cycling clothes advice

listrybabe

hi all i have just started cycling and was out the other day and got soaked and was frozen ect after the cycle, have gel fingerless gloves which were wet and fingers frozen. have clip in shoes and feet were wet and colddd, basically just looking for advice on what is suitable to wear and what price i should expect to pay and where is good to get gear online or other,
ps even after getting soaked and frozen i still loved it and have got the bug thanks for any help

rollingscone

listrybabe wrote: »

hi all i have just started cycling and was out the other day and got soaked and was frozen ect after the cycle, have gel fingerless gloves which were wet and fingers frozen. have clip in shoes and feet were wet and colddd, basically just looking for advice on what is suitable to wear and what price i should expect to pay and where is good to get gear online or other,
ps even after getting soaked and frozen i still loved it and have got the bug thanks for any help

In terms of what exactly to get a lot of the decisions are very personal in terms of what works for you.

You can get overshoes which along with a good pair of socks help a lot with your feet.

There are various types of winter glove and liner gloves you can wear inside them.

Keeping your body warm is easier, usually a case of a good base layer that will Wick moisture away from your skin and ideally stay warm when wet (I.e. merino wool), a barrier layer (outermost) that will keep you warm is easy, trickier is one that will let out excess moisture and not soak you through with sweat, you'll probably find a mix of stuff will work for you, a mid layer like a winter jersey might be necessary if it's cold/wet enough to require a jacket.

In terms of shorts/tights, bibs are the way to go, tights or legwarmers with shorts will get you through the winter.

A good hat /skullcap is worth its weight in gold in winter.

Best thing is to have a peruse of somewhere like www.wiggle.co.uk to see what's what, their in house dhb brand is pretty good at a not insane price point.

In the meantime you can stay warm with base layers and bits from Penneys, lidl or Aldi.

Loq

It doesn't matter what you buy if you are cycling under heavy rain you will get wet! So focus on staying warm. I cycle every day 30 miles commute to work, only thing stopping me is freezing conditions, I cycle to work even if it is slashing rain. This is what works the best for me at the moment.

I use base layers from Aldi, they do a good job to keep you warm. At the moment, I'm using the Aldi winter gloves, they are nice and warm, but they will get wet with heavy rain, they are good if it is light rain or drizzle.
If I'm cycling at 5 degree Celsius or under, I usually wear 1 pair of winter socks + 1 pair of cycling socks + Aldi winter overshoes (1euro).
If I'm cycling between 6 and 10 degree Celsius, I wear cycling socks + winter overshoes. The overshoes from Aldi are good enough to keep light rain away.

I started using last year BBB heavy duty overshoes (35 euro) and I was disappointed. The cheap Aldi overshoes did the same job for a fraction of the price.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I have Shimano/Pro Tarmac over shoes and find them very good at keeping my feet warm. I have Aldi gloves which are also very good but do get wet through in very heavy rain. I use a compression base layer I bought of eBay for €20, and Lusso Roubaix bib tights, an Aldi cycling winter jacket and a Scott wind proof gillet if it's very cold. I bought a cycling cap in Aldi which I also find very good as well as Aldi winter cycling socks.

I also have a pair of Tenn extreme cold gloves which are also waterproof but they're pretty thick and dexterity isn't great with them and so they're reserved for ultra cold conditions (which we have yet to get)

listrybabe

ordered a few things off wiggle. windtex skull cap,winter socks,shoe cover,vaeon roubaix padded bib,merino base layer,altura night vision waterproof gloves.
hope these help, was frozen earlier on cycle

rollingscone

You don't mess around!

Ole Rodrigo

It might not be too late, but make sure your skull cap is a breathable one. The lighter ones are fine for Irish cold conditions while the heavier ones are often too much. I have both and never take the windtex out.

Lighter one:

http://www.wiggle.com/dhb-skull-cap/

Heavier one :

http://www.wiggle.com/dhb-windtex-skull-cap/

rollingscone

Let us know how you find the Vaeon bib tights...in the market for a set myself.

Inspector Coptoor

I use North Wave Husky Over Shoes.
Find them great.

Lidl cycling jacket with a high vis jacket over it & water proof tracksuit bottoms with padded shorts underneath

listrybabe

ror_74 wrote: »

It might not be too late, but make sure your skull cap is a breathable one. The lighter ones are fine for Irish cold conditions while the heavier ones are often too much. I have both and never take the windtex out.

Lighter one:

http://www.wiggle.com/dhb-skull-cap/

Heavier one :

http://www.wiggle.com/dhb-windtex-skull-cap/

too late but thx anyway

listrybabe

rollingscone wrote: »

Let us know how you find the Vaeon bib tights...in the market for a set myself.

will do even tho i will have nothing to compare them against

listrybabe

rollingscone wrote: »

You don't mess around!

if you felt as cold as i did earlier then you would see why i did not wait,,hope to have them next week is this realistic ? also hope they make a difference ?

rollingscone

listrybabe wrote: »

will do even tho i will have nothing to compare them against

You can compare them against the cold!

listrybabe

rollingscone wrote: »

You can compare them against the cold!

witty so and so aren't you

gerrowadat

LIDL/ALDI stuff is actually solid for this stuff, the 'performance base layer' stuff they do - I know my local aldi and lidl always seem to have some in stock.

I also use the BBB overshoes and a set of sealskinz gloves, which leaves me grand in pretty much every temperature (below 0 and I'm worrying about ice far before I'm worrying about cold or wet).

pelevin

TK Maxx can be very handy for particularly stuff by Craft, who do great base layers, also the Cork one had a nice lot of merino stuff recently for half-price or so. I've seen plenty soft-shell jackets there recently too. Don't write off your LBS (local bike shop) either & if they're sound in there, definitely a plus to have a personal connection in an activity as full of potential technical issues as cycling.

LennoxR

Shoe covers and decent gloves are a life saver in the winter. It's your fingers and toes that will get especially cold.

For the head; Personally I favour a cycling cap under my helmet to shield the sun and rain from getting into my eyes although I also wear skull cap sometimes.

If you have that much and a fairly warm over jersey and rain coat if you want, then you should be fine.

joey59

I think this is the best place to put my newbie question. I bought my bike last summer and did plenty miles on it. I bought a decent pair of shorts at my local bike shop.

I am still having regular ‘ahem problems ahem’.

Am I missing out on anything, surely not every cyclist is having problems. I went out last Saturday for the first time in 3 months for 30 mins and I’m back to square one.

Sorry for bringing this up but I need help

Cee-Jay-Cee

joey59 wrote: »

I think this is the best place to put my newbie question. I bought my bike last summer and did plenty miles on it. I bought a decent pair of shorts at my local bike shop.

I am still having regular ‘ahem problems ahem’.

Am I missing out on anything, surely not every cyclist is having problems. I went out last Saturday for the first time in 3 months for 30 mins and I’m back to square one.

Sorry for bringing this up but I need help

I think you need to be more specific. Bluntly, does your arse get sore or your balls go numb? If it's the latter then changing your saddle to one with a cut out may help. If it's the former then give it time, you will become accustomed to it with time and miles on the saddle.

rollingscone

Problems?

You mean discomfort or numbness?

Could be anything from your position on the bike to the saddle to those particular shorts not agreeing with you/being worn out.

joey59

Its the former. Also its not just in the saddle, its affecting the bathroom as well. How many miles before it stops, I clocked up a good few hundred last year and it was a constant problem

rollingscone

Sounds like you should have the fit of your bike looked at, but more importantly get to your GP and have it checked out.

joey59

So there isn't any magic remedy/cream/tip/do and dont etc that I don't know about.

Christ I think I'm still embarrassed, via the internet and a keyboard ha ha

rollingscone

joey59 wrote: »

So there isn't any magic remedy/cream/tip/do and dont etc that I don't know about.

Christ I think I'm still embarrassed, via the internet and a keyboard ha ha

Don't be, everyone gets it at some point.

There's no universal solution but there are individual solutions for every cyclist.

A lot of the time it's just how your bike is set up creating excess pressure but different saddles and chamois can help.

But if it's something affecting your body that seriously I'd go to the Dr first, just in case.

petethedrummer

joey59 wrote: »

So there isn't any magic remedy/cream/tip/do and dont etc that I don't know about.

If you are having difficulties after 30 minutes there is something fundamentally wrong with your set up that no amount of cream or "breaking in" will fix.

Buy (or borrow) a few second hand saddles of different shapes and try them all out. Sell on the ones that don't suit. It should be fairly obvious straight away which one is likely to suit you long term.

bambergbike

It's possible that your bike fit is wrong -maybe you need to slide your saddle slightly further forward or back or take it down a few mm or tilt it slightly up or down. You might also be putting too much weight on your saddle and not enough on the handlebars and the pedals.

You probably need a new saddle and/or new shorts. Finding the right saddle is mostly trial and error, but as a departure point, there is a possible system for finding your ideal saddle width:

1. Sit on a piece of corrugated cardboard on a hard surface.
2. Measure the distance between the two dents in the cardboard that result - this gives you the width between your sit bones.
3. For a very aggressive, forward leaning riding position, this number is the saddle width you want. For more upright riding positions, you can add up to 5 cm.

The logic behind this is this:
In more upright positions, more of your weight goes on the saddle and a wider saddle with more padding is more comfortable as it spreads the load.
In less upright positions with more forward lean, saddles that are too wide or too heavily padded can easily lead to chafing, and narrower saddles are more comfortable. But they still need to be wide enough to accomodate the sit bones, or delicate tissues would get squashed.)

That might narrow down your selection of trial-and-error candidates to a selection with and without cut-outs and with different thicknesses of gel or padding.