Best mitten design for very cold weather

[Patrick Moore]

The fall style thread raises a question about keeping your hands warm in very cold temperatures (for me, very cold means in the teens F). My fingers are very sensitive to the cold. I've bought 2 or 3 pairs of PI Lobster gloves but I've been disappointed in the fit and the warmth. 

I've used Outdoor Research heavy nylon mitten sheaths with thick boiled wool mittens underneath, and those were very warm indeed, but very awkward to ride in, even on a fixed gear where you have to handle only the brake levers.

Varusteleka currently has a number of mil surplus mittens with separate thumb, separate thumb and trigger finger, and separate thumb and first 2 fingers. The whole point of mittens is to bundle the fingers together in one compartment for mutual warmth, so each added finger compartment sacrifices warmth.

Does anyone have thoughts on a glove or a mitten or a system that gives the best mix of warmth and dexterity? And perhaps some particular gloves or mittens that fit the bill?

Right now, I've got hugely oversized 5-finger gloves under which I can wear wool knit gloves, under which in turn I can wear silk liners, but this sort of layer system is cumbersome to put on and take off.

Thanks.

--

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Executive resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, letters, and other writing services.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When thou didst not, savage,

Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like

A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes

With words that made them known.

[DavidP]

I've found that barmitts or pogies trap heat and keep the wind off allowing me to ride without gloves around freezing temps, and with thinner gloves as the temps drop lower. The best solution for warmth and dexterity, but they require your shifters, grips, and brake levers to all be in close proximity. There are flat bar and drop bar specific versions.

-Dave (in MA, where we skipped winter last year)

[Bob]

Patrick,

I too have tried the lobster-claw gloves and found them disappointing. Sure, there was some protection across the back from wind, but I could feel cold brake levers through the palm side. I put up with it for a few years, then used Bar Mitts, which were warm enough for me but unwieldy, especially on drop bars. I finally settled on these: http://www.ponderosacyclery.com/store/garbagechopper-mitt

They are much warmer than one might think. A wool liner glove would make them even warmer. Not that my fingers still don't get cold in them below, say, 15°F, but they are roomy and allow for warming movement. Also, the elastic wrist band tucks nicely into jacket sleeves and is long enough not to slide out easily.

--

Bob Cook

[Bob]

Should have added: the chopper/garbage-hauler mittens worked very well on bikes with downtube shifters and decently well on a fatbike with trigger shifters. I can imagine having difficulty with brifters.

--

Bob Cook

[Will Boericke]

Hahahaha, teens is cold.  Just some New England humor there. 

For those temps on my commute, lobsters are definitely where it's at.  The Pearl Izumi newest version is not so great.  I have the older, bulkier ones and they are warmer and better.  Try Craft or my favorite budget lobster.  I buy these in multiples because my children lose them, riding to school.

I had my mother knit me a lightweight pair of wool mitts - really close fitting - that I wear under overmitts when it's colder / wetter.  I think you should work with your OR overmitts and try various lighter weight innards.  I bought a set of military surplus wool gloves that are a great liner for slightly warmer temps (that's my 20-25F setup).

You basically want a lot of dead air space without bulk filling up that space.  So either synthetic lightweight insulation or a light liner and that air in your overmitt is your insulation.  

Will near Boston, having recently discovered that the seatpost on his winter commuter is totally frozen in place....

[Garth]

I've gone through my own mitten/glove shenanigans on all the fancy brands I've turned to Kinco leather insulated gloves and mitts sold all sort of places locally and online. (Rural King for me !) They're anywhere from $15-$25. I don't wear anything though in the cold without nitrile gloves against the skin, 5 mil is good thickness. This retains the warm moisture in the hands and keeps the insulation dry. Their gloves and mitts use some sort of Kinco brand Heatkeep insulation, yeah whatever. as long as it's good enough. The mitts are their Axeman/1930 model. I have some Refridgewear mitts too but those are too warm for cycling, in fact they're the warmest mitt I've ever worn, including Rab Down mitts for mountaineering. The gloves I wear in milder temps are the Hydrofelctor Lined water-resistant premium grain cowhide driver/39HKP. When it's not too cold just a basic Kinco leather glove is fine, the Buffalo ones are nice and form fitting. They make many variations ! At least Kinco gloves have properly long finger lengths, something most fancy brands of gloves do not.

I put off buying Kinco mitts for a long time as the lining inside is like a fleece glove and thought I wouldn't be able to make a fist or rub my fingers together. Silly me, the lining is sewn only around the cuff and your hand is free to move around in the mitten shell.

Leather gloves of some sort are by far my preferred material as they offer adequate grip. block the wind, are never too hot, and they're durable. Kinco's are inexpensive but good quality.

Later we can have the annual winter jacket post ! I bought some fancy form fitting Sportful road cycling jackets and so far they beat the pants off of anything I've ever worn. The favorite so far being the Fiandre Pro short sleeve jacket made with Polartec Neoshell fabric.

On Thursday, September 28, 2023 at 4:15:59 PM UTC-4 Patrick Moore wrote:

[Patrick Moore]

Thanks, all. First, should have specified: No bar mitts or Pogies as I need something that attaches to the hands and can be used on several bikes with drop bars.

From extensive experimenting I'm now convinced that for the teens mittens are best, especially as its easiest to get wool undergloves into them than into 2-finger, 3-finger, or 5-finger gloves. (Peeve: the PIs I bought in 2022 or 2021 have a loose flannelly lining that grabs the material of the wool under gloves you are trying to insert, causing much cussing and gnashing of teeth. The earlier ones, from a year or so earlier had a less grabby lining and I wish I'd kept them, but I thought at the time they were too big.)

The question then is, what mittens let you brake safely and shift precisely?

The Garbage Choppers look very promising, and you say that you have no problems with dt shifters or mtb trigger shifters. That's encouraging. The Outdoor Research nylon cover + boiled wool mitten was exquisitely warm but made it hard to brake, let alone shift -- the mitts were stiff and slippery. But the GCs are made from leather, so presumably much more flexible and more grippy. I have to shift bar end shifters in friction and a Sturmey Archer trigger mounted upside-down on the bottom far end of the right drop bar hook.

Garth: The Kincos look like good value but I'm more skeptical about the warmth of 5-finger gloves compared to mittens. Do you find something like this warm into the teens? Without nitrile undergloves? (I ain't gonna add hassle to my already hasselous winter dressing with tight-fitting rubber gloves!) The prices are certainly good.

I take it this would be the item to get? https://www.amazon.com/Kinco-Lined-Grain-Pigskin-Glove/dp/B01AT2XXX4?th=1

Will: thanks for the Craft link. The price is good, but I think I'll look first for mittens that are less cumbersome than the OR set I had. But link noted for future reference.

Patrick Moore, who will probably have a late-ish model pair of PI lobsters for sale before too long.

[Kainalu V. -Brooklyn NY]

I believe the Craft brand lobster/trigger mitts to be rubbish. They don’t let your fingers touch, wasting valuable insulation in between what could otherwise be a cozy skin to skin situation. I love my relatively inexpensive Toko brand cross-country ski gloves, they allow my fingers to cuddle in comfort and perform their bike duties in single digit temps.

I’ve got three pairs of xxl, which will hopefully buy me a decade or so of winter bliss…

-Kai

[William Watson]

I'm still experimenting, but I knit a few pairs of large mittens a few years ago, and then shrunk them down alternating between hot and cold water to shrink/felt them for more warmth. They worked well with all my bikes. In a pinch when it got well below 0 here in Minneapolis, I layered the thicker mittens over the thinner mittens over unused dog poop bags and was quite warm lol. 

Will

[Marc Irwin]

I've used hunter's mittens for years.  They have a lot of practical advantages : http://simplecycle-marc.blogspot.com/2013/02/toasty-hands.html

Marc

[R. Alexis]

I saw these on Ponderosa Cycles site a few weeks ago while browsing. I have dealt with the owner in the past. Worked and partially owned a couple different shops in the past. I will have to check them out next time I am hanging in the area. Missed them several weeks ago while out riding. 

Thanks,

Reginald Alexis

[jeffrey kane]

I"m a Lobster Mitt man, myself. I commute through the winters in NYC and Pearl Izumi has been the go-to. I think I'm on my third pair in around 25 years or so. They clean up well in the washer, hang dry - never the dryer (ask me how I know). The upper cuff isn't too annoying with various jackets, etc. I switch over to them when the temps drop to the low 30's. They aren't perfect below say, 10 degrees - but they're still pretty good - and for sure, I try to keep my trips short when it's below 10 degrees anyway.

They've evolved over the years - I'm about to try out a new pair this winter. I purchased them from Tri-Sports last Spring when they were on sale at $42.99. It looks like they're back up to full retail price again but maybe search around for a better price if you're interested.

https://www.trisports.com/product/pearl-izumi-amfib-lobster-gel-glov

On Thursday, September 28, 2023 at 4:15:59 PM UTC-4 Patrick Moore wrote:

[rlti...@gmail.com]

I have problems with extremities in the cold and have never found a glove system that works all the time for me. We get temps down into the 20’s so we don’t have the extreme colds other people go through but it’s cold for us.  For feet I have found that Sealskinz waterproof socks help keep my feet warm. The one downside is that your feet sweat a lot when wearing them. So a wool layer helps there. I’ve never tried a glove made of similar material so maybe that would work?

We did a few snowmobile trips in Yellowstone and it was -5 degrees out and there was a lot of wind. Plus the wind you experience doing 30 - 40 mph on the snowmobile. The first day we suffered and our feet and hands were painfully cold. The worst I have experienced. The next day we put a couple of heating packs in each boot and one inside each glove and it solved the problem for the most part. So if I had to ride regularly in cold weather I’d be looking at heated gloves. Something like these are expensive but would be worth it to me if they solved my problem and had a reasonable useful life. I have definitely spent more testing out various gloves.

Robert Tilley

San Diego, CA

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 28, 2023, at 1:15 PM, Patrick Moore <bert...@gmail.com> wrote:



--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgtDHuqkZE7RkaCaxmi2AHd2nEngLi9CSS4u03q3HUHVfg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Patrick Moore]

The Gander Thinsulate finger flap design would be perfect. Long ago I had something like that, though not as warm as I need: basically a gauntlet cycling glove with leather padded palm and half fingers with flip up finger covers. I'd very much like to get something similar but with more insulation and bigger finger holes so I can wear a wool glove underneath.

I Googled (and duckduckgo'd, but ddg is useless for serious searches) Gander mittens but found nothing like yours. Are these still made? Does anyone have a link to an online source?

Thanks.

Will: boiled wool is indeed warm and I might look for thick boiled wool mittens to wear over wool DeFeet gloves or liners, but the flip-cap design is very handy.

Jeff: I've given up on PI Lobsters after finding my second pair in ~4 years awkward to put on and cold below about 20*F.

[Pam Bikes]

I wear Uggs gloves that are shearling w/the Riv overmitts on top.  The overmitts don't have a palm so the palm is still my leather glove palm.  The layering combo is best for me.  I tried ski gloves but didn't feel like they were as warm.  And these were the down filled ski gloves.  And the palm wasn't as grippy.

[Nick Payne]

Have you tried USB heated gloves? A friend we go riding with swears by them in winter, though I haven't used them myself. In winter here we're sometimes riding in temperatures of -5C or accasionally a couple of degrees colder (somewhere around 20F). At those temperatures I find that a pair of Roeckl lobster mitts over thin woolen gloves keep my fingers feeling OK. For feet I have a pair of Shimano winter shoes - I think the model is MW7. The best skullcaps for those sort of temperatures I've found, that will fit under a helmet, are made by Vaude.

Nick Payne

[Russell Duncan]

I use the treasonably priced TEMRES 282-02 gloves for a variety of winter activities, including riding ATVs and snowmobiles. Good shoulder season gloves by themselves or add a wool liner. Great gloves for snow shoveling. For that shoulder season time of the year, I drop down a size. For colder weather, I use Size XL with a liner.

https://gearjunkie.com/apparel/showa-temres-282-02-review

Russell Duncan

Leverett, MA and Saratoga, WY

[Russell Duncan]

Bloody hell, reasonably priced gloves

[Justin Kennedy]

I use the LL Bean buckskin chopper mittens over a pair of Riv dotty wool gloves. I find the mitten liner the chopper mitts come with to be TOO warm, in fact, and my hands sweat. (I think they're synthetic.) It's also nice to have some dexterity with actual gloves underneath rather than another pair of mittens under. You can even wear them with fingerless dottys and stay reasonably warm. 

https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/502856?originalProduct=60315&productId=1158101

https://www.rivbike.com/products/dotty-wool-gloves-pair

[Patrick Moore]

Thanks all again. Now the problem is, there are too many damned choices. My first choice would be that Gander hunters' mitten with the flip-back finger cover but I can't find it online. I'll have to review the other choices again, but right now (probably because I just looked at it) I'm leaning at 45* toward the LLBean Goretex Primaloft mitten because, well because I just looked at it, but also because it's got a bit of a gauntlet but not elbow-length, and it has positive reviews from a Canadian winter runner and (unless he was being sarcastic) someone who said he wore it comfortably in Antartica. And it's only $70, and I've meant to try LLBean again after decades; I used to be a good customer.

Hand warmers: thanks for the suggestion, but my very cold weather rides tend to be brief, if only because at 5K feet, once the sun comes up the temperatures also shoot up. So an easy-on/easy off mitten with a wool underglove is a good system for my riding.

I'll have some winter gear for sale shortly: Very nice but slightly too short Wabi Woolens LS jersey professionally and excellently retrofitted with a full-length zipper; a Varusteleka heavy full-zip, high-neck sweater with thumb holes but too heavy for my needs; and some Large little used PI lobster mitts. Watch this space.

[Wesley]

Honestly, Bar Mitts brand neoprene pogies are so amazing that I would recommend just buying enough pairs that you can put them on each bike. Or swapping one pair between bikes as necessary (that can be complicated on the drop-bar version, depending on your cable routing). They are far beyond any gloves or mittens worn on the hands because they block the cold wind without being bulky or interfering with your handling the controls. I have fingers that are quite cold-sensitive, and I used Bar Mitts for seven years of commuting in Wisconsin winters. On the below-zero days I would only have to add a pair of minimalist knitted gloves (the kind they sell for 99 cents at the supermarket checkout.) 

Bar Mitts rock.

-Wes 

[Patrick Moore]

The trouble with those, besides being bulky looking, is our big temperature differentials. I can often leave at 9 am at 18*F and come back at 50*F. I daresay that if I were riding long periods at sub 20* I'd think differently.

[matt miller]

I've used an older version of these First Lite mittens for hunting, and they also had enough feel to operate my cameras. Obviously, they are expensive. My version was much cheaper! But when working for hours in the Dakotas and Minnesota, they were perfect and well worth it. Wool still works when damp, and I sometimes used just the outside with different liners.

[David Pulsipher]

The best mittens, hands down - for warmth and cost are the Kinco Ski Mitt. They can be broken in so they aren't super dextrous, but as far as warmth goes, I've used them well into the negatives (-14 up to -20) and every other mitten breaks down at that point, especially cycling specific products.

[Patrick Moore]

Thanks, a second +1 for Kinco products. They're on my short list.

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/2b58be91-c9fb-49c7-a44a-b95945a93600n%40googlegroups.com.

[Coal Bee Rye Anne]

I also like my Kinco mitts but one note of clarification is that their built in liner is of the 'fingered/gloved' type so each digit is lined separately within the mitten.  They are otherwise much warmer than the now heavily worn out cashmere lined leather gloves I was previously using for most of my winter riding.  Those older gloves were better for gripping a variety of bars and using controls but nowhere near as effective for keeping my fingers warm or dry.  My Kinco mitts also came with a pack of Nikwax (I think) waterproofing paste to work into the leather.  

[Will Boericke]

All leather for this job is a tough choice in my use case.  I need mitts to be occasionally waterproof but more often breathable.  And in fact, I'll err on the side of breathable because a very waterproof mitt will leave me with wet hands inside anyway.  To get leather to the waterproof stage, you need a sealant (I like SnoSeal), rendering it basically non-breathable.  My personal compromise is a mountaineering mitten with removable liner and a leather palm.  I get the grippiness and longevity of leather (synthetic substitutes are far inferior), which I can waterproof + the breathability of modern membranes (PFCs are a downside).  I dispose of the factory liner beacuse they're usually garbage and use a dense, lightweight wool mitten, knit by my loving mother.

Will

[Mackenzy Albright]

https://www.halfordsmailorder.com/deer-mitts-gold-ladies-large-glmitt196golll

I prefer simple deer skin mittens with fleece liners for anything below freezing to about -19*c / -19*f

I've had the same pair for 10 years. I have terrible circulation in my fingers and numb quickly. 

IMO Lobster claws are a joke. Snow board mittens are OK but over priced. Gloves are worst than lobster claws for cold (I wear thin gloves above 32 though). Pogies are nice but limit hand positions a bit more than I care for. 

[Patrick Moore]

I bought a pair of size Large Guide Gear leather mittens with light fleece lining and inner wool mitten, sub $40. The wool mitten is thin, not at all like the heavy, almost felted wool mittens with my first pair of OR nylon/wool combo, but the OR combination was really too warm for my needs. The leather is good quality and supple, the stitching looks good, and they are labeled "waterproof." I daresay that the lining will wear but I wanted these for the leather outer mitts which are large enough to wear over not only the accompanying wool mittens but my lighter-weight lined leather gloves (ex Bundeswehr!) and they will even fit over those little-used Pearl Izumi size L lobster mitts I'm trying to sell without crowding the ends of fingers or thumb.

I wish they covered more of my wrists but anything I wear under them will be longer on the wrist. 

Come to think of it, those very thick and dense OR wool under-mittens would probably have served as well as these lined leather sheaths, but I expect I'll prefer the leather for a better grip on the bar.

Those PI lobsters + OR nylon over mittens (no wool undermittens) + Finnish army surplus gun mittens still FS: all now $70 shipped CONUS.

On Thu, Sep 28, 2023 at 2:15 PM Patrick Moore <bert...@gmail.com> wrote:

The fall style thread raises a question about keeping your hands warm in very cold temperatures (for me, very cold means in the teens F). My fingers are very sensitive to the cold. I've bought 2 or 3 pairs of PI Lobster gloves but I've been disappointed in the fit and the warmth. 

I've used Outdoor Research heavy nylon mitten sheaths with thick boiled wool mittens underneath, and those were very warm indeed, but very awkward to ride in, even on a fixed gear where you have to handle only the brake levers.

Varusteleka currently has a number of mil surplus mittens with separate thumb, separate thumb and trigger finger, and separate thumb and first 2 fingers. The whole point of mittens is to bundle the fingers together in one compartment for mutual warmth, so each added finger compartment sacrifices warmth.

Does anyone have thoughts on a glove or a mitten or a system that gives the best mix of warmth and dexterity? And perhaps some particular gloves or mittens that fit the bill?

Right now, I've got hugely oversized 5-finger gloves under which I can wear wool knit gloves, under which in turn I can wear silk liners, but this sort of layer system is cumbersome to put on and take off.

Thanks.

--

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Executive resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, letters, and other writing services.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When thou didst not, savage,

Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like

A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes

With words that made them known.

[Frakern]

I have trouble with cold hands too. If you have upright handlebars, I'd suggest trying the handlebar covers that Blue Lug sells. Takes a bit of time to get used to look, but they keep my hands super warm to the point that I don't usually need gloves. 

[Tim Donner]

I ride in Western Mass, this mornings ride was in the low 20s and these have been really toasty for me in temps down into the teens! GORE-TEX INFINIUM THERMO SPLIT GLOVES. I wear them on my drop bar and swept back bar bikes, with bar end and thumbie shifters respectively. I appreciate that they have XXXL, my palms are pretty big and this gives a snug yet roomy fit and gives me enough dexterity and they aren't super long on my fingers. 
Full price they are spendy but I have seen them on sale for closer to $50 in the past. 

[Patrick Moore]

Thanks. No, I use drops exclusively and in any event like to move my hands around; also, I've got 4 bikes.

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/b892e966-74c6-4baf-9102-cf7d9c2381a4n%40googlegroups.com.

[Patrick Moore]

Thanks. Those are warmer than PI Lobsters? 

I've been trying to sell my lobsters but no response, and I may just keep them; they'll fit inside the new leather/fleece-lined mittens for very cold mornings without (apparently; haven't yet ridden with this combo) binding or squashing.

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/b2441dc5-e57e-4189-b0fd-05c4ff5551c5n%40googlegroups.com.

[Garth]

I was wondering how I was going to fare wearing the Kinco Axeman mittens this morning @26 degrees, sunny and a light crisp dry fresh breeze. I wore the longer cuff Harbor Freight 7 mil nitrile gloves underneath, reversed so the slick inside glides with the fleece interior of the mitt.  W U N D A B A H  ! (pronounced like voon-da-bah) aka Wonderful !

I wasn't so sure about the feet either as usually below 32 has been cold toes with my Altra Trail runners, even with Showers Pass Mountain socks that are windproof and have some wool inside, supposedly. They weren't very warm by themselves, surprisingly, until this year I started wearing plastic grocery bags around my feet before I put the socks on. Now they're warm ! Vapor barriers for the win !  For more warmth I can place some plastic packaging pouches converted to toe booties inside my shoes.

Plus I bought me some fancy Sportful Fiandre road specific jackets this fall, one of which aptly named "Warm" with a Gore Infinium wind stopping softshell and a laminated fleece lining. (Fiandre is Italian for Flanders, a region of Belgium famous for fabulous pro road races) The "Warm" jacket has all sorts of ventilation built into it, from a narrow strip of fleece running the length of the under arms, to the mesh caped upper back vent, to two small zippered side torso vents. It's a brilliant design. It's not meant for below freezing so I wore two light baselayer shirts, which I found is warmer than one thicker one, plus another Fiandre jacket on top of the baselayers and underneath the Warm. The Fiandre NoRain Light short sleeve jacket. Gawd is it awesome, the back is breathable rain resistant fabric and the rest is a thin wind stopping laminate that's noiseless and supple. Having that extra windproof fabric over the shoulders to the elbows makes a huge difference compared to vests. Very light and packable. All these Fiandre jackets are like hybrid jersey/jackets, they're meant to be very form fitting and over baselayers, like a jersey.

All that with some nice warm Santini Aldo bib tights which I'm pretty sure is the heaviest/most dense fleece made road cycling wear. No wind blocking panels, minimal seams, just the dense and very supple "Roubaix" style fleece, smooth outside and fleecy inside.

Riding in long low road position(notably less air resistance !) and having form fitting no flap clothing this year I've kept riding this fall whereas usually I would have given in to the cold for walking/hiking instead.

Having a warm head of course is essential and I use combos of balaclavas, neck gaiters and Lowe Alpine Mountain Caps, which are the bees knees for anything in the cold. Goretex shell and fleece lining, with loops @ the chin for DIY securing under the chin. Mine are some 12 years old, but I see they still make them, albeit with their own proprietary waterproofing rather than a Gore product. https://mountainequipment.com/products/classic-mountain-cap-alpine-hat The brim is wired so bendable any which way, plus it snaps up under the little horizontal piece of fabric on the front. The main thing I get out the hat is that it is windproof, just like the socks. If my head is cold I have no chance to stay warm !

[Brian Turner]

I just received the Kinco waterproof Work + Ski mitt for my birthday and am anxious to get to try them out on some cold rides this Winter. They’re leather mittens, but have a 5-finger liner built into them to keep your fingers toasty.

Brian

Lex Ky

On Nov 25, 2023, at 3:00 PM, Garth <gart...@gmail.com> wrote:



To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/58adeaf9-5f95-46c1-ae99-61cb63209340n%40googlegroups.com.

[Patrick Moore]

+1 for plastic bags, tho' I use them for wind protection in mesh shoes when it's not quite cold enough for my winter shoes. Over wool socks, 1 or even 2 pairs as needed.

Head: Back when I had a pony tail (I have thick hair) I wondered why people got het up about hats. Now that it's cropped to 1/2" or less I understand. I bought some nice OR fleece skull caps with ear flaps and draw cord that I wear under a winter cycling cap -- Walz or PI; colder and I'll add a neck gaiter* or scarf or balaclava, and for real cold I have a Fargo the Movie trooper's hat with plush lining and ear flaps to wear over ditto.

Jacket: I've got choices that all work down to the upper teens: a light lined shell to which I had pit zips added that I can wear over various under layers, the warmest by far being a heavy wool Finnish sweater with high full zip neck; or -- donated by a friendly iBob, a wonderful '80s Italian wool + nylon panel cycling jacket that is surprisingly warm for its weight and which I can wear over various wool layers including an Ibex wool vest.

That mountain equipment had is better than my Fargo troopers' hat tho' this is much the same in design and dimensions. I'm tempted to buy one but usually I get by with the OR skullcap or a blalaclava plus a scarf and the Walz or PI winter caps and the trooper is worn only occasionally

Gloves: a range from thin silk liners (but cheap; Lands' End junk; they pill) to wonderful, very durable and warm to just above freezing DeFeet wool knit gloves to ex-Bundesweher lined leather gloves bought 2 sizes too large in which I can wear both of the foregoing, then the new mittens into which I can get the leather gloves. I've also got those PI lobsters which also fit into the new leather mittens.**

*I have a Buff and a much cheaper one from Varusteleka. Guess which is by far the better: better quality, better weight, better fit? The Buff is pilling lightweight junk tho' I like the blazing orange color.

FS: thinnish but very decent wool mittens that came as liners with the leather mittens, unworn, Large; Finnish army mil surpl wool shooter mittens -- sep trigger fingers -- unworn, Large; and OR nylon mitten/gauntlets, I expect XL, bought used but VG. Take these, leave the lobsters, for $25 shipped CONUS. All this + PI lobsters, before I wear them again: $70 shipped CONUS. Hell, I'll through in that Buff neck gaiter too, tho' you'll have to remind me and you should probably wash it.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/58adeaf9-5f95-46c1-ae99-61cb63209340n%40googlegroups.com.

[Garth]

Patrick, The Lowe Alpine cap from Mountain Equipment is totally windproof and waterproof, just to let you know in case. I have some OR Wind Pro fleece Peruvian style caps with a chin cord I wear in milder conditions, but when below 40 I really need some wind stopping as I tend to take a chill from a cold head. Your hearing is slightly diminished with the Lowe Alpine cap when battened down, but you can still hear and feel cars.  I made my own chin cord out of bulk elastic shockcord and a spring locker, like you find on jackets at the waist. I have it long enough that I can flip up the ears with the cord over my crown. The back of the hats also have an elastic velcro strip to fine tune. My head measures about 58cm and I have XL's as I prefer a looser fit to fit over a balaclava if needed. The velcro in the back helps to take up the excess. That's just me though, I tend to buy all winter headwear a little big.

The "regular" Buffs are rather wonky aren't they. They always feel cold to me. I happened to come upon a version of them called Dryflx, the fabric is totally different, it always feels "dry" and it's reflective, hence the name. This Buff is warm against the skin, unlike the regular Buff. It's also taller, has some "body" to the fabric and doesn't fall down so easy, despite being about the same thickness, and never feels clammy when sweating. I bet you'd like these, I have 4 as I love neck gaiters !  I have a bunch of Turtle Fur also, the "original" four layer stuff that's super warm and blocks some wind by virtue of the layers. Not really for riding though, I have windstopper gaiters for that !

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MVZ5BNC?th=1&psc=1

[William Watson]

I've been experimenting with felted mittens and like the first results so far. I knit a giant pair of minimally processed wool, and then alternated them between hot and cold water, kneading and gnashing them while dunking. This caused them to shrink about 33% making a really dense and durable knit. So far they are much warmer and water resistant than other things I've knit. That said, I have only been able to use them down to about 20 degrees here in Minneapolis so far. 

Will

[Will Boericke]

My mother knits me a pair of double-thick wool mittens every 10 years or so.  When I lived in VT, I did find that they worked really well for mountaineering in ugly conditions after many washes and felting down.  A layer of ice would form on the outside but my fingers were cosy.

My favorite liner mitts are a lightweight version she made me that are close-fitting and work under several outer mitts in my collection (OR and Mountain Hardware).  

I have not achieved the felted condition artificially, as it were, only as a result of many washes and uses.  You definitely need an oversized original mitt to wind up at the right size.  I quite like a layer of silicone applied to the palm for some grip.

Will near Boston

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/rsZpJQI478U/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/2e2d4437-fbb8-47d2-b27a-dc8f2fee962dn%40googlegroups.com.