Essential winter clothing?

https://www.climbers-shop.com/clothing/gloves-and-mitts/dachstein-mitts__1377025

seconded

These are pretty good. On my second winter with them and no holes yet too. Even pack down super small when your hands get too hot.

I'd go with another Arc'teryx as my Beta Sv is nothing short of amazing but I'm not gonna start riding in that

Why not :) For pouring rain or snow, it's the way to go. Layers underneath, completely waterproof, massive pit zips from waist to elbow so no clammy feels even when it warms up a bit. Beta AR served me well for year-round London commuting and here in Colorado where it snows regularly (but doesn't rain a lot).

airodynamix

If this hasn't already been snapped up I could be tempted...

If i can chip in my worth.
Castelli current infinium i find freezing the primaloft is on the front zip in bit only and misses your kidneys .
Proviz new nightrider in red and silver is my current commute . Waterproof no hood a little shorter in the arms than my old paclite vail from ten years ago.
Gore paclite latest was thinner than even the waffa new garb that is like condoms. That was returned and it wouldn't take a tumble to rip it.Chapeau city jacket likewise poor fit baggy around the middle very poor quality . Returned the same day.
Gore insulated are good breath well but very delicate and not backpack compatible .

So like skinny says if you the best you will have to pay alot
The Arc'teryx BETA AR JACKET MEN'S seems to fit the bill if it lasts the same period as my karrimore vail paclite in red that i paid £130 pound ten years ago and owes me nothing. Best jacket i ever owned.

So far …….

My girlfriend has different overshoes from Galibier and they seem well made and she is happy with them.

Be careful with the ones you posted the link to if you have nice cranks and you don’t want them scuffed as that’s exactly what that rubbery toe bit will do.

Rapha Deep Winter gloves for me. Busted mine out for the first time this year and they worked perfectly during a five hour ride this morning in the Scottish snow.

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Nice, how did your photographer get that angle?

GoPro with a bite mount. @hollow__legs clearly rode around biting down on that thing for 5 hours just to get that sweet shot.

Not even that elegant. I shoved my phone in my mouth and took a video.

Get them bar mits?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144283106445?

Yea I get that... it's a bloody great jacket but if I come off and rip the crap out of it, that's a shit load of money down the drain... if only they did something cheaper ;)

I fucking love a bit of jacket talk.

0-15 is a two jacket range: 8-15 and 0-7. Gabba / perfetto type thing or other thinner recommendations above for 8+ and a proper rain jacket in the back pocket for when you know it's going hammer down. Skinny knows what he's talking about. 7 and below is thick winter soft shell / rapha PT jacket / albion insulated jacket or whatever the other recommendations are above with Base layers of your choice and then a rain jacket. OR hardshell if you run cold and want to combine the two for the 0-7 range. You will die of heatstroke if you try and do a reasonable ride in a hardshell jacket at 12 degrees. Buy two different jackets and save money now

Last year I was recommended the Endura Primaloft ProSL gloves (you can get them in an MTB variety too, I just found a pair in my local Evans).

To me, they're very impressive. Once your core warms up, it seems like they do too. I have experienced some of the issues mentioned in the reviews on Wiggle (liners being pulled out with your hand) but overall I'm very happy for the days of the year I have to use them.

Yeah, was looking at them.
@se1derful - also looking at those primaloft and wondering.
Also lobster gloves too.

I now have one/ two pairs of them dhb gloves to return though...

Proviz new nightrider in red and silver is my current commute .

I was looking at getting one of those for my commute. How do they come up in terms of fit and sizing? Cheers

😂 well played

Me too... it takes me ages to buy bits these days as I do look into it a lot before a purchase. It keeps on coming back to Albion personally and I do like buying from independents... thanks for your advice... and everyone elses... I guess summer riding is that much easier as you don't have to worry so much about the elements... I'll carry on looking!!!

I would agree and disagree with the above. It might be a two jacket range now but certainly
wasn't with the original Gabba/ Perfetto with stretchy Windstopper.
It was around 0° the last 2 days and I had no issue with a Sportful Fiandre (the old one that is like a Gabba) and 2 base layers and I have no problem with the same jacket at 12°.

I have the original Gabba, the old Perfetto and the Sportful Fiandre that all use the stretchy X-lite Windstopper and they all feel pretty much the same they work from 0-15. you put them on and at any effort you feel just right, I once got so soaked that there was water running down the sleeves into my gloves filling them like balloons but the jacket still felt the same and I was warm.

Then I got the Perfetto with Infinium and recently a Sportful Fiandre also with Infinium and they are both crap but completely different from each other.
The Perfetto is kind of chilly all the time and I feel I have to keep the effort up to keep warm, it has very little stretch and feels like a straight jacket in any other than riding position.
The Fiandre is absolute garbage, worst cycling jacket I ever had, on my first ride I had to take it off after 10km and switch to the old one because I was soaked in sweat and felt like suffocating, after 5min in the old model it all just went away and I stopped thinking about what I was wearing. Second ride was around 7° but still the same, had to go super low effort below 20km/h to get home without a heat stroke.
I thought they knew what they were doing with the Gabba and would just keep the formula and maybe change the colours around, don't know why we are 10 years back with everybody just flailing around with a million jacket models that all don't work.
Did the X-lite Windstopper have some nasty chemicals like Shake Dry?

This is interesting.

I thought the Fiandre jacket is Neoshell? I just got the Fiandre Medium jacket in the sales, which is Infinium front as a replacement for my old Castelli Alpha Light (Great jacket, with which the new version seems not as good: odd fit, bad sleeves). Haven't used it yet.

Anyone tried the Sportful Total Comfort jacket? You can pick them up pretty cheap atm

https://saddleback.co.uk/products/sportful-aw21-total-comfort-jacket

Agree with you about 10 years ago with kit from Rapha / Castelli etc, they had it nailed with Gabba and the PTJ, and have iterated themselves into a thousand options none of which seem to be quite as good (based on ancedotal evidence), although I trust @PhilDAS so maybe this new Rapha one he is on about does the job. Personally over 8/9 degrees baselayer LS jersey and burner or gilet is plenty for me.

To selectively quote Chris Rock:
'...There's no money in the cure, the money is in the medicine. That's how they get paid, on the comeback. That's how a drug dealer makes his money, on the comeback....Shit, that’s like Cadillac making a car that lasts for 50 years. And you know they can do it, but they ain’t going to do nothing that fucking dumb. Shit, they got metal on the Space Shuttle that can go around the Moon and withstand temperatures of up to 20,000 degrees, you mean to tell me you don’t think they can make an El Dorado with a fuckin’ bumper that don’t fall off?'

I agree but they should just make a Gabba that falls apart after 2 years but works well if they need the sales. If Rapha can make disintegrating fabrics I am sure Castelli can figure it out.

Got one from saddleback here but it's going back. Sizing is more relaxed compared to the Fiandre Medium so it doesn't fit. Seems like a well featured jacket (especially for the discount price) though.

Having had a couple of jackets with Alpha (Sportful R&D Wind jersey and Rapha pro team insulated) over the years, there's not many days it's cold enough to need such a jacket so I think an alpha gilet (such as DHB aeron alpha gilet) to use with a less warm jacket is a more useful piece.