effective yet inexpensive ways of saving hands?

[rictus01]

Originally Posted by instigator

Make that two. Inner gloves, as the only heat retaining method for riding in winter, are not sufficient in my experience. And I've tried too many different kinds to care for.

Rictus, are you sure you don't live in the south of France or something?

Hmmm, Thingus states inner gloves are useless, unlike you he doesn't qualify the statement, and I wouldn't be riding in just those even in summer..., but being serious they have a place and with my larger gloves (so as not to compress them up) they are fine for about an hour or so in sub zero temps with decent winter gloves; add deflectors or muffs and it's possible to extend that, and just to throw a spanner in the works I've had electrically heated inner gloves before which were extremely good, but I digress.

So are you now qualifying the original statement or just supporting the fact they are just USELESS as a covering statement for everyone ?

Oh and no London mate, just and old guy with injuries that hurt in the cold and the circulation of a diabetic, so I just don't get cold by dressing correctly and/ or stopping when needed.

Originally Posted by Thingus

but i want to go on record saying that inner gloves are USELESS and just provide false hope that you can go more than 20 minutes without being in absolute agony when you take them off.

Cheers Mark.

Inner gloves apparently DO work, but, like I found last year, if they compress the lining in your outer gloves, you get colder. I suppose winter gloves need to be bought larger, and tried on with liners.

As a quick fix, petrol station plastic gloves do help, don't compress your outer glove, but need to be changed regularly or they smell rank. Why it took me a month to work out it was the plastic gloves that made my jacket smell I'm not sure, but maybe the reason my face hasn't got cold is due to a lack of sense organs above the neck!

Last year I bought a pair of cold killers inner gloves for my wither gloves, bought at the same time and tried both on in the shop, to make sure they were comfortable.

I believe they do make a difference compared to wearing my winter gloves without them. Last year I did not have heated grips or deflectors, but still managed to get about with only a few days where I felt pain.

Silk inner gloves maybe an option. I've seen these recommended in photography publications many times. Supposedly retain heat well for a short time if removing the bigger outer gloves.

J&S had their re-branded Oxford grips - "Dr.Bike" for sale for £25 for the set before Christmas. I bought the set for the replacement controller. That way, when the SV is relegated to winter hack, the grips can go next bike and the controller will be switched between bikes (if it still works by then).

I have heated grips, deflectors and winter gloves, hands are toasty warm.
I'm with Rictus on the sensible gaps between layers. I also can heartily recommend long sleeve Janus merino base layers available from the Norwegian shop in Keswick, and Bridgedale Endurance Summit Knee socks and a polar buff.

Keeping the body warm helps the extremities stay warm for longer, if you can, put your gear on a few minutes before you leave, to ensure you're toasty warm, keep the neck warm and limit the ventilation to the lid by using some sort of mist retardant - like a pinlock. As you lose heat, you feel it in the hands and feet first.

Originally Posted by boot

Keeping the body warm helps the extremities stay warm for longer,... As you lose heat, you feel it in the hands and feet first.

I agree. I'll add that something like 40-50% of the bodies heat is lost through the noggin so keeping that warm helps enormously.

I'd say think the whole package.

It only gets down to about -2 to -4C out in the desert (further south) during the winter months and only for a couple of hours a day. I have to admit that it doesn't quite have the bite of a UK winter but you're all probably much more tolerant of sub-freezing temperatures. My comfort range is almost cold blooded.

The work bike has heated grips plus hand guards. Most of the time I forget that I have them with DriRider merino underwear, balaclava (sometimes two which is a bit of a squeeze in the helmet) and inner gloves. Over the top of that I wear Knox body armour (Crossshirt, Contour spine protector, chest pad and cross shorts) which helps a lot, DriRider Alpine textiles with zip out liners, a couple of pairs of wool socks and medium weight gloves.

I may occasionally shove the heavy sheepskin off my seat fleecy side towards my body down the front of my jacket - that sheepskin is a real chill breaker. The missus made a heavy sheepskin vest for me (front and rear with velcro down the side) to go over the Knox gear, but it is so hot that it is almost useless and a bit of a squeeze under the jacket.

When the weather warms up, I'll lose the balaclavas, inner gloves, a pair of socks, put on light gloves, remove the liners from the textiles and open the vents otherwise the kit is the same.

inner gloves are great if you only have race type gloves i use football gloves (player gloves not keeper)

I use a silk liner inside my gloves.

Nice and thin but they do a great job of trapping warm air between them and your skin.

I dont like bulky winter gloves myself so prefer layer up on my hands as well as the rest of me.

The other option is to find something like the old "lobster" style gloves.

The picture is cycling specific but there are motorbike versions out there (I just cant be bothered to find an image)


Something like these keep your fingers in pairs, sharing the warmth between the 2 fingers and letting less body warmth escape.

Ive used them in the past and although they look odd, they work really well.

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by speedplay

I use a silk liner inside my gloves.

Nice and thin but they do a great job of trapping warm air between them and your skin.

I dont like bulky winter gloves myself so prefer layer up on my hands as well as the rest of me.

The other option is to find something like the old "lobster" style gloves.

The picture is cycling specific but there are motorbike versions out there (I just cant be bothered to find an image)


Something like these keep your fingers in pairs, sharing the warmth between the 2 fingers and letting less body warmth escape.

Ive used them in the past and although they look odd, they work really well.

Skip wore a pair similar to these on our EAR rideout in November, whilst I had cold hands in normal gloves, his were warm

[yorkie_chris]

Inner gloves can make things worse if your outer gloves are too tight, that way they compress the insulation and restrict circulation. A double whammy which means you'll freeze.

I've got a set of halvarssons dry level gloves which are awesome for the price, some oxfords heated grips and some motocross handguards.

The handguards still let your fingertips get cold but I've ridden a couple of hundred miles in freezing temps and snow without too much discomfort.

Heated grips all year round and handle bar muffs is the way to go.

I use the grips all year round, when the temp gague on the bike reads 15 degrees or lower they go on, regulated to suit conditions.

If i'm off for a good long journey the muffs come out and they do the job.
If it's going to be wet also the muffs have the obviouse other benefit of keeping the rain off your hands.

I was caught out once when it rained that hard, the rain ran down my arms and into into the muffs filling them up quicker than the drain hole could cope, I had trouble to start wondering why my hands were warm but wet

Don't forget to put your gloves inside your jacket sleeves when it's wet, it stop the rain running into your gloves

Ian