Sorry I can’t help, but genuine shoutout to ride in those temps.
Hah, thanks! South Dakota, USA. Hands are really the only problem, I manage to keep everything else fairly warm with layers.
I’m back to say that in really cold days in NYC I use Pearl Izumi’s AmFIB Lobster Gel gloves (https://www.pearlizumi.com/products/amfib-lobster-gel-gloves-14342006?srsltid=AfmBOoqFrw3Tpa10AD_OdQf8Dxua0bPtYIq8o3a-sO-iabqWEqq4qTlx&variant=40647605649579). Obviously NYC doesn’t get to the temps you described, but per the product page linked above, the company alleges that these gloves are made for up to minus 30 below.
Definitely going to check those out, they’re apparently highly recommended since you’re the third one in this thread to mention them!
I don’t really ride in sub-zero temps so this isn’t from first hand experience, but I’ve always been curious about those handlebar muffs. Something like these “handlebar mittens”.
It would allow you to use them with your normal riding gloves, while giving you a better tactile feel of your grips and levers. Bonus points for water proofing.
Yeah, those do work - and if you want to try this out, just cut open a PET bottle or a bigger plastic container and ziptie them somehow to your handlebars. That does look totally wonky, but it works by keeping your hands out of the headwind. Wear your normal gloves underneath
I do have something like that, the pogies that I mentioned. It’s an odd word. Specifically, I have Bar Mitts. Not insulated like the ones you linked, but a big improvement over nothing covering my hands even with gloves.
I already don’t have great circulation to my hands
Regardless of what option you end up with, it will do you a lot of good to “pump” your hands often while riding to get warm blood there.
It’s also important not to get something that’s going to be too tight; let some space in your gloves serve as a buffer.
That said…
Are your pogies simple neoprene, or are they “thermal” and lined for warmth?
And have you tried gloves with glove liners?
Have you tried “thermal work gloves” that are rubberized on the outside (waterproof, and windproof)? Some are rated to -30C, and they are NOT bulky, but you are expected to be moving around with them, and they wouldn’t work if you were stationary for long periods of time.
How long are your rides in those temperatures? You might not be able to escape the eventual cold if you are doing it for many hours on end.
I like the suggestion of keeping my hands moving. Also think tightness may be an issue. I kinda-sorta have liners in the form of the inner pair of gloves, but they’re not intended to be worn inside other gloves so the overall fit is probably a bit snug.
Using Bar Mitts, which are a pretty straightforward neoprene shell. I did consider lined pogies, but I actually quite like how much room is inside these.
I like the idea of work gloves, I suppose anything designed for someone working outside all day in these temperatures ought to also work well on a bike. My ride isn’t too long, up to 15 minutes if I’m going into a headwind. Definitely not spending 2 hours outside on a recreational ride when it’s this cold.
Thanks for the tips!
My ride isn’t too long, up to 15 minutes
That’s your problem! I find that it takes at least 15 minutes for my body (and hands) to warm up sufficiently to carry me through the next few hours of cold-weather riding.
In that case, pre-heat your gloves (usually by just wearing them for 5 minutes indoors) and see if that helps. If you keep your bike outdoors, the cold bars will speed up the feeling of cold on your hands, so those work gloves may give you a nice buffer from the cold contact.
Re: bar mits. i also have a neoprene pair, as well as a few with liners in them. The ones with liners are warmer, but because I signal with my hands, I find them more difficult to safely ride with because the linings catch on the gloves every time you put your hands back in.
Yep, same concern here about getting my hands back on the bars after signaling too. I’ll for sure try preheating my gloves.
I’m also looking at getting a heater for my itty-bitty garage soon for reasons unrelated to my bike, which may help with the bars making my hands cold. Although, I’m somewhat skeptical of how much of an effect is really there since rubber grips ought to do a certain amount of insulating.
No extreme low temperatures here (more like extreme rain!) but I recall a time ago I followed a blog called “Bike retrogrouch” where the dude allegedly cycled on extreme weather sometimes and did some recomendations on his gear.
TIL he mentions Pearl Izumi PRO Softshell Lobster gloves.
http://bikeretrogrouch.blogspot.com/2014/01/cold-weather-cycling.html
Every single recommendation for gloves is Izumi, I suppose I’d better check those out 😂
Thanks!
