Need glove ideas, mine arent cutting it

[nomad85]

The temperature for my commute this morning was 3 degrees, 9-15 below with the windchill factored. My gear kept me comfortable except for my hands. Normally only my throttle thumb gets cold, today it got almost numb and my hands were very uncomfortable. Does anyone know a good solution? I use gore-tex(cheap ones) gloves with a couple knit gloves underneath(2 on my throttle hand as that thumb always gets the coldest, they usually help but didn't do much in the extreme cold we had today.
I am considering the Planet Bike Borealis gloves on Amazon.com, but I think I may have the same problem. I don't want to spend very much money on this, and I don't want a heated glove, nor to use hand warmers(PITA).

 

[dogman dan]

Making or finding some kind of fairing for the grips on the handlebars might help.

 

[vanilla ice]

Theres a lot of stuff out there for motorcycles/atvs so you won't have to roll your own. But that'd be cool too if you wanted to do that. Try searching on "handlebar muffs" or something like this.

 

[monster]

buy some ni-chrome wire off ebay and wrap it round your handle bars. i made heated handle bars like this and they worked a treat. you just need about 10w per handle. gloves wont keep your hands warm on a long ride but get a good pair of leather motorcycle gloves in case you fall off.

 

[Ypedal]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/UNIVERSAL-HEATED-GRIPS-KIT-MOTORCYCLE-ATV-SNOWMOBILE_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ72Q3a543Q7c66Q3a2Q7c65Q3a12Q7c39Q3a1Q7c240Q3a1318Q7c301Q3a0Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem280296600699QQitemZ280296600699QQptZMotorsQ5fATVQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/UNIVERSAL-7-8-REMOVABLE-HEATED-GRIPS-ATV-SNOWMOBILE_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ72Q3a543Q7c66Q3a2Q7c65Q3a12Q7c39Q3a1Q7c240Q3a1318Q7c301Q3a1Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem250326169404QQitemZ250326169404QQptZMotorsQ5fATVQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

I use these on my quad in -20celcius and 60+ MPH !!! :wink:

 

[Zoot Katz]

Lobster claws. Big orange rubber industrial ones with gauntlets. Wear your goretex and knit liners under them.
The goretex should keep the liner dry from the condensate that will form inside.
They're also called lobster man or chain saw mitts. Cheap and sturdy compared to specialised recreation wear.
They're almost as warm as mitts and easier to operate a twist grip throttle.
But thumbs, yeah they're hard to keep warm on a long ride. Are you using a thumb controlled throtte?

Hippo Hands were popular amongst some of my motorcycle buds. I had a fairing.

 

[nomad85]

Yeah I am using a thumb throttle. My twist throttle hurts my hand when I have gloves on, very uncomfortable, the thumb throttle is comfortable, but makes the thumb cold on longer rides, or when its extremely cold. I've looked into the hippo hand warmer things for motorcycles.. but I am not going to spend 100+$ on it. I just want a glove that will keep my hands warm I guess I'll try the planet bike gloves, or maybe my dads lobster gloves. Hopefully it wont get that cold again

 

[PedalingBiped]

I bought these overshoes from this snowmobiler site. They work great. They have other things to keep you warm also.

http://www.ruoutside.com/neos-overshoes.html

 

[Zoot Katz]

Yeah I am using a thumb throttle. My twist throttle hurts my hand when I have gloves on, very uncomfortable, the thumb throttle is comfortable, but makes the thumb cold on longer rides, or when its extremely cold. I've looked into the hippo hand warmer things for motorcycles.. but I am not going to spend 100+$ on it. I just want a glove that will keep my hands warm I guess I'll try the planet bike gloves, or maybe my dads lobster gloves. Hopefully it wont get that cold again

With some neoprene, velcro and contact cement, you can cobble together your own pair of handlebar muffs. Work it out with paper patterns and a few failures for under twenty-five bux.

Heck, hockey tape and a couple of styrofoam cups could probably be made to work well enough to keep the wind off your thumb. Works for toes on pedals running toe clips. They last a season if you're careful and add some more duct time from time to time.

I'm wearing "waterproof", thirty dollar, winter work gloves from Home Depot that would get me laughed off a construction site but they work as well as bike specific gloves under the same conditions while being more rugged for longer service under the more moderate requirements of bicycling. Depending on your latitude, winter bike gloves are built to last a few seasons at best. Cross country ski gloves are sometimes better quality, offer more options and are less expensive. They work on bicycles too. Climbing, kayaking, hang gliding and sky diving specific gloves get progressively more expensive for the same effect.

Look at what the people who must work in the weather are wearing. Maybe find something mil-spec at the surplus store.

Anyway, the semi-static thumb position and exposure to air currents are probably contributing factors for numb thumbs. Pressure from the seams in any style of glove or mitten construction will help constrict blood flow to your thumb.

I run a half-grip twister throttle. Wearing the thick winter gloves I have to be more careful to grab only the extreme end of the grip when handling the powered-up bike while I'm not mounted and not pointed in the direction I intend to ride.

 

[fifthmass]

Mittens are always better than gloves since the fingers will keep each other warm. Regarding throttle thumb coldness mittens won't make too much of a difference. I went to a big box sporting goods store and got the thickest ski mittens I could find. They work fine for me for long rides (30+ miles) down to 10-15 degrees and single digits for my regular commute (12 miles). If you go the mitten route be certain that you can quickly grab your brakes since mittens are longer off the finger tips than gloves.

Regarding feet I use battery powered socks with rechargable batteries. Bear in mind that in my experience they only work if you turn them on when your shoes and feet are at room temp. They don't work well once everything is cold and you then turn them on.

A final thought concerning heated grips. 20 watts for two grips will reduce your range by 5-10% depending on how much assist you put in. Heated grips work out to 1 wh/mile at 20 mph. Calculate your energy needs carefully for longer trips if you're planning on using your battery pack for supplemental heating.

Regards, Bill

 

[Will]

Along with all the above niffty glove ideas, put some small hand warmers in your gloves. They have vermiculite(sp?) & activated charcoal. Unless you're sensitive, they won't burn you but put out 130 to 150 f heat. Try handwarmer.com

 

[nomad85]

I decided to try the Dakine Titan Mittens. They seem to have good reviews. It's a bit more than I wanted to spend, but I hope it will solve my problem. If it does I will report back
http://www.backcountry.com/store/DAK0292/DAKINE-Titan-Mittens.html?CMP_ID=SH_FRO001&CMP_SKU=DAK0292&mv_pc=r126

 

[gmouchawar]

A couple of days ago i tried ski gloves and surprizingly worked well for me. They have a natural curve which fit fine over handle bars.
I was able to manage the brakes and throttle. I would recommend you try them if you have a pair.

 

[nomad85]

I decided to try the Dakine Titan Mittens. They seem to have good reviews. It's a bit more than I wanted to spend, but I hope it will solve my problem. If it does I will report back
http://www.backcountry.com/store/DAK029 ... mv_pc=r126

These worked better than my cheapo gortex gloves, but my thumb was still cold

 

[Toshi]

A couple of days ago i tried ski gloves and surprizingly worked well for me. They have a natural curve which fit fine over handle bars.
I was able to manage the brakes and throttle. I would recommend you try them if you have a pair.

ditto. i use ski gloves during the winter. just retired them for the season last week. 8)

 

[Patriot]

On an ebike, 90% of the heat loss will be due to the wind at higher speeds. It's made worse by the fact that you are not working as hard as when riding a road bike, etc, so your heart rate is slower, thus not keeping your body as warm.

To solve it is easy.

Deflect the wind!!!

Just get a set of cheap plastic handguards. You can get them cheap off Ebay for ATV's,snowmobiles, or motorcycles. Sometimes you can get them for half the price of a pair of expensive cycling gloves. If you were really innovative, you could even make a pair out of glass/epoxy.

These could easily be modified with some brackets to fit on a bicycle.