cold fingers

[kpc]

It gets quite cold sometimes. How do you all keep your fingers warm? I've been following your previous advice (long pants over shorts, lots of layers, 2sox, etc,) and most of me is comfortable. But my fingers get so cold they hurt until they finally go numb after about a half hr. I've started wearing full finger biking gloves, but they aren't warm enough. I have nice thick wool mitts that I wear all of the time, but I'm afraid i won't be able to shift or brake and my hands will slide around. thanks!

[tinkerbell]

what do you consider quite cold? I guess I'm trying to get an idea of what temps you are riding at...and length of time you are riding might help too.

[elevenpointfive]

KPC, I live in Minnesota and ride year-round, unless it goes below zero. I like a thin poly glove base liner underneath Pearl Izumi lobster gloves--those keep my hands warm down to 10 degrees F, and the goofy-looking divided design works great for shifting and braking. Haven't had any problem with slipping in 8 years of winter riding. They're expensive, around $50, but worth it and pretty long-lasting. I got about 5 years' use out of my first pair before the insulation got too compressed to be useful.

Edited to add: Like these which you can buy here, in fact.

[newfsmith]

I have such an arsenal of gloves, mitts, overgloves, overmitts, goretex shell mitts that it takes me 10 minutes to put on a pair in the morning. I have the PI amfib lobsters. They are good, but for me they are no warmer than the $9 hunting gloves from Wal-mart. They do have a lot more reflective materials. One of the big problems I have is remembering to rotate gloves so they can dry, otherwise the insulation gets sweaty and clammy. It takes them about 2 days to really dry, so it is a good thing that the Walmart gloves are about as warm as the PI's. I use leather work gloves over thin stretch mini gloves from 40 to 35, switch to insulated gloves/mitts at 35 down to 20. Below 20 I use Outlast liners, then heavy wool mitts, then leather "chopper" mitts. Below 10 I pull the barends off my bike and put on the "Bullwinkle" pogies. With those on I can go back to a pair of wool gloves or even just the mini gloves. A lot of the heat loss is at your wrists so long liner gloves or shirts with the thumbhole in the cuff are really helpful. The real key element is windproof. Avoid neoprene, they get very clammy and tend to make your fingers cramp. Finally, don't take anything I say too seriously, everyone's hands feel the cold differently and what works for me may be rubbish for you.

[kpc]

Cold to me is anything below freezing. The days I braved the cold on the road were about 30 degrees and after about an hour I was done for temp wise. Not enough time to get tired, but my hands were numb and I was not enjoying myself. Mountainbiking has been fine at those temps, less wind. But I'd really like to be able to do some road riding in the winter too.

[MightyMitre]

Cold hands is something I rarely suffer with as they're always hot. My boyfriend thinks I'm a freak sometimes as they hardly ever get cold.

However, I'd recommend a glove made with Windstopper as it's often the wind that is the worst thing for chilling your body.

Also, make sure they're not too tight esp. around the wrist so the warm air ( and blood!) can circulate nicely.

Keep warm

[BikeLady]

I got Pearl Izumi Inferno gloves last winter, and I have yet to find a temperature that they don't work at. In fact, my hands have been sweating when the temp was as low as 20F. They work equally well on the mtb and the road bike, because the first two fingers are separated, and the other two are snuggled together. No annoying seams, either. I stick them over the heat vent for a couple of minutes to warm the lining before I put them on, and I never notice the cold.