I went to an REI seminar the other night about women and bikes, and the pro rider's constant mantra (other than clean your bike) was WearGloves WearGloves WearGloves , fullfingered only. Everything she demo-ed about repairs came with "see? aren't you glad you're wearing gloves?" And now with this thread about accidents I'm rethinking my approach.

But for those of us who are saving pennies or still shopping, my stay-warm-in-winter fix with what I have on hand is

1. light glove liners, I've had them for years for xcountry skiing
2. fingerless padded bike gloves over the liners
3. if it's really cold I then put something like a good waterresistant glove (or even mitten would work!) over that. I now have some Mountain Hardwear windstopper gloves that I use here and for skiing that are perfect.

In Colorado I like this approach because at 7am I may need this, along with tights and wool socks, but at 4:30 I may need shorts and a T. So my gloves come in layers too.

But there's probably a flaw here for the accident concern, so I will be looking for other gloves as well, there are Christmas wish lists after all.