It seems my Scottish blood only makes it as far as my wrists. My hands seem to have really poor circulation that last winter I got to work after 4 miles of commuting and could type for nearly 45 minutes as my finger tips hurt so much. Then all the skin peeled off them. I’d guess it was about -4C. The rest of my body is perfectly fine, just hands.

I’ve tried just about every winter bike glove I can find and none of them seem to keep the cold out. Right up to the £95 Castelli ones. So I am thinking Ski gloves are the way to go. I’m sure people do this but I’d thought I’d check and see if any one had any tips. I could buy a pair of gloves on the return postage I’ve spent over the last couple of months!

What about the gloves the ski/board park rats wear? Typically a less bulky fit but designed to allow for ‘grabs’ and what not whilst still having some decent insulation factor.

I wear ski gloves on really cold days for MTB. No trouble at all. When you think about it, similar use cases.

People who use pogies recommend them highly.

I tried the spring ski gloves aka the park rat ones. But found them hard to hold onto the handle bars properly. They just seemed too bulky (Even though they weren’t for ski gloves) and quite slippy.

Have you tried layering gloves, I had good results with some thin silk under gloves with some cold weather biking gloves on top. You can pick them up in decathlon for not much.

Mrs M who is terribly cold handed now has some electrically heated ski gloves which were not cheap but she absolutely loves.  They reduce handlebar feel but as its mainly XC over winter, fine control isn’t a problem and at the end of the ride she still has feeling in her finger tips.

Pogies. Pay £28 and say goodbye to your cold hand woes.

https://www.hotpog.co.uk/collections/cycling/products/classic-pogies

Vice versa…I use Aldi cycle gloves for snowboarding :o)

I used these for the first time this morning in Glasgow (it was above freezing this morning here). I was also wearing my normal gloves underneath. It’s 10K door to door, normally I arrive in work with numb hands. Was sweaty this morning.

+1 my really cold gloves are some ski ones.

I sometimes use an old pair of climbing gloves on the bike – these are the newer version. They’re OK for pootling but the cut of them makes it difficult to brake 1 fingered.

I suspect the pogies are what you’re really after for your circulation though. Do the hotpogs ones work on drop bars?

I suffer with cold hands, picked these up recently. Warmest gloves I’ve had.

Cross country ski gloves can sometimes be a good bet if you get the more insulated ones. Cut is curved so fits the bars and most of the insulation is I’ve the back so keeps some feel/control.

Look at motorcycling gloves too, they are made to handle the wind chill at higher speeds but should still be ok to feel the grips and levers.

The problem with insulated gloves like ski gloves is that the insulation, usually Thinsulate, tends to squirm between the two layers meaning you’ve never got a good grip of the bars. They also make my hands too hot and sweaty. I use very thin gloves made from a dense synthetic material and they work well keeping my hands bearably warm down to about 3c simply by blocking the cold wind.

Mitts – preferably the ‘Trigger finger’ style mitt where the index finger is separate for braking but where you can pop it back in the main mitt section when it starts getting cold. I was kindly given some massive Reusch skiing trigger/lobster mitts which do a great job and also go well up the wrist to keep the blood warm on the way in.

They do the job for me when it’s too cold for my usual layering system which has silk, insulating and waterproof/windproof shell layers.  Look up Dissent 133 to see the idea.

The Giro 100 Proof Gloves also seem to follow the trigger mitt concept if you’re looking at cycling specific gloves.

I would be interested to hear from anyone using the Dissent 133 system. I’ve been contemplating it for a while. Seems pricey but you do get several combinations for the money, hence more than just cold and/or wet days.

If you have frozen your fingers that badly they will take several years to fully heal, if they ever heal. Meanwhile use all the possible means to stay warm, e.g. the pogies add warmth and allows use of more dexterous gloves. Heavy winter (alpine) ski gloves are quite cumbersome and I prefer XC ski lobster-type gloves to them.

I’m just about to send a pair of giro 100 proof back. They have weirdest fit I’ve ever come across. Like the just some figures into a bag. Far too wide for the finger length.

No reason not to use ski gloves. As some have alluded to you won’t have the best level of feel but you adapt to this to some degree, and if it’s mainly for the commute, this is less of an issue.

I would think about whether you could make your body/arms a bit warmer, too, though. When I’ve had cold toes wearing warm socks/winter boots, another layer on the legs has sorted it out.

Is it wet or just cold? Make sure you put the waterproof layers to minimise water being funneled into your gloves, i.e. jacket sleeves over the gloves a bit.

winters i use oakley factory park gloves (snowboarding i think theyre for). not too bulky but nice and warm.

I could buy a pair of gloves on the return postage I’ve spent over the last couple of months!

Just to say – pay with Paypal and you can claim the return postage back 🙂