Our recent question of the week found that cold hands is the biggest problem area during winter cycling.
I thought it might be useful to crowdsource some solutions, since we have so many experienced cyclists as newsletter subscribers, and many of them live in cold climates.
If you’ve solved the issue of cold hands on winter rides, how did you do it? Is there a specific type of glove or brand of glove that you found that keep your hands warm enough? Is there a special system you use?
Let’s see what all the readers have to say about what really works. Leave a comment with your best tips and tricks.
Greetings all,
I’ve tried most brands and styles of gloves. Each has a use. However, I’ve found, the single most effective means of keeping my hands comfortable in cold weather, is a bar mitt, or pogies, as they are sometimes called. The mitt completely covers the brake/shifter back up to the bar’s curve and provides a protected area into which the rider slips their hand. The product I am currently using is called “Bar Mitts”. They are made of neoprene and have become a go-to item when the temperatures are below about 35 or 40 degrees for any length of time.
This type product does have a downside, in that they surround the rider’s hands. I was apprehensive when first using them. Over time, I have adjusted to bar mitts, developed appropriate techniques that are now natural motions and practices, and feel reasonably comfortable with them in most circumstances. However, bar mitts may not be appropriate for certain settings. I should note that bar mitts are for those for whom “form follows function”, which includes me – some riders may not like the looks of a bar mitt.
Cold, early morning rides can be formidable and miserable; early mornings can also be beautiful and captivating. An item like a set of bar mitts, can keep the window to cold, early morning riding, an open and viable option.
All my best.
I agree that cold weather bar mitts are great and I use them regularly. They do limit the number of ways you can position your hands on longer rides. And if it warms up and your hands start sweating, they are too large to slip into your back pocket! But it is great to be able to use fall finger gloves inside the bar mitts. The pros outweigh the cons.
Mittens. Doubled up; heavy wool mittens with deerskin mittens over them. Warmer and not as restrictive as pogies, And you can add silk liners or hand warmers. Deerskin mittens with warm wool mittens underneath.
Levels:
Cool: polypro liners under fingerless gloves
Cooler: thin fingered gloves with polypro liners as backup
Coolest: lightly insulated, zippered long fingers
Cold: insulated gloves with polypro liners as backup
Colder: heavy insulated, pouch for chemical warmer, overmitts as backup
Coldest and longest: heavy lithium battery warmed gloves with 3 temp settings.
I’ve been considering the battery warmed gloves. Does the battery last as long as claimed and do the gloves warm your fingers?
Yes! The best cycling accessory I ever bought. Enabled me commute to work all winter. At $100 per glove – they were worth every cent. A bargain when considering the collection of cycling gloves I bought only to give away because they didn’t keep my fingers warm. The batteries lasted a long time and had an indicator light to let you know when they needed charging. There were several settings but most of the time the low setting was all that I needed. I am sorry I can’t share the brand but I am now retired and wintering in Florida and my gloves are back in Northern Virginia. I do remember they were motorcycle gloves with the batteries in the cuffs and I purchased them through Amazon. Hope this is helpful.
I have Raynaud’s Syndrome in my hands (not feet), where, on exposure to cold, blood vessels constrict and cut off blood supply to my fingers. This can become exceptionally painful (and is potentially dangerous). I live in Canada though and run regulalry in winter temperatures that range from -5 to -30 (feels like i.e. wind/humidity) celcius; and I ride in temperatures down to -15c (feels like).
The only solution I’ve found that is both safe and effective (I tried bar mitts but ride in too urban an environment for those to be safe), are “hot hands.” I wear a very thin silk glove or the thickest nitrile medical gloves I can get, then put the hot hands on the back of my hand, then wear a pair of waterproof pearl izumi lobster claw mitts. I can grip my bars, brake and shift very well, even on gravel and riding my gravel bike on somewhat technical single track, and quite easily on the road in very urban and in more rural environments. I also, at 0c, will wear hot hands toe warmers (the trick is to put this in a winter shoe or summer shoes where you’ve blocked off ALL the airflow so the toe warmer doesn’t burn your foot when exposed to air flowing in, and to put the toe warmer under your insole so when your foot sweats, it doesn’t prevent to toe warmer from working … this is also why I usually wear nitrile gloves as a first layer … sweat prevents the warmers from working).
I use those heat packs under neoprene show covers on top of my shoes and it is beautiful. Put one in a jersey pocket. Next I put on short fingered gloves, a small hot pack on top and then put on full fingered gloves. I stay warm.
So, ‘winter’ is one of those words like ‘expensive’ that means different things to different people. For some it means ‘rainy’. For others it means -40. And unlike ‘winter’, -40 means the same thing to everyone since -40F is the same as -40C.
But you can ride at -40 – in fact it can be amazing. You have to dress for it, and pogies (with good gloves under them) are great. It’ll be cold for a while but once you warm up you’ll be amazed at how comfortable you can be. I run the 45NRTH Cobrafist pogies, which are a great option down to very low temperatures.
But for short trips (like commuting )where pogies are too much hassle to fit and there’s not enough time for the furnace to fire up, the cold can be excruciating. Your hands are hanging out in the weather and you can’t put them in your pockets – it can be miserable. The best fix I’ve found for that is heated gloves. Turn them on a couple of minutes before you go out and laugh at the cold all the way to work! Here I have a pair from Milwaukee – they’re warm and built to take the punishment of a jobsite, and look like new after a full winter of commuting in Ottawa.
Thin liner gloves, under cycling gloves, inside elastic-cuff mitts (any mitts where you can seal the inside, i.e. velcro cuff etc., creates a micro climate for your hands to not get cold, which is critical to keeping them warm ).
If your hands start to sweat, take off some other clothes or move to an over-glove instead of the mitts. In this situation as long as body is over-generating heat, going to liner glove and cycling mitts alone is often possible.
Don’t touch metal, even with the gloves on as much as possible (i.e. brake levers)
I was really surprised how effective liner gloves are, and how extremely durable the quality ones are (shop at outdoor/hunting stores) versus cheap thin liner gloves at regular stores.
For me my cold hands (and I get cold hands!) problem is completely solved with this.
But the key is NEVER let your hands get cold in the first place because reheating takes time.
My real problem is cold feet. Feet are stuck down there close to the frozen ground and don’t have muscle heat to keep them warm. I’ve tried everything short of electric socks and they’re next.
Let me start by saying cold where I live is usually 30-40°F. I wear my padded-palm Pearl Izumi fingerless gloves with a pair of looser fitting fleece lined gloves with gripper palms over them. It is important that the gloves are not snug and that you remember to wiggle your fingers frequently—at 10 minute intervals, or maybe when you notice your fingers.
I, like Lee above, have Reynaud’s Syndrome (https://www.webmd.com/arthritis/raynauds-phenomenon) but do not live in the truly frozen North, only in the chilly Mid-Atlantic. I never found a usable pair or combinations of glove liners+gloves that would help even with windproof clothing but then, quite belatedly and by chance, I discovered that wearing arm warmers (often doubled) over my lower arms under the usual winter jersey & jacket kept the arteries from constricting and thus the blood moving to my fingers.
Volt Tatra men’s rechargeable heated gloves are da bomb!! Wraps each finger and palm. 4 battery levels. I’ve had mine for several years fatty riding in NH with reynauds in my fingers.
i just use ski gloves, good down to 3oF or so.
ebay is full of them.
Winter here is 40 to -20. Glove and mitten combinations, like most people. Military surplus survival mitts for really cold.
I do a lot of activities that build shoulder strength, but also result in tight shoulders, which restrict blood flow to my hands. Daily yoga to open the shoulders results in warm hands!
To the Editors:
These postings are time stamped.
I read one, it said it was today at 9:00am or so! OH NO I yelled in terror…I am very late for my bike ride!
Then I look at the time on my iPad and see it is 7:50.am.
You are not showing the time zone.
If your intended audience is not all in the time zone you happen to be in, then the time you are disclosing should be coded to include the time zone, so that it does not seem as if we are reading something in the future.
Otherwise, I have been enjoying the Road Bike Rider for many years.
Thanks.
Haha
I don’t think you need to time stamp. Most of us pretty much know what time it is approximately.. My cold hand solution is riding indoors all winter. The roads are mostly unrideable until April anyway and indoor training is the best way to get faster
I handcycle (pedal using my hands) a lot , but my issue is how to keep my hands warm and dry in winter rides. I handcycle pretty hard and my hands start to sweat and usually soak my gloves. I wear thinsulate gloves but once they get sweat-wet, the wind freezes my hands. Long story short, my hands freeze to the point that I can’t grip the pedals anymore and I have to stop cycling in order to warm up my hands again. Any suggestions?
Ekoi electrically heated gloves good to -20°C
I’ve used Bar Mitts for years. They are so warm, I wear summer gloves and my hands still sweat at 10° F. I carry a heavier pair of gloves to wear off the bike at stops or roadside repairs. Changed a tube once in 15° F, with wind chill to minus 10, but that’s another story.