Winter gloves

I bought the Maplin heated gloves yesterday and I really like them! Rode home last night and back in this morning with full feeling in my fingers, without liners or anything. I expected my hands to feel really hot but it’s just a nice temperature. Good for this sort of cold but you’d need more below -5 or so, I reckon. And a proper bargain at £12.

There are a couple of downsides: you can feel the heating element in the palm of your hand, but I think I just have delicate hands (ha!) and it could be solved by some padding or a thin pair of gloves underneath; I bought a medium and they seem pretty big, I don’t think I’d be able to do anything particularly dextrous like change gear or find my work security pass in my pocket (as proven this morning); and the long sleeves make putting them on difficult if you insist on wearing them with a huge down jacket, as I did.

If anyone would like to try them out then let me know, I’m more than happy to share the warmth.

I also bought the heated insoles but haven’t had a chance to try them out yet as I need to make them smaller – the only size they had was 6-12 and I have little midget feet. If I don’t think I can cut them small enough to fit my feet without damaging the elements then I’ll pass them on to someone with more normal sized feet...

Mechanix Winter Armor are my light cold weather glove of choice.

toasty warm, light weight, cheap as chips and dexterous as fuck. not sure you can get them in the UK though.

There was this arctic explorer bloke on The One Show last night who emphasised how important it was that you cold-weather gear was not to tight as this will obviously impede circulation and make them useless, regardless of how insulating they are.

I make this mistake a lot. I have short fat fingers. So large gloves end up having floppy finger tips. Which is annoying. Tight gloves just simply dont work though.

It's why I've ended up with XXXL gloves.

I know most here probably have bad circulation and are after something more heavy duty, but I just purchased these Endura Dexter Windproof Gloves.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=32183&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Shopping&utm_name=UnitedKingdom

I opted for these as I thought I'd get more use out of them than anything too heavy duty.

They were a bit chilly first thing this am but fine last night. Plus they are nice and thin and have good grip and maneuverability. Only downside is they are a little tight as they are new which might have added to the lack of warmth.

We'll see how they fair and also I might see if my snowboarding merino liners will fit inside, and/or possibly get some silk ones

tons of sweet crude

I just recieved some EBay £5 silk liners. Bloody nice for the money. But unsurprisingly slippy. So will only be used under other gloves. Planning to just use my thin Nomis rugby gloves* inside my pogies.

(*not really rugby gloves as they are an illegal full finger version of the standard Nomis rugby gloves)

Warmest are the Craft Lobster mitts, but they significantly degrade dexterity.

I think heated gloves might be the way forward.

Although, all of that said, the best gloves I ever had were some wooly Carhart ones with Thinsulate lining in them, I sadly lost them.

Heads to Gooogle

Planet x insul8or. Thinsulate lined, grippy bits, decent quality. £10.

Round up a size if you have long fingers.

Just got back from a 1hr15m ride - the Garmin dipped down to -3.5degC at one point. No problems with cold hands with Gore Xenon SO Thermo gloves. Recommended.

Toes were a bit chilly though, despite the SIDI Diablos...

^Problem with posts like this is I read it and think "sounds good, I shall buy some" and end up with 15 pairs of gloves, none of which actually keep my hands warm.

My Craft Lobster gloves were defeated by the cold this morning, with merino liners in.

Wear all 15 at once?

Burn them one at a time on a little brazier attached to the handlebars?

^Problem with posts like this is I read it and think "sounds good, I shall buy some" and end up with 15 pairs of gloves, none of which actually keep my hands warm.

My Craft Lobster gloves were defeated by the cold this morning, with merino liners in.

Wat really? I have this same setup and my hands were warm. I have been riding slower on purpose though.

Are they loose on your hands?

^Problem with posts like this is I read it and think "sounds good, I shall buy some" and end up with 15 pairs of gloves, none of which actually keep my hands warm.

My Craft Lobster gloves were defeated by the cold this morning, with merino liners in.

To be fair, they aren't amazing, they're great for the price, though.

I think the most important thing is to keep the circulation going in your hands from the start.

As loose as they can be- XXL, the end of my thumb is against the fabric, but the other fingers are ok.

Oddly its the ring and little finger on both hands that start to chill, the other fingers are ok.

How odd. I dont think you get gloves much better than that without going heated...

As an aside, making a fist helps. Put your thumb in it too.

This is much easier if you are riding fixed obv.

Do any y'all have experience with the Craft Siberia gloves?
I usually get through the winter with a pair of Specialized Deflect which are fine down to around freezing for me as I run hot and seem to have pretty good circulation to my hands.
It's been pretty cold though and may stay that way so I'm thinking of getting a pair from Sigma and a pair of icebreaker liners for if it gets really cold. Both are on sale.

Anyone have knowledge,maybe of both the Deflect and Siberia?

Oddly its the ring and little finger on both hands that start to chill, the other fingers are ok.

I have the same. I think it's because they're smaller. I've often wondered about making so extra mit sections for my bottom two fingers.

i find storing gloves on a radiator for the morning really helps in the crucial first minutes before you warm up. That and making sure the gap between jacket and glove is sealed. Also +1 to bigger sizes - I'm amazed at how many brands of cycling gloves have a tight thumb or fingers when in the 'holding the bar' position.

I find I don't need much dexterity to operate a brake lever and hold on, just fingers that aren't numb! If you can tolerate the control compromise of proper mittens (must be wind blocking), they make a huge difference to warmth. For road rides out of town, they are great because 90% is just cruising. For proper control of brifters and start/stop in town, not so good and that's where lobsters come in.

That said, clearly pogies are the way forward for proper cold weather riding. Always fancied making some from large plastic milk bottles...

Do any y'all have experience with the Craft Siberia gloves?

http://taticycles.com/p/330

might be helpful.

Dammit if you really want to solve your problem check these out. I struggle to believe anyone in the UK would need them. But they are probably the warmest thing you could squeeze a brake with.

I was in the process of ordering them, when I had a last minute change of heart, and ordered my pogies. They look amazing.

http://www.empirecanvasworks.com/icebikemittens.htm

I've just switched from using the Endura MT500 to Endura Deluge zipless overshoes and I found the 100% neoprene seems to be way warmer for my toes than the MT500 in sub-zero riding.

I think the rubber toe cap on the MT500 might be to blame.

^^ Thanks Ed, good review - always more meaningful when it's been written by someone who's actually used the product and probably bought it with their own money. So I've ordered a pair.

All my cold weather gear (new bibtights and hat) will probably turn up just as the weather changes.

Stupid bastard heated gloves stopped fucking working this morning, aaaaargh my fingers!!!

Back to the shop for a refund I go...

Dammit if you really want to solve your problem check these out. I struggle to believe anyone in the UK would need them. But they are probably the warmest thing you could squeeze a brake with.

I was in the process of ordering them, when I had a last minute change of heart, and ordered my pogies. They look amazing.

http://www.empirecanvasworks.com/icebikemittens.htm

Glad this didn't get posted before Xmas.
#Drools.....