My proto-types pogies arrived from Ray from the e bay link above (or type in http://www.hotpog.co.uk and it will take you through to the e bay page) – just in time for the regular Wednesday night ride. They fitted well on the bars using a mix of velcro and zip and they are nice and secure, got them in stealth black they still look a bit ‘special’ having two huge gloves attached to your bars but not too bad (after all they are there for a reason not to look good). Ray has done a great job and all the stitching and material looked substantial and well made.
Firstly I suffer from very bad Reynaud’s so struggle hugely in the winter with my hands and feet, to the point that sometimes I just can’t ride. I’ve tried every glove combo and just about struggle through, but its painful and does effect my riding (feet I found the solution last year – I did have a pair of Shimano winter boots but my feet still froze – I replaced them with another pair of Shimano winter boots but 3 sizes too big – with big socks now have toasty feet due to all the room).
Last nights ride was cold probably around -3 ish, but cold enough that for the first time I’ve seen Rivelin Valley river in Sheffield was frozen over bank to bank in some areas (not just the ponds but the river itself!) .
Tried the pogies first with a near summer weight glove (windstopper but no insulation) – with another 3 pairs of gloves of varying weight in my bag – just in case. The pogies were outstanding from the off set, they create a little micro climate for your hands and obviously your hands are not exposed to the wind, so once your brake lever warms up my hands were spot on, warm and very comfortable for the entire ride
Benefits are huge I think, worst thing about full on winter gloves is that you lose the feel and connection with the bars, with the pogies I can go for a super thin palmed glove for maximum feel and still have warm hands.
Downsides – they are super easy to get in an out off, and I think they would be fine in the vast majority of crashes, but over the bar crashes could be restrictive but I’d still happily ride super technical trails in them. They have an elastic part round the wrist for a closer fit and although it’s loose could do with being a little looser for bigger gloves to aid getting in and out (but that’s a small down – and they were fine with thin gloves – i’ll be feeding back to Ray anyway). Oh…..and they do look a little ‘special’, but I’m totally sold as the benefits esp. for me or anybody else with bad Reynaud’s are huge. I think the pogies with a two part thin glove like the Fox antifreeze would cover all the bases.
Must say Ray is a top, top guy to deal with over the email and phone, he makes all the stuff himself so any tweaks or special requested will be easy to do and the result is a quality well made product at a very reasonable price.
