Pogies?

Yesterday morning, at -6° F, the 30-minute bike commute to my office was cold. 

While it’s only 15-20 minutes on warm days on my fixed gear, my winter bike — a mid-80′s Kona mountain bike with Nokian Hakkapeliitta 106 studded tires on it is a much slower ride, especially in the frozen dry slush. 

So I bundled up in my red Santa snow suit, two pairs of socks, neck gaiter, ski goggles, my winter “bomber” helmet, and mitts — I left my Trek Lobster gloves, which are wearing thin in the lobster-tips, at home and opted for a recently-found 40g  thinsulate mittens with fleece gloves velcroed inside. They’re great mittens (a great design!) that keep my hands warm in most conditions, but they didn’t work for biking. They are so thick that it’s hard to grip the handlebars, and air must get in through the seams at the finger and thumb tips because although for the most part my hands stayed warm, my fingertips (mostly thumbtips) suffered. 

I’m now on a quest for “extreme-cold” (20° F to -20° F) finger protection. I’ve read that battery-heated gloves work on palms, but not fingers. I can’t imagine any non-heated gloves would keep my fingers warm, and thicker mitts are too thick. What I’ve discovered from long-time winter bikers (besides the bus ;-) are pogies. 

Based on bikies‘ response and my own research, I think I’ll go get some pogies (oversized mittens that attach to the handlebars — a very clever idea that blocks wind and allows the use of thinner gloves, and dexterity to operate brakes and gears, etc.).

Now I just need to decide which ones. As usual for me, budget is an issue. Here’s what I’ve found so far (by price):

• Gallon Jug Pogies (comment #22) (~$6/pr)
• Cabela’s Handlebar mittens (for my ATB) ($20/pr)
• Climitts ($36/pr) (has anyone tried these?)

and the unaffordable:

• Moose Mitts ($60/pr)
• Bar Mitts (for drop bars) ($65/pr)
• Apocalypse Design Bike Toasties ($84/pr)
• Dogwood Design Pogies ($90/pr)
• Expedition Pogies ($200/pr)

Maybe I’ll try making the gallon-jug ones over winter break (when I’m tired of assembling my dissertation)