I am of the opinion, based on trying lots of shitty offbrand pogies, that the actual Barmitts brand ones are actually superior and worth the extra money.
Have you ever tried the curly bar versions that leave the drops open?
I use my drops a lot, and while they look goofy AF it would be nice to not have to try and find thicker and thicker gloves.
I haven’t.
Ages ago, I had the original drop bar version that locks you into the hoods and they were annoying for obvious reasons.
I haven’t owned a drop bar bike in years.
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I have the drop bar version, but my hand position is limited to the hoods. It kinda defeats the purpose of drop bars.
If I had smaller hands, I might be able to squeeze into the hooks.
I was curious and checked out their website, it looks like they have a version that lets you use the drops. Seems pretty tight up by the hoods though.
I was not able to stay warm with Bar Mitts.
These are lighter and softer and have worked much better for me:
They had a drop bar version that sucked and has been discontinued. I tried all kinds of binder clips and bungees to make them work in Wisconsin but it was just comical.
I think dealing with the occasional temperature plunge down south is harder in some ways than doing a Midwest winter. I start my Iowa winters overdressing and then gradually tolerate fewer and fewer layers at the same temps. Going from 50s to 20s and back can be a lot harder than going between 30s and 0s.
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I have some Specialized ones I got when my old shop closed. They’re very warm, like I had to take them off about midway through my last fat bike ride (30*ish) because I was getting too sweaty on the hands. I wear a heavier weight biking glove under them. That combo is definitely warmer than a winter weight insulated leather work glove (which is fine from like 30-45).
I haven’t fully figured out keeping toes warm, except last time I just wore straight up winter boots and that was warmer than 2 pairs of socks plus the rubber-on-the-outside Five Tens. Maybe even downright pleasant.
Very true. I never did a lot of cold weather riding in Illinois, but my threshold for what I considered warm enough to ride is a lot higher after almost 4 years in South Carolina.
Although it seems that as I get older I’m having more and more problems with my fingers turning in to ice even at fairly mild temperatures.
Same here. Once it gets to 30 and below, it’s just a matter of changing whatever base layer I’m wearing up top and adding/removing some wool glove liners. All the outer layers stay the same.
Keeping wind off my hands and legs has made the biggest difference for me. For hands, that’s either been using swept back bars like Albatross clones or mtn bike hand guards (these) on flat-ish bars (Jones). At first, I wondered how well the hand guards actually worked. Now, I just have to stick my finger out to a brake lever to notice how much colder that finger gets. The guards also seem to work really well at keeping my gloves drier in the rain.
For legs, Rainlegs have helped keep my thighs a lot warmer without having to resort to wearing a base layer under my pants except when it’s in the single digits. They don’t breath at all, so the upper thighs can get a little clammy at times if it’s humid or on the warmer side that day or if you’re putting out WATTS.
Last winter I cut up an old long sleeved thermal/base layer into basically a crop top with shoulders and sleeves. That’s worked out well so far when I need more layers on the arms (which might help keep my hands warmer) but not on the torso.
Caveat, my cold rides are usually 20-25 minutes.
So you made a base layer shrug. Interesting.
That’s it! I knew there was a better term for that out there somewhere.
Sounds like the arm and shoulder part of my Bumble costume.
At least my arms, shoulders and head were warm.
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I think that picture made my eyes rust
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Tarckshoop tarcklebee.
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