Winter is starting! Cold hand solutions?

sc00ter · November 19, 2020, 09:08:03 PM

I'm trying to ride year round but winter is slowly starting here. I normally have good luck with cheap hunting gloves with liners on my scooter, but the same gloves get cold on my ebike after 40 minutes. It takes 30 minutes on the scooter for my commute, but takes a hour on the ebike. I finally bought warm, water proof shoes, have a warm jacket and a liner for my helmet but my hands still get so cold! Anyone find warm gloves? Battery powered gloves? I don't care for bar muffs and heated grips never get hot enough. So what do you year round cold weather riders use?

Mountaintrails · November 20, 2020, 05:38:18 AM

I would say for a quick fix the warming packets, you can get a very large box from costco for a decent price. I would look into battery powered liners. I know the Milwaukee M12 series is doing very good around the construction crews.
Best of luck

Mudder · November 20, 2020, 07:27:01 AM

Second the Milwaukee M12 heated gear. Have the jackets and hoodies. Several other good heated glove brands.

Dan B · November 20, 2020, 04:09:27 PM

I ended up getting a pair of Bicycle bar mitts. They fit over the controls of my Rad Rover 5 very well and I can still get to the brakes, controller and the throttle with no problem. I can wear thinner gloves and be very confortable.
Link to Amazon: https://amzn.to/3qR9DSn

Altema · November 20, 2020, 08:05:33 PM

Hands were a problem for me as well, and I'd try to put my gloved hands in my pocked while coasting down hills.
The Milwaukee heating gloves are higher quality, but I bought a less expensive pair to try out from Amazon. The CHEROO Battery Heated Gloves have a longer runtime, and six heat levels, but the batteries use a weird plug for charging. If you lose it, you are out of luck. The worked well for me, though if you are unsure of the size, go bigger. My hands measure 8.5 inches around the palm, but the 8 to 9 inch medium size is tight on me.

sc00ter · November 20, 2020, 09:01:30 PM

Going to Home Depoo for the M12 heated gloves. I have weird sized hands and I need to try on gloves before purchasing. I also loose stuff... But thanks for the link to the other brand Altema.

sc00ter · November 21, 2020, 05:09:20 PM

The M12 gloves (in the heated apparel section) are $179. I firmly believe in the Pay to Play ethos BUT Home Depoo only keeps L and XL in stock, and I wear medium. So I did some online price checking and $179 is the norm. Going back in the morning and order the medium size thru my local store. I also checked LOWES and Northern and neither one stocks heated clothing. Also checked T.S.C. and they don't carry heated clothing either. Will post my results/mini-review when I get my heated gloves and get some miles on them. I also stopped by Cycle Gear and picked up another Freeze-Out Balaclava. Fits under my Nutcase helmet and keeps my head warm. Might also order one of those battery jackets that's for sale on Etsy. I see they sell insulated ones.

Altema · November 22, 2020, 08:59:03 AM

Looking forward to the review! I ordered a vest off of Amazon, but canceled because it was late, and had no battery.
I found one that looked better, included the power bank, and had independent controls for the front and back heaters.

Only thing left is my face!

sc00ter · November 22, 2020, 03:02:09 PM

The Cycle Gear balaclava was $30. Covers everything but my nose. Under a full face motorcycle helmet that's fine but I'll soon see how my nose does come the colder weather with a bicycle helmet. REI Co-Op had some nice face cover solutions as well but Covid kinda limits you putting one on for a test fit. I've used Cycle Gear Freeze Out stuff for years on my scooter. Good stuff at a fair price and I know it fits me. Still intrigued with the REI options as well.

Altema · November 23, 2020, 03:40:29 AM

Quote from: sc00ter on November 22, 2020, 03:02:09 PM
The Cycle Gear balaclava was $30. Covers everything but my nose. Under a full face motorcycle helmet that's fine but I'll soon see how my nose does come the colder weather with a bicycle helmet. REI Co-Op had some nice face cover solutions as well but Covid kinda limits you putting one on for a test fit. I've used Cycle Gear Freeze Out stuff for years on my scooter. Good stuff at a fair price and I know it fits me. Still intrigued with the REI options as well.

I've tried a few coverings, but fabric on my face gets damp from breathing unless I leave my nose or mouth out. I tried a scarf over my face a few nights ago, and it was comfy, but kept falling down and trying to fall off. I gave up fighting it, and found out it was missing after a few miles. I was thinking a full face helmet would solve the wind in my face, but I didn't want the full-on motorcycle look, so I found this and am going to give it a try. The sun shield retracts and the vents are adjustable, so we shall see!

https://amzn.to/39ZaKsu

Mudder · November 23, 2020, 09:19:22 AM

Have Savior brand heated gloves, raised touch screen contact is easy for pushing power and PAS buttons.

sc00ter · December 04, 2020, 06:36:47 AM

Update. The Milwaukee heated gloves run large. I ordered Medium and their still slightly baggy but not unsafe. The coldest its gotten so far has been 34 degrees, wimpy weather compared to our northern riders. So at 34 degrees at 1 hour of riding with the gloves on high my hands never got cold, but also never felt toasty. Its a weird thing to describe but they seem to work. They don't bunch up, easy to get on and off (have pull loops) and the gauntlets fit over my jacket sleeves without catching anything. Batteries are easy to get to and you can actually charge them while still in the gloves. Let me ride in colder weather and get some more miles on them before giving them a great overall review, but so far I like them. Price ($180) is still steep.
Note that the gloves run a bit over a hour and a half on max heat. I have no idea why they have a medium and low setting but they do. The batteries take a tad over a hour to charge and you can charge both at the same time. All the hardware seems pretty robust as well, but time will tell.

Altema · December 04, 2020, 12:25:52 PM

My cheap gloves were on the small side, but seem to be stretching out. I turn them on high for a few minutes, then turn them down to medium (level 3 out of 5).
I got the helmet, and it is working out NICE! The face shield rests on seal, so I get no air leaks, and the vents on top can be closed. It was like riding in a bubble, and people can see my face so I still get lots of waves and hellos. The only part that was even chilly was my chin, and that wasn't too bad. I buttoned up my fleece pullover and it fixed that issue. I wound up riding thirty miles yesterday and was comfortable.

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Winter is starting! Cold hand solutions?