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!
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.