25 replies to this topic

[Bobos]

+1 for muffs and add a zippo hand warmer into each glove for good measure

[dmmsta]

Since writing the original post I've been paying more attention to the cold, and I don't think that the problem is the gloves...it's the cold being absorbed from the levers.

 

Riding in this morning, and I've noticed that it's only the tips that get cold, and only when I'm doing a lot of gears / braking.  Strangly when on the motorway section of the commute my pinkies start to thaw.

 

Might try the muffs again (put them on last Friday and forgot how annoying they are), but maybe look at the foam liners Weemoto sell for levers....

[dmmsta]

Following on from my comments about the cold being more to do with the levers than actual wind-chill or poor gloves I've been looking for suitable items to cover the levers.
 
Got to work on Monday complaining about numb pinkies again and moaning that I hadn't found anything suitable yet one of my engineers piped up about this (click image for product website):

 
It's basically fabric wrapped neoprene - in this case used for protecting the tube to a camal pack. He had a spare in the cupboard at home and brought it in today.
 
It fits pretty well onto the CNC levers from China, so will probably be a good fit onto standard levers.  I reckon you'll get 2/3 pairs of levers covered from one of the above...which @ £3.99 isn't going to break the bank.
 
I've put them on to the bike this lunch time, and will report back on results when I get home this evening.
 
A potential cheap DIY fix for cold hands!

Edited by dmmsta, 30 January 2015 - 01:16 pm.

[Robodene]

I bought a pair of battery heated gardening gloves that go over my bike gloves. There is not a lot of heat involved and I think its the second layer that does it mainly for me (without heated grips or guards etc.).

Edited by Robodene, 04 February 2015 - 05:13 pm.

[ChrisG]

My understanding is that electric gloves tend to be more waterproof than using goretex gloves and heated grips, the theory being that goretex is designed to allow water vapour through, so heating the outside of the glove allows moisture from outside to inside, while heating the inside of the glove aids moisture moving from inside to outside.

 

However for keeping hands dry I found the biggest difference was a glove with a double cuff, as the usual way my hands get wet is water running down my sleeve and in through the gloves cuff.

 

How warm is the rest of you?  When I started using my home made electric heated jacket I found I had a lot less problem with cold fingers and toes. 

[dmmsta]

It's pretty much hands and feet that suffer.

The rest of me stays pretty toasty...I wear jacket & trousers so get the occassional draft but nothing serious.

 

Have had a couple of instances where I had to put my hands in a bowl of cold water to stop them warming up too quickly when I got indoors.