Arm and knee/leg warmer advice + maybe warmest tights advice

[Faye]

I have developed this new onset problem that seems to have become intractable- all of a sudden my arm warmers and knee warmers wont stay up and it's hopeless, they slide instantly even before I leave the house.  The knee warmers just look super stretched out, but with the arm warmers I don't understand?  I lost a few lbs (I have weighed as much as 10 lbs more), but that would not be localized to my arms and legs and hard to imagine that is the cause as I still have big legs and fairly big arms and wear a small.  I have never replaced the warmers since I started cycling in 2010, though they got little use until I moved to CT. Is it possible these things just naturally lose their ability to stay up?

1)Anyone know why these don't stay up- is it due to weight loss or natural loss of elasticity to be expected?

2)Any recs on warmers that will stay put. how to make this happen? (suggestions from the skinny folks esp appreciated because I will never be like you, but I figure you must have this problem all the time)

3)bonus points if you can tell me how to get your bibshorts from riding up even if your knee warmers stay put

4)unlikely that folks on this list will have suggestions on this one since you don't tend to ride in 20-40 degrees, btu any suggestions on the best, warmest tights/bibtights that will be warm, minimally constrict movement, and have a relatively thin chammy?

I would be very grateful for any advice on all of the above and esp the arm warmers and knee warmers because the problem BUGS. It is too cold to wear them anyway, but I have them as an extra layer underneath my many other layers of stuff, and they are just unwearble with the slide down.

Thank you!!

F

[Charles Guthrie]

1) Your two theories sound pretty plausible.  Similarly, my bike shorts are old with worn out elastic, and they used to belong to my brother who is heavier than me, so the waistband is pretty loose.

[Ryan Anderson]

I think both stretched-out elastic and weight loss will contribute here: things stretch to fit, to some extent, and then if that part gets a little smaller....

If you have a sewing machine (or patience), you could just tigthen the up a little bit; if it's that or throwing them away, it might be worth the annoyance. :)

--
-- follow: http://twitter.com/sf2g | terms: http://sf2g.com/terms.html | bike prep: http://sf2g.com/bike-prep.html | unsub: http://groups.google.com/group/sf2g
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SF2G" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sf2g+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

Ryan

[Darrin Ward]

its funny i just bought new arm warmers this week because of the stretched out elastic problem.  i tried them on and was oh wait this is what they are suppose to feel like.

i had not had much luck with knee warmers (similar to the problem you are describing) and tend to just use "winter bibs" or "3/4 bibs"

sf weather (as you know) tends to be pretty temperate (not substantial fluctuations) so if i am cold at 8am, i tend to be cold at 11am.  ie: the occasions even when i wear arm warmers versus a long sleeve heavier jersey are small.

[Justin!]

I've switched to long-legged (full leg?) bibs and I'll never go back!

[Patrick Kitto]

I've been a big fan of Defeet arm and leg warmers.

I always put them on under bib/jersey, and pull them way farther than seems reasonable. And then, sometimes i have to adjust a couple of times in my first 10min on the bike. But once they get set, they tend to stay. If you have ridden with me it is possible you have seen way more of my pasty thigh then you would have ever wanted to as we rolled east on 24th or south on Bayshore.

For em the trick is getting them under the elastic band of the bib/jersey with enough overlap between the two. Same concept as rebar reinforcement in concrete- the longer the overlap, the stronger the hold. for me the sweet spot is about 3"-4" of overlap with the warmer on the bottom and sometime this require an initial set of 6" or more of overlap on the knee warmers. Basically I pull the knee warmer all the way up my thigh, then put the bib short leg down as far as possible over it.

As always- YMMV.

-P

On Mon, Dec 4, 2017 at 10:22 AM, Justin! <roja...@gmail.com> wrote:

I've switched to long-legged (full leg?) bibs and I'll never go back!

[Matthew Hiller]

I own zero pairs of tights with a built-in chamois. I just wear standard cycling shorts underneath the tights. (Actually, usually old shorts that have gotten a bit see-through in places; doesn't matter since there's another layer of fabric on top.)

For serious cold weather I wear tights made with Polartech Powerstretch 100 fleece. They're actually uncomfortably warm anywhere above 32º F. I've worn them in temps down to 7º F without another lower-body layer -- other than the underlayershorts I'm wearing for the sake of the chamois. (Manufacturer was a mom-and-pop operation in Stowe, VT; they've since retired. These look right: http://foxwear.net/fabrics-and-colors-2/clothing/tights-pants/ )

Other places to pay attention to: head (get a good balaclava! Powerstretch 100 is gettable here too. Consider a stretch helmet cover to plug the grid of ventilation holes too); feet. Very good wool socks go a long way and are less annoying than shoe covers. Add shoe covers too for extreme cold. Torso/arms is honestly easier; just get things long-sleeved and layer them up. Glove-wise, your ordinary winter gloves will do, though specialized gloves are a nice-to-have.

[Patrick Lea]

+1 to bike shorts under tights. I have a selection of thighs for skiing that I wore over  bike shorts. Really cold days I would add a pair of leg warmers underneath. Thin ski socks and shoe covers plus taped up wholes in the shoes. Eventually I decided that getting toe warmers was worth it. 

I have Pearl izumi knee warmers that I like. They are long so I overlap a lot. I realized the other trick is to sort of fluff them around your knee so pedaling does not pull on them. Just got another pair actually since my knees like it more when they are not cold. 

--

[BikinHowd]

Might take them to a tailor to have new elastic put in...elastic's elasticity usually doesn't last 7 years from my experience... some tailors work wonders and don't charge what new articles of clothing cost... I've had almost all my biking jacket zippers replaced at my local tailor... she charged like $10 for heavier duty zippers and that made my jackets so much better... it seems jackets come with the cheapest zippers imaginable, but tailors can fix that just fine. Hope they can help with your arm and leg warmers.

[faye steiner]

Thanks all for your experiences and suggestions!

I wish I could sew them shut myself, and I have learned to do some suturing in the OR now (reluctantly), but I definitely cannot sew anything on actually clothing.

I hear ya on the cheap zippers... I have replace a few but it has been super expensive- $20 for the crappy light weight ones! I can't believe it is cheaper in SF, that amazes me!

As far as the tights over bibshorts idea, that is a definite no go for me and I personally do not recommend this to anyone. I used to do it in the Bay Area as the days where you needed actual tights were few and far between and I hadn't invested in anything else, but leads to the same kind of badness that wearing shorts as opposed to bibshorts leads to, except raised to some power.  You have 2 layers of friction and bunching and extra seams layered on seams etc- Matt and Patrick, you must have highly resilient skin!

Thanks for the defeet suggestion Kitto, I will look into that. I guess I also really need to pull the knee warmers up basically to my hips.  I agree that that DOES seem to help and they don't seem to fall down as much (well, before... because now I think they are just completely stretched out and dead), but then literally all they cover is my knees. Also, my bibshorts still ride UP then on top of them... despite supposedly having grippers. I guess the bibshorts ride up to an extent even on skim, though to more tolerably.  

I'm increasingly thinking that Darrin, your point is relaly well taken- for arm warmers there is actually a lot of utility I think because there are times where I might want them just for portions of the ride and take them on and off. But for knee warmers, the reality is that if I wear them I don;t take them off, and so I guess I would be better off with bibknickers for those days.  The problem is that it is already hard enough to find women's bibshorts, and it is super hard to find women's bibknickers.  The 2 bibknickers I have are men's capo XS.  I don't mind getting men's, but these have bigger bulkier chammies than I would like.  

So anyone have suggestions on bibknickers that they like (any weight, taking Darrin's point, they don;t need to be heavy weight because if it is cold enough like it is here, I will need to be wearing tights and have a different approach) that have a thin and not bulky chammy?  Actually, for that matter, same question on your regular bibshorts- any brands/models that you know to be realtively thin and not bulky in the chammy department? Good to know for when I need to get new bibshorts as I have no problem trying men's.

(In case any women are reading this thread and have similar issues, I can recommend Santini bibshorts as being the most comfortable I have tried, though only the ones made for their UK stom out breast cancer team or whatever it is called.)

On Tue, Dec 5, 2017 at 10:17 AM, BikinHowd <htm...@gmail.com> wrote:

Might take them to a tailor to have new elastic put in...elastic's elasticity usually doesn't last 7 years from my experience... some tailors work wonders and don't charge what new articles of clothing cost... I've had almost all my biking jacket zippers replaced at my local tailor... she charged like $10 for heavier duty zippers and that made my jackets so much better... it seems jackets come with the cheapest zippers imaginable, but tailors can fix that just fine.  Hope they can help with your arm and leg warmers.

--
-- follow: http://twitter.com/sf2g | terms: http://sf2g.com/terms.html | bike prep: http://sf2g.com/bike-prep.html | unsub: http://groups.google.com/group/sf2g
---

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "SF2G" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/sf2g/n_HejZqpRWQ/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to sf2g+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Matthew Hiller]

Huh, interesting. Yeah, I'm not a bibshorts person in general, and I don't find the double-waistband of a tights-over-shorts setup to be problematic either. Can see that others might have a different take on that.

Powerstretch 100 fabric stretches in an unusual way; it compresses back over a limb you stretch it over very gently but still conforms to its shape, unless you've bought something that's _really_ undersized. None of my powerstretch tights have a drawstring, for example; there'd be no point. It may be that Powerstretch over bib shorts works fine for you, in ways that ordinary spandex tights over bibshorts do not. You'd have to try to know for sure, though.

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to sf2g+uns...@googlegroups.com.

[Keith Whitwell]

(In case any women are reading this thread and have similar issues, I can recommend Santini bibshorts as being the most comfortable I have tried, though only the ones made for their UK stom out breast cancer team or whatever it is called.)

Just replying randomly - if you're searching for bibs (or bib longs) with thin chamois, the hyperthreads kit is about as thin as any I've come across.  For me that's not a particular positive, just something I've noticed.  They mostly do custom kit for teams etc, but I think you can buy generic designs from them direct.  Sizing is american, ie. more generous than castelli etc. 

[Yuanyu Chen]

(Now very off topic but) ^ hyperthreads sizing is the most un-American I’ve seen. I normally wear a women’s small jersey in every other brand I’ve run across (castelli/cuore/rapha/jakroo/etc), and could maybe even do xs in the more roomy brands; in hyperthreads I wear a medium, and the small fit kit I tried was way too small for me. I also remember thinking that the shorts were more compressive than most of mine. Their size chart was pretty dead on for me (though I went by fit kit).

On Tue, Dec 5, 2017 at 10:04 PM Keith Whitwell <keith.w...@gmail.com> wrote:

(In case any women are reading this thread and have similar issues, I can recommend Santini bibshorts as being the most comfortable I have tried, though only the ones made for their UK stom out breast cancer team or whatever it is called.)

Just replying randomly - if you're searching for bibs (or bib longs) with thin chamois, the hyperthreads kit is about as thin as any I've come across.  For me that's not a particular positive, just something I've noticed.  They mostly do custom kit for teams etc, but I think you can buy generic designs from them direct.  Sizing is american, ie. more generous than castelli etc. 

--

-- follow: http://twitter.com/sf2g | terms: http://sf2g.com/terms.html | bike prep: http://sf2g.com/bike-prep.html | unsub: http://groups.google.com/group/sf2g
---

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SF2G" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sf2g+uns...@googlegroups.com.

[faye steiner]

Ha, never heard of hyperthreads, good to know!

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sf2g+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

-- follow: http://twitter.com/sf2g | terms: http://sf2g.com/terms.html | bike prep: http://sf2g.com/bike-prep.html | unsub: http://groups.google.com/group/sf2g
---

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "SF2G" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/sf2g/n_HejZqpRWQ/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to sf2g+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Drk]

Probably not to be recommended and I ride a relatively short distance but I wear a first layer of silk long johns tops and bottoms that you can get in various weights and then bibs, shorts, jacket over those. Have not had issues with chaving maybe due to silk but the central parts of the long John pants due eventually disappear but that is ok because under bibs. Wintersilks sells a variety of weights for different cold levels.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sf2g+uns...@googlegroups.com.

[djconnel]

You could always inject olive oil into your quads:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5159213/Russian-body-builder-21-faces-having-limbs-AMPUTATED.html

Slightly risky, though.

Dan

[Matthew Hiller]

I like how AMPUTATED is all-caps in even the URL.