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Winter Gloves

Sibreen

Maximum Pace
Jul 23, 2010
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If you will insist on riding at night you'll soon be needing Arctic survival kit. When I was back in the UK last xmas I bought a pair of one pound fleece gloves and wore them inside another pair of halfway decent gloves. It worked well. I needed the warmth at the start of the ride and could remove a layer later when I warmed up. Today I wore a pair of DeFeet and that was enough but soon it wont be. These are what I use when it's baltic out.

Following on from my winter shoes/boots thread, I am now looking for some good winter gloves. At the moment, I have some of these DeFeet gloves that Musashi linked to in the shoes thread and a pair of generic, long-fingered spring/autumn gloves; I double up on these in chillier weather but when nighttime temps drop below 5C my fingers still go numb on descents.

There are some ideas in this thread from last winter, but a lot of posters said that they hadn't found satisfactory gloves. I was keen on getting some PI gloves (I have some of their other kit and have found them well made and reasonably priced), but GSAstuto's comments on their lack of warmth are echoed by amazon jp reviewers.

So, what gloves have been good for you?
Can anyone comment on these Sealskinz?

@Musashi - are the crab mittens good?
Not too bulky for braking/changing gears/etc? Ok in, say, 5C temps? Waterproof?
 
@Musashi - are the crab mittens good?
Not too bulky for braking/changing gears/etc? Ok in, say, 5C temps? Waterproof?

They are bulky and do pose problems shifting. On top of that, they are like little saunas for your hands. On the coldest day you'll be thankful you wore them but get it wrong and the sweat will be dribbling back out onto the tarmac.

The other Sealskinz you linked look like a newer version of the others I have. They're good, but like I said in the other thread, you might need an inner on the coldest days. At least for the start of the ride.
 
Recommend buying a 100 yen store acrylic gloves and use under layer. These seems to keep the hands warm even when damp (from perspiration). A windproof layer on top, or a neoprene layer for wet (that you can get at a "workmans" store) seem to do the trick.
 
If you don't mind looking slightly ridiculous, these work well.

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e.g. http://search.rakuten.co.jp/search/mall/bar mitts/-/

I see cycle messengers using them in winter. (And @Jayves.) If messengers are using kit, you can bet it's worth it because they can rarely afford to waste the little money they earn.

The only reason I haven't bought myself some is that they don't seem to come in green.

Edit: just checked my own link. It seems virtually all Rakuten shops are sold out. Maybe they aren't being imported to Japan anymore. Bummer. Manufacturer seems to still be there, though.
 
I definitely wouldn't recommend the Sealskinz. I bought a pair from Wiggle last year and ended up sending them back for a refund.

The problem is the inner and outer shell are only connected at the fingertips. This has two effects - firstly a lot of movement between the two layers when you are gripping the bars (which I didn't like) and secondly that the inner and outer ended up seperating at the finger tip after about a week. This meanty that evertime I took them off the inner would pull out and it would take me forever to stuff it back in with a biro.

I ended up buying these Campag ones with the refund and was very happy. design is a bit naff anf they may well have been discontinued, but I can't fault their warmth, wind and rain resistance. a little light on the grip but great for brake/gear manouvering.

http://www.wiggle.jp/campagnolo-arrow-グローブ/

also, recently ordered one of these winter sets for my daily commute and very pleased with it in the cold snap so far. You will need other gloves for the depths of winter, but well worth the money for this kind of weather.

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/ZXWINTER/winter_bundle
 
Besides prone to cold feet , I get cold hands, too. I'll echo Trad here ---
1) I carry some latex gloves in my spares bag - useful for mech issues and a decent windblock under your regular gloves. I don't have a sweating issue - usually at the temps I need these, it's too cold to sweat.

2) Lightweight silk / wool inner gloves. I got at conbini. They are nice under my regular gloves for a little extra insulation.

3) I have alot of gloves. From Rapha to 100y store. The Rapha are my favorite for nearly anything except when it gets really cold and or wet. Then I defer to wind/rainproof shell with inners. I made that mistake at Hotaka, too , and my gloves were a sodden mess. For KOM I chose Hincapie wool gloves ( the best I used) and carried a set of latex kitchen gloves to slide over them if the going got super cold /wet.

So - my reviews:

1) Last year's PI's - no go. Wind resist is aweful, they bunch up (like Arcadia noted), poor construction and durability. Maybe the new ones are better. But PI has jumped the shark on gloves as far as I'm concerned.

2) Castelli - very nice.

3) Rapha - as always, combines superb style with function. Love my Rapha winter gloves. I notice the new 2014 version has velcro closure and the Deep Winter has extra lofting / water proofing... hmmmm

4) OGK - thinnish gloves but nice for events and where you just need to break the chill. Perfect under a latex glove.

5) Generic Ski Gloves with Generic Gortex. Thin, the insulation is practically worthless, but all I care about is the outer shell and grips. Good when you want to use something under neath (wool liner for example).

6) Hincapie Woolies. Merino wool, toasty feeling, not great for wind cut, but an external (or internal) latex glove takes care of that.

7) Hot Kairo - use this pads on top your hands under the gloves for some extra exothermic action!

BTW - Delta Force provided me some very interesting info.. keep wiggling thos fingers! Under hard phyical activities the body will divert blood / energy where it's needed. If you aren't wiggling your fingers and toes, the vessels constrict and blood flow decreases, you get cold quickly. A few sets of fist clenching and toe curls seems to help quite a bit.
 
I'm very happy with my Bicycle Line winter gloves that I bought at Y's road last year and that I used throughout the winter. Like other Bicycle Line items I own they were good value. The only drawback is that I seem to have trouble operating the touch screen for Google Maps on my Samsung phone with them. That is a problem common to a lot of gloves.

Other gloves I used were full fingered cotton gloves and generic ski gloves. The cotton gloves didn't stop the wind and weren't really suitable for the bike in winter. The ski gloves were warm and stopped the wind, but were too padded and bulky. I didn't have much feel for the shift levers in them. I'm really glad I got the Bicycle Line gloves afterwards :)
 
My son uses my nice Winter Campagnolo gloves every day in winter...will have to get another pair... they fit like a glove!
 
I've had these campy neoprene gloves for 3 years. Repaired the panel where shifting had worn them through this year. Wicked gloves. Usually wear an inner of light wool/knit gloves inside to soak the sweat . Riding in minus is not a problem. Never had dexterity problems.
 

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These are my Bicycle Line winter gloves (size XL):

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There seems to be a fair bit of love for neoprene gloves: the handlebar mitts that Half-Fast Mike linked to; Jules' Campys; possibly also the Castellis that GSAstuto mentioned in his post. Will look into them.

@ Arcadiandream - which SealSkinz did you have? Apart from the slippery inner problem, were they warm?
@ joewein - will check out the Bicycle Lines. Do you ride all winter through?
@ Edogawakikkoman - do you have a model name?
 
Don't forget the air gap! This is what keeps your hands warm.
A tight fitting inner glove wedged into a super snug fitting full finger glove will not keep your hands warm.
You need the space between layers.
 
@ joewein - will check out the Bicycle Lines. Do you ride all winter through?

I do, except when there is no snow on the ground, which is rare anyway.

I have the same goals of 100 km/week and at least one 160+ km ride per calendar month during the winter, but the monthly total tends to be lower during Dec-Feb.

I mentioned earlier that I had trouble operating the touch screen with the gloves, but had no problem today when I headed out for a late Wada toge climb and put on the gloves at sunset. On Wed night I had some problems. Maybe it depends on how sweaty my hands are?
 
The Sealskinz I had were the ones you posted a link to on the first post in this thread.

I never got to try them in super-cold weather as I stopped using them after a few days (which were relatively mild).
 
shameless plug here for my sponsors Champion System - like many here I suffer from cold extremities – mainly my finger tips on my index fingers and gloves that not only fit, but keep me warm are like finding chicken teeth, it's up there with the holy grail of finding a rain jacket that actually works, most end up causing a microclimate that ends up with it raining in my jacket.


However recently I was given a pair of the new Champion System fleece gloves – on their own these are really nice – I walk the dog in them. However they don't stop the wind chill on very windy days or on descents.


This is where combined with the Neoprene gloves they work perfectly (they aren't actually designed like this apparently), these gloves I don't actually like as a solo item and they had a nasty habit of causing pins and needles in my fingers on long rides, but when combined with the fleece gloves that felt more snug and fitted.


The silicon grip on the fleeced gloves anchors them nicely inside neoprene set, without need for clips or straps to secure them and the fact that they are booth super slim line doesn't make them feel clumpy or oversized compared to other brands I've used – so far my hands haven't over heated causing sweaty palms, but I haven't got out on any long climbs yet and I've yet to use the combo in deep winter CX racing such as Sendai or Fukushima where we end up racing in the sleet, snow and rain.
 
Champion System fleece gloves – combined with the Neoprene gloves
+1 for ChampSys. When we made the first set of HF kit with them we managed to raise the minimum to get winter gloves made. I have one pair left and I use them a lot even though they're all torn up.

Since then, however, I've not been able to get enough people interested to raise the minimum quantity required for a glove order,

Here's an idea, James. Wot about a combined HF/TCC glove order? Just no-frills design in one colour. I'd suggest bright yellow for maximum visibility, but I imagine most people would want black. Can you ask how much they will do a fleece/neoprene combi for, for you? I'll take 2 sets.
 
I'd suggest bright yellow for maximum visibility, but I imagine most people would want black.

Or both? Example the palm side in a fluorescent color while the knuckle side in black. The contrast would make the gloves more visible, especially when signaling to cagers that you will be taking the lane.
 
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