TRAT 2010 - In search of the perfect glove

On the diet front - the Reynauds Society suggest cutting out caffeine. I think we all know that's not going to happen...

If you are doing a 5 hour ride in rain and cold conditions then you wear a pair of gloves that is warm enough until it gets soaked so that they start to get cold

Then you change the gloves for a warm dry pair

Usually when I do long rides with dubious weather I will take at least 3 pairs of gloves

If the temperature is high enough then sealskinz caving gloves are still warm even when wet. But they aren't so great below 5 C

Trat is in the summer, you don't ride at night and you have a support vehicle

I have a similarly large collection of gloves, and similar problems getting a good fit: a good fit around the palm and the fingers are too short.

When it is really cold my fingers really hurt and I loose feeling at around 2 km into my commute, but a few km later and I've warmed up and my fingers are fine. Towards the end of my commute (20 km) and my feet start to feel cold!

I've found that I sweat into gloves which are too warm, which eventually chills my hands. My current favourites are SealSkinz Waterproof Ultra Grip Gloves, but they aren't cycling specific, and I've tried, in vain, to find cycling gloves which could replace them.

(Oh, and I don't believe that any dietary supplements will have an effect on the viscosity of the blood. EPO does, but that increases it!)

Thought I'd check the 'Up in Alaska' blog to see if Jill says what she wears in arctic conditions:

http://arcticglass.blogspot.com/2009/11/dressing-for-cold-and-crappy.html

Layer up or use pogies, apparently. The blog's worth a read if you haven't seen it: she rides in some fairly brutal conditions, including the Iditarod invitational a couple of years ago. Great photos of the frozen north.

when i was cycling out in chile i had a normal set of full finger gloves and a set of gore-tex overgloves, not dissimilar to these:

http://www.surplusandoutdoors.com/shop/army-surplus-uk/soldier-95-clothi...

they were a fantastic buy: completely windproof and waterproof and toasty with gloves underneath - because you don't need the gloves to be wind/waterproof you can just get some cheap fleece ones. plus when you warm up a bit you can take them off – they pack down to next to nothing – and keep your other gloves on.

yeah i'll second that, keeping the wrists warm makes a real difference.

Stuke - I use a pair of the SealSkinz in the Autumn and Spring, but as soon as the temperature dropped they just weren't enough, even with liners.

To those who've been complaining of painful hands in the cold, I really would recommend some mittens. Also, it's important to keep the wrist as warm as possible, in fact I've asked my wife to knit me some mitt liners than stop short of the fingers but provide a lot of forearm coverage

for the really cold/wet days seal skinz waterproof gloves are brilliant with pearl izumi liners. I've just tested the rogate and amberley for Wiggle and was impressed with both but agree they're only for +0 deg days if you use them without liners.

I was wearing some Gore Alp X Windstopper gloves up until the cold started to bite this winter. Like your Pearl Izumis, once it got frosty outside they utterly failed to keep my hands warm, and were painful to use.

So I got some dhb Amberley's on a recommendation. They are a lot warmer, but still struggle on sub-zero days. Don't seem to be waterproof at all, but luckily its been quite dry up here. Still, not expensive and getting the job done so far; I expect I'll be looking for something else once the rainy season starts.

Heh, I was thinking less about the merino covers themselves and more about the link to the Moose mitts

http://www.trails-edge.com/retail/bikeparts/winterbikestuff.htm

Tony,

For the price of those merino bar covers - which I think are only for flat barred bikes - you're into the territory of expedition mitts which are way more versatile. Although maybe not quite so good looking...

http://www.phdesigns.co.uk/product_info.php?cat=117&products_id=91

Adam

I've always really suffered with cold hands to the point where it becomes really painful very quickly, thinking back one of the best pairs of gloves I had was one of the first - a pair of neoprene water skiing gloves which while they didn't keep my hands dry did keep them warm - we reviewed something similar recently the dhb Rogate http://road.cc/content/review/13988-dhb-rogate-glove. I've never tried the lobster mitts, but I reckon they would work well too.

The biggie for making your hand freeze though is wind chill so I've always thought that some handlbear covers would work well (not sure how windproof those merino ones Leonie tested would be though, but there are links to others in the comments on the review http://road.cc/content/review/14056-lowie-merino-handlebar-covers).

One thing I have found is that it's not just the action of the wind on your hands but on the bars and controls that chills your hands - another reason to shield as much of them as possible from the wind, plus I've also noticed that my hands freeze slightly less on a bike with carbon levers and I suppose carbon bars would make things better still.

I'm with Fringe here. I get really cold hands through Reynaud's syndrome - to the point were it is actually painful to be out on the bike. This winter I bought a pair of Marmot mittens from TK Maxx for the grand sum of £15, and wish I'd done it years ago and saved my self loads of money.

my solution to cold hands is to get big thick 'lobster' style gloves, or mittens (or skiing gloves) and ride a single speed. hence getting rid of the need to change gear means you can use big fat warm gloves and hey presto! warm hands.

mind you thats a mean collection of gloves you got there..any chance of a hand out!

I have to admit I have a similar problem with gloves. I don't know if my hands are weird proportions but generally they'll fit fine in the palm but the fingers are too short or if I go a size up the reverse is true. I've been using PRO Xpert gloves this winter and they keep you reasonably warm but the thumb in particular is uncomfortably tight.