Like many, I have Raynaud’s Syndrome, hands turn white in the winter and cold weather. Has anyone had a consistently positive experience with below freezing temps on the bike with some brand of headed/battery powered cycling gloves/mittens? I would welcome any suggestions to make winter riding more pleasurable. Thanks.
John Post
It’s not a great solution, but I cannot stand over bulky gloves, so if a cross race or something was in winter proper I would don some latex gloves (or non latex style) under some one size larger than normal more dextrous gloves.
Always warm, but…clamy, as there’s no air circulation. So, an hour or so once in a while I was fine with this.
Same for feet, a latex glove over the toes of your sock then put shoe on.
But now, I grew soft and just ride indoors unless I have to race. Now…I will run in the really cold, but you don’t have a 20 to 25mph wind on you the whole time like the bike.
Pleasurable winter cycling is an oxymoron. I only have experience with Snow Deer mittens, about $120 on Amazon, battery lasted like 2 hours. Since Zwift, the only outdoor winter cycling I do is fat biking in the snow. For this, full fingered MB gloves with pogies are good for 1-2 hours and better than the electric mittens.
Not electric, but with similar issues I want to try out Columbia Omni-Heat gloves. I have other Omni-Heat stuff, and it definitely works.
(Omni heat is a thermally reflective inner liner - sort of similar idea to the emergency thermal blanket, only built-in).
Have you checked out any of the options for skiing? Several options there for disposable hand warmers (1 example: https://hothands.com/ ). I use the Hot Hands and can comfortably hold ski poles as though nothing is there.
Then there are things like Milwaukee’s battery heated gloves, but the battery may be heavier than you care for for long rides.
Good luck - my wife’s hands freeze immediately in cold weather, but she likes the Hot Hands for her skiing and winter running.
My wife uses hot hands all winter and believes that they are the best option for disposable hand warmers.
One watchout - make sure to check the expiration date on the disposable hand warmers.
Man, lots of options if you google that very question.
I use bar mitts (45 North Draugenklaw or however it’s spelled drop bar version). Had regular bar mitts for drop bars but these are another notch or two better (IMO and very subjective). I also have some heated liners (Toasty Touch). The key with the powered gloves is those that have heating elements on the fingers too. They can be quite expensive (I’ve seen ski gloves as high as $450 usd) but if I can figure it out I’ll show an older pic of what happens if you just ignore it for too long. It’s only your finger(s), you have ten losing one isn’t a big deal right - especially if its the index finger on your dominant hand
Thanks so much for all the quick responses. I have a large supply of hot hands for both hands and feet. As far as avoiding riding in the cold goes, I would disagree. I workout on weekdays with a group called SEALTeam PT. It’s an hour of outdoor exercise (they have no indoor facility) and run by a former Navy SEAL. This morning it was 26 degrees and absolutely no one complained. Push ups, sit ups on the ground, etc. and no one complained. He taught us the SEAL mantra years ago of “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear.” I have come to believe it. Those lessons learned also help with what to wear with early morning biking in subfreezing conditions.
We’re never too old to learn.
John
I also have the 45nrth drop bar mitts, and they have been pretty good for the Minnesota winter, even without anything else on my hands they are warmer than my warmest nordic ski mitten. I think if you use decent mittens with those, keep your core very warm, and potentially use some hot hands you should be okay. However my sister has raynauds and I know her hands will get cold even if it’s 50 degrees but her core doesn’t warm up enough so electric gloves might be necessary.
Bar mitts are the only way to go. I’ve fat biked at -20 F with summer gloves inside bar mitts and had sweaty hands.
I saw these in the latest issue of Ski Magazine. At $320, I don’t know if it’s an option, but I figured I’d at least put it out there for you:
https://www.hestragloves.us/tactility-heat-liner-5-finger-charcoal
These work like a champ: https://ride509.com/products/backcountry-ignite-gloves?variant=32799719587925¤cy=USD
.
I’d strongly advise installing pogies e.g. www.7rbags.com
I’ve ridden in -20C fat biking in Lapland with nothing more than pogies and some thin spring/autumn gloves and my hands were toasty toasty warm.
David
These are all excellent suggestions. It’s actually hard to choose between them! Let me take some time to explore each choice and see where to go from there. It was 25 degrees this morning and I felt lucky it was a swim day! Ha.
Thanks to all of you.
John