winter waterproof gloves

dafman

Could anyone recommend a good pair of winter gloves that are both waterproof and wind proof and also not too bulky .Willingly to pay 30/40 euros max .Thanks.

Ole Rodrigo

These are working out well so far.

Jawgap

You can't have both!

Water and windproof means sweaty hands and getting wet from the inside out.

Windproof with some water resistance is the best combo, imo.

SealSkinz All Weather Cycle Glove are on Chain Reaction for €41-97 at the moment.

De Bhál

I use these. They work very well.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mobile/MobileModels.aspx?ModelID=87861

Captain Havoc

I love my BBB Aquashields

Paul Kiernan

Captain Havoc wrote: »

I love my BBB Aquashields

I have these as well and while they're great most of the time I find in very wet weather the cuffs absorb the wet and it then leaks down into the fingers. After half an hour the insides are full of water!

ck101

#1 on the Aquashield too. Baltic early yesterday morning and the fingers were warm. Have ridden some lengthy distances in the rain and they held out well.

GreeBo

I have found that if they are windproof and warm it doesnt matter if they get a bit wet (from sweat or rain) they kinda work like a wetsuit, your body warms up the water.
However, putting them back on after a lunch stop or something if not that much fun

fat bloke

I got a great pair in Hollingsworth Kilmacud three weeks ago after an unmerciful cold Dunday morning soaking. I'd have to go downstairs now to check the name, sorry . But they're high viz yellow, warm and waterproof..... I want to say they're called "madison"...

Anyway, they're fantastic, I've been raving about them since I bought them. You know when you buy a piece of gear and it just does exactly what you hoped it would do? 35 quid too.

cdaly_

Prendas "Air Tunnel" for GBP30 are what I use. Water resistant and nice and warm. I use silk glove liners with them in the really cold weather.

ck101

I take back my earlier comment. Had three hours in the rain at 2.0C and the Aquashields soaked through. Fingers felt like frostbite was setting in for the last hour.

ednwireland

i bought these for this winter

surprisingly warm

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-track-bike/bbb-bbb-gloves-winter-bbb-coldzone-winter-gloves/bbbazglo280

(didnt want something as bulky as the aquasheilds)

kerry4sam

I bought these initially for running. Recently I tried them whilst out cycling and found them perfect in the wind & rain, especially happy with the silicone coating on them. Hi-vis too

Lightweight, elastic GORE Windstopper® soft shell back panel offers windproof protection and water resistance to keep hands warm
Soft lining and snug fit for additional warmth
Moisture management for comfort as you warm up
Silicone grip on palms and fingers improves dexterity
Stash away easily in a pocket or pack
Reflective logos for increased visibility in low-light conditions

pprendeville

cdaly_ wrote: »

Prendas "Air Tunnel" for GBP30 are what I use. Water resistant and nice and warm. I use silk glove liners with them in the really cold weather.

what are silk glove liners? my hands were freezing this morning. got a new pair of Campag gloves on order from CRC but they might need something light inside.

doozerie

I can't offer any suggestions for good waterproof winter gloves, just some experiences of some for what that is worth.

I have the Assos 3-layers of glove "system" - liner, "regular" gloves, and lobster outer layer. I find them mostly very good. The regular gloves are good on their own - Assos rate them as being good for +6C to +12C if I remember correctly but I've found them good to a degree or two lower than that. Combined with the liners, I've found that double layer to be very good down to +2C for a 4-hour ride yesterday which was mostly dry throughout. They are not waterproof but function well when wet sometimes, and struggle at other times. Last week, during a particularly wet and fairly cold 4-hr ride, the 2 layers failed to keep my fingers warm for the first hour, but when I added the outer/lobster layer my hands warmed up nicely for the next 2 hours, only to subsequently get very cold again for the last hour.

I use the BBB Aquashields only for my 30- to 40- minute commute. Some days, in some weather conditions, they are fine, some days they struggle. This morning, with temperatures at a little under +1C when I left home, they failed miserably - the tips of all of my fingers and my thumbs were frozen by the half-way point. I've not experienced that kind of pain in a while, even after I got to work my fingers and thumbs continued to hurt a lot for 20mins or so. Two hours later and they still ache a little. It was sleeting a little on my way in, I wouldn't have described it as particularly wet but it was enough that the palms of the gloves in particular got wet. I'm not sure if any of the moisture seeped into the inside of the glove but I reckon that at the very least the wet outer layer contributed to the inside of the glove being cold. This is my second winter using those gloves, and they haven't seen much use in that time but they have been washed several times. I'm not sure if they were ever really waterproof from the start, but even if they were I don't believe they are any longer, so if waterproof is what you are really after (and personally I don't think it should really be rated as very important) then these gloves might not be a long-lasting choice.

I've tried a whole bunch of other gloves over the years, with varying degrees of success. The next ones I'll try are insulated (Primaloft) lobster gloves, I have a pair of Sealskin ones which I only bought as they were going very cheap in a sale - I didn't buy them for Sealskin's claimed waterproofness, as I don't consider that desirable, I didn't even buy them so much in the expectation of the insulation being good as simply for the curiosity as to how it'll work out for me. I really don't expect to find a single layer of glove that'll be consistently reliable. I reckon that on any given day there are a number of factors that can influence how effective, or not, a glove proves to be - beyond the obvious ones of the quality of the glove and the weather conditions, I think that how well the rest of you is protected plays a big part too, how tense you are (tension can often result in poorer circulation), how "busy" your hands are on the bars, etc., etc., all play a part in determining how cold your hands get. I've had gloves that worked very well on one day and didn't work at all on another day with very similar weather conditions. The gloves themselves couldn't have been the sole determining factor.

These days I reckon that the best solution for me is to have the option of adding or removing layers of glove depending on circumstances, but I'm still trying to figure out what combination of layers works best in various circumstances. I made the mistake of not bringing a set of glove liners with me today, and I'll probably pay for that when I cycle home later wearing just my BBB Aquashields.

So if I were to make any suggestion on what to buy, it would be to look for layers that can be combined. Whatever your choice of material or brand, I'd look for a snug fitting thin layer of glove that could be worn under anything, and either one or two layers that fit over them. It still may not work out, it certainly hasn't always worked out for me when I got the laters wrong, but I think it's a better bet than hoping to find a single layer that'll work across a range of temperatures and conditions.

irishmotorist

I got a pair of Altura Nevis gloves yesterday and they were good this morning. They're not the warmest in the world, but they kept the wet out which made a big difference over fleecy gloves that I used last week.

MB Lacey

I've worn these Sealskinz waterproof ultra grips for over a year, never let me down, I arrived to work this morning through sleet and snow with warm, dry hands.
In extreme cold minus temps they could do with a warm liner pair underneath but in this morning's snow my hands were fine.

manwithaplan

I've had similar experiences to Doozerie and thought I had everything sussed with a DIY three layer solution. The liners, full finger gloves and big non-bike-specific outer gloves could cope fine with temperatures down to the point where surface conditions would keep me indoors.

The thing is that it doesn't usually rain much when it's very cold. Saturday morning was the exception with buckets of rain/hail and the temperature at 1 degree. The gloves soaked through and my hands were turned into a red wrinkly shivering mess. Back to the drawing board!

cdaly_

pprendeville wrote: »

what are silk glove liners? my hands were freezing this morning. got a new pair of Campag gloves on order from CRC but they might need something light inside.

These. Thin silk glove adds an extra layer without bulking up too much. Not as effective as wool when wet but they help just the same.

petethedrummer

Water proof or Ski gloves don;t work for me cycling. Better off just trying to keep your hands warm rather than dry.

joker77

Bought the SealSkinz Winter Cycle Glove recently enough. Can confirm they are crap. Very disappointed after shelling out for these. Not waterproof, hands wet and freezing this morning

rp

joker77 wrote: »

Bought the SealSkinz Winter Cycle Glove recently enough. Can confirm they are crap. Very disappointed after shelling out for these. Not waterproof, hands wet and freezing this morning

I was thinking of getting these SealSkinz - supposed to be toally waterproof, anyone any experience?

MB Lacey

rp wrote: »

I was thinking of getting these SealSkinz - supposed to be toally waterproof, anyone any experience?

I just posted about those above - they're brilliant, completely waterproof, sometimes if it's very warm and raininy they might get a bit sweaty, but I'd prefer that to cold, wet hands.

CheGuedara

joker77 wrote: »

Bought the SealSkinz Winter Cycle Glove recently enough. Can confirm they are crap. Very disappointed after shelling out for these. Not waterproof, hands wet and freezing this morning

I'd send them back, there must be something wrong with that pair - I've those gloves for a while and water just beads off them.

De Bhál

MB Lacey wrote: »

I've worn these Sealskinz waterproof ultra grips for over a year, never let me down, I arrived to work this morning through sleet and snow with warm, dry hands.
In extreme cold minus temps they could do with a warm liner pair underneath but in this morning's snow my hands were fine.

I have a pair of these and they're very good.

doozerie

It was reading -3.1C when I left home this morning, seemed like a good time to test my new Sealskinz Handle Bar Mittens (I feel a bit old for mittens, arguably a better name in my case would be Sealskinz Handle Bar Muttons). They worked well, a couple of fingertips were feeling the cold a bit by the time I got to work, but I'd consider that a pretty good result for me.

It was completely dry this morning, so despite being a lot colder today I can't say for sure whether these gloves will fare better in the long run than the BB Aquashields which fared so miserably in the (lesser) cold and wet of yesterday. First impressions are promising though, but the real test will always be a cold day with wet weather thrown in too.

There is an immediately obvious downside however, the Primaloft insulation in these Sealskinz is bulky enough that it forms a layer which slides about a little between your hands and the bars. I didn't find it a real problem but it's certainly not ideal. It's hard to avoid that with insulated gloves generally though, I think. On the plus side there is room inside these gloves for an extra layer if necessary.

Despite their RRP of £45, these gloves are available for less than that, such as here (limited sizes only) and here. Wiggle sell them too and there seem to be a lot of customer reviews for them.

I can't recommend these gloves based on having used them just once, and I'm reluctant to recommend gloves anyway given that my experiences with the same gloves can vary wildly from one use to another, but my experiences with them may be of interest to some.

MB Lacey

doozerie wrote: »

It was reading -3.1C when I left home this morning, seemed like a good time to test my new Sealskinz Handle Bar Mittens

Did you pretend you were a lobster when you first put them on?

Figured it wouldn't rain today so I wore my Rapha winter gloves, I don't really rate them.
I treated myself to them for really freezing cycling and thought for the money they'd be toasty in a way none of my other gloves are in below 0 temps- they're not.
My fingers were under my pits at each set of traffic lights this morning, freezing they were.

petethedrummer

Buy loads of cheap gloves from an outdoor shop and layer up. There's no point buying anything expensive.

doozerie

petethedrummer wrote:

Buy loads of cheap gloves from an outdoor shop and layer up. There's no point buying anything expensive.

More generally, just use what works, which most likely will involve experimentation and some degree of expense to try various options. And what works might be cheap, or it might not. Over the years I've tried layers of cheap gloves and layers of expensive gloves and neither consistently provided the right solution for me.

Expensive is relative though - on the days where I have suffered most from the cold I'd have happily paid out a big chunk of my disposable income there and then for something that reduced or eliminated that discomfort and pain, and I would have considered it good value for money if it had worked.

seamus

It can be hard to get it right. My "good" gloves that I use for long rides have a mediocre rating on CRC, and the ones I use for the commute have a great rating, but I wouldn't use them for long spins.

I think it depends on what it is that affects each individual the most. I can tolerate absolutely soaking hands and gloves as they stay insulated and my hands stay warm. But if there's even a slight cold breeze I find the heat vanishes and I get cold hands very quickly. So windproof always trumps waterproof for me.

As doozer says, find what works for you and stick to it.

irishmotorist

irishmotorist wrote: »

I got a pair of Altura Nevis gloves yesterday and they were good this morning. They're not the warmest in the world, but they kept the wet out which made a big difference over fleecy gloves that I used last week.

I'm going to unrecommend these. I got them on the spur of the moment and found them grand on the first commute. Then, despite a day on a radiator, they were still wet going home and I managed to 'de-glove' one of the fingers when taking them off at the end of the second commute. I couldn't get it back in (in a rush) this morning so I'll give it another go, but I've kind of lost faith in them. Sooooo, I got myself a pair of BBB Aquashields at lunchtime. They feel like a better job all round having tried them on. A few spins with them will hopefully confirm.

Surveyor11

For me it's trekmates wind stopper gloves, the liner got a bit wrecked so I took it out and use a pair of polartec liner gloves on the coldest mornings or long spins. 40 mins commute in minus 5 this morning and not a hint of cold. They are reasonably water resistant, especially when retreated with some nikwax - the liner keeps you some what warm even when some water gets in

Rofo

I have a €30 pair of Bicycle Line gloves which I wear between 7 - 12C which are grand but not amazing. They claim to be 100% waterproof and windproof, which is a distinct over-estimation on the real-world 80% windproof and 40% waterproof that I have experienced. However they are low on bulk, and so provide decent feel around brakes & shifters.

I also have a pair of these €6 bulky, ridiculous, no-feel ski gloves which I wear from 6C down to when the freezing weather stops me venturing out. I can kiss goodbye to any feedback when shifting/braking but at least my hands are toasty. They been tested in sleet at about 2C for 4 hours and don't seem to get overly wet either. I find them amazingly good and am glad I risked those 6 europeans.

Kav0777

I have been using these:

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/CLPXWGLV/planet_x_winter_cycling_gloves

Good in the dry, less so in the wet.

lennymc

i use skiing gloves.

edit - sorry, dunno the make.

Bunnyhopper

Kav0777 wrote: »

I have been using these:

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/CLPXWGLV/planet_x_winter_cycling_gloves

Good in the dry, less so in the wet.

I have a pair of these and find them okay in the dry (haven't tried them in the wet). The problem I have with them is that they're sized quite small. I have the XL, which is the biggest size they make, but even so they're a very tight fit. (I have quite big hands in the long bony fingers way rather than the meaty slabs way…)

I am prone to getting quite cold fingers and I find a tight fit can actually slightly restrict the blood flow and make gloves less effective for keeping my fingers warm.

I also have a couple of Campy pairs: Light Polar Windproof Thermo and STEAM Thermo

CRC have good prices for them at the moment, but only in quite large sizes. They're both good quality, and particularly good value at sale prices. They're both more generously sized than the Planet X pair.

The Light Polar are fine on their own and offer reasonable protection against cold. They're stretchy enough to take a liner glove but fine and tight enough that there's no loss of dexterity. I wore them with light wool liners for about an hour and half in temperatures around 4-5°C last week and they did the job. They're not sold as waterproof and I think they'd get wet through pretty quickly. They have some rubber grip on the palms but not the fingers. They're not padded at all. The cuffs are a good length and there's a non-stretchy strip to help with getting them on.

The STEAM are heavier-duty. They are sold as waterproof and, while I haven't had them out in the wet yet, I'd say they'd hold up reasonably well in the rain. They're good and warm, too. I wore them for a spin one evening recently when it was about 2-3°C and windy and after about an hour they felt almost too warm. They're more bulky than the Light Polar but not so much that you lose too much sense of contact with the controls. Again, they have some rubber grip on the palms but not the fingers. They do have some gel padding around the side of the palm and the base of the fingers, and there's a thin reflective strip on the back of the hand. They have a nice fleecy lining that makes getting them on and off with liner gloves easy. The velcro closure helps, too, and the cuff is a decent length.

tl;dr The Planet X ones are okay but quite a small fitting even in XL. The Campy ones are very good value if they have your size on sale.