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How to keep hands warm and yet still feel the controls?


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I went out for a short ride yesterday and the tip of one finger got cold. It made me remember just how unpleasant cold hands can be, and unsafe, too. My summer gloves are great - RST leather ones with protection on the knuckles - but are clearly going to be pretty useless in the cold weather. How have other people solved this problem? Silk inner gloves? I'm not convinced. Overmitts? How can you feel the controls? What about waterproofness?


All advice gratefully accepted.

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In my opinion...


The best solution of all is electric heated gloves.

2nd best is heated grips plus muffs with these you can basically use summer gloves all year. not hot weather gloves mind.

3rd is heated grips plus hand guards - which will reduce the wind blast and cooling of the backs of your hands.

4th proper winter gloves.. but these can be pricey and will always be a lot thicker than gloves you wear the rest of the year. they come in two types. lobsters.. which generally have 3 fingers. one for the thumb and two fingers for each of the remainder. or 5 finger.


Gloves really need to be goretex lined ( I don't hold with fake goretex - has to be the genuine article - which will always be pricey).. you can get silk inner gloves, but these will reduce feel slightly.


what it comes down to is how much you want to pay and how much faffing around you're prepared to do to get the best solution for your particular needs.

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I've just looked some up online. Plenty to choose from of course but all large sizes (my hands are big for a woman's but not man-size), so I added "women's" to the beginning of the search term. Oh my goodness. Just because it says "women's" I'm being offered pink fluffy gloves, tartan with rabbit fur, women's running gloves - running gloves? Do your gloves make that much difference to how well you run?


Price isn't the main thing (within reason, of course). And I don't plan to ride in rain & sleet - not yet - but do need to be prepared, just in case. I used to have a fab pair of horseriding overmitts (three fingers in mitt but the little finger separate) but lost one of them so I might as well lose both and I've never seen any others like them. Not right for biking of course but the principle is the same as the lobsters, I expect.

I've got one battery-heated riding glove somewhere (why is it always just one that gets lost?).


I wouldn't want an avoidable thing like cold hands to stop me going out on a lovely sunny winter's day.

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I have heated grips and heated gloves. It keeps the palm and outside of the hands warm.

Muffs are a good solution but they look gross. I tried muffs and just found it wierd not being able to see the controls, but I'm sure you could get used to that. Also you can buy throw away hand warmers, I have never tried the hand warmers but have used the foot warmers and they do the job they are supposed to.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Little-Hottie ... 4188f3c9a0

Dont do a google search for Little Hotties or you will get some interesting results :shock: :shock:

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Bought a pair of magic gloves from a petrol station this morning to go under my winter gloves, worked a treat

 

A bit cheaper than the electrically heated ones, I think!

indeed it is just wish they wernt hot pink
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I wear a pair of Hein Gericke touring classic sheltex gloves with underglove before they shut down. The underglove they work up to a certain point then they stop working if you are stopping at any for a break put the gloves on the engine to warm up. Any advice on rain whenever I'm out on the bike and it's raining my gloves get wet from my jacket into the glove.

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Muffs are a good solution but they look gross. I tried muffs and just found it wierd not being able to see the controls, but I'm sure you could get used to that.

 

Well, I'm going for gross. I had a look at a set today and my husband is getting me them for Christmas, he says if I can't get on with them he will have them. It was a bit difficult to get my head round the concept but you're not really supposed to look at the controls anyway.

I'm not too bothered about appearances. I often get teased for wrapping up in the winter but I'm never cold. The ones sniggering are also shivering.

Edited by Psychybikey
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  • 2 weeks later...

I use ice climbing gloves with some merino wool inners when freezing and my hands are all toasty.


http://eu.blackdiamondequipment.com/en/ ... s&start=10


Dexterity is excellent, keeps the wind out, waterproof and very grippy palms so even in horrendous weather you don't loose grip.


Or for when its seriously seriously cold I wear these, little compromise but can still use the controls without any problems. Found these perfect on a skidoo so thought I'd try them on the bike and very happy.


http://www.mountainwarehouse.com/ski/sk ... 11796.aspx

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I go all out, that way I can get away with wearing MX gloves so I have loads of feeling for the controls and still a decent amount of armour.

- Barkbusters (big ones!)

- Heated grips

- Silk inner gloves


Oh, and one of the best things you can do is make sure your torso is kept nice and warm! You body will try to maintain core temperature, so if your torso is cold then less blood (and with it, warmth) will be directed to your extremities. Look after your core temperature and your hands and feet will do a better job of looking after themselves!

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I was having a conversation with somebody the other day who said completely out of the blue that he's got muffs and likes them, so I'm happy with that. As it has been too wet, cold and slippery on the roads I haven't had chance to try out my Christmas present yet. I hope I won't be like my children's primary school headmaster, who got a pushbike for Christmas in 1962 and never got the chance to ride it till Easter 1963!


Cpt_Tact, I did try using my own ski gloves the other day but I couldn't feel the controls so abandoned the attempt before even pulling away.


Well actually they are snowboard gloves so I suppose they don't need to be quite as sensitive.

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Bought a pair of magic gloves from a petrol station this morning to go under my winter gloves, worked a treat

 

Is that a descriptive or a brand?

:lol:

They come packed in a top hat :mrgreen:

 

And dont forget the white rabbit and doves.


They stretch and fit all size hands, thats the magic part

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I've got them now, whitedevil - a Christmas present, same idea but by Givi. They do look pretty bizarre but I don't care if they do the trick. If a day off work ever coincides with a day without ice or pouring rain, I will try them out :)

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I've got them now, whitedevil - a Christmas present, same idea but by Givi. They do look pretty bizarre but I don't care if they do the trick. If a day off work ever coincides with a day without ice or pouring rain, I will try them out :)

 

Don't you mean a day with ice or pouring rain? Thats the days muffs are for.

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Don't you mean a day with ice or pouring rain? Thats the days muffs are for.

 

When I get to your might status, Throttled, I might think about that. But I'm low in experience and high in anxiety and not ready for slippery, skiddy, slithery roads. So not yet. Not yet.

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