riding show heating things? what are the options

geordiefella

went to Cotswold outdoor today. they have one-use heating pads. 6-10 hrs use. no good for my 1 hr twice a day winter commutes.

What are the foot heating options. I already have GoreTEx MW80 so I'm dry, but below -2/-3 i still need just a little heat. don't mind paying for a long term use thing.

People. Enlighten me....

Blue Meanie

For -2/-3, try applying some MTFU before every ride

Seriously though,
make sure your shoes/socks/oversocks combo aren't too tight, let the blood in/out.

Craggers

Ultraheat thermal socks from M&S, £12 for 2 pairs... Uber warm and not daft thick...best purchase I've made in ages.

londonlivvy

I too have been looking at cold feet solutions and found the concept of rechargeable heated insoles quite an appealing solution. I haven't invested yet - they seem to vary from £15 to £140
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=218156

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... tbed-30868

let me know how you get on if you do get them!

wgwarburton

Hi,
Get some warm gel packs- the things where you pop a disc in a bag of gel and they radiate warmth for half an hour or so ("Click & heat"?). You can get small ones that'll fit in gloves, might do for feet if the One-use pads would?

You reset them in hot water, though I've found that leaving them on the Aga for a while works fine, that may not work for everyone....

Cheers,
W.

shouldbeinbed

WGWarburton wrote:

Hi,
Get some warm gel packs- the things where you pop a disc in a bag of gel and they radiate warmth for half an hour or so ("Click & heat"?). You can get small ones that'll fit in gloves, might do for feet if the One-use pads would?

You reset them in hot water, though I've found that leaving them on the Aga for a while works fine, that may not work for everyone....

Cheers,
W.

Aye, that wouldn't work for me, I've not got a Aga & neither has work.

+1 on the reusable heat pads. An essential for years of toiling round north east non league grounds

Cafewanda

I've been looking at these items:

http://www.primrose-london.co.uk/warmawear-heated-insoles-p-2203.html

Dan_K

I bought battery powered heated insoles from Maplins.
Absolute sh!t. Barely got warm. Save your money and get some thick socks. Saw someone else on here suggested 2 pairs of socks with a polythene bag/nappy sack in between socks worked.

Cafewanda

Dan_k, I've their heated gloves and I might have to agree with you on that. Looking to buy heated gloves from above link when they have supplies.

jeremyrundle

geordiefella wrote:

went to Cotswold outdoor today. they have one-use heating pads. 6-10 hrs use. no good for my 1 hr twice a day winter commutes.

What are the foot heating options. I already have GoreTEx MW80 so I'm dry, but below -2/-3 i still need just a little heat. don't mind paying for a long term use thing.

People. Enlighten me....

Look under "heated" at Maplin electronics, heated insoles

But, personally I prefer proper walking boot socks, you can get (and yes they are good) a fair pair from Tesco.

Wallace1492

Been commuting for last 2 - 3 weeks, temp as low as -10 to -12C However I am pretty toasty and seem to have eventually found the solution.

HANDS - merino glove liner under Sealskinz waterproof glove. Excellent, the Sealskinz on their own are fine for down to -5C, but any colder you need the liner.

FEET - merino socks (wooly booly) under thick walking socks, encased in Merrell GTX boots.

HEAD - Endura skull cap under helmet

Neck - buff round neck, can be oulled over lower face.

Body - long sleeved base layer, medium weight cycle jacket, very light rain jacket on top.

Legs - Cycle Shorts under Endura tights.

This works superbly well for me, even though the commute is longer due to weather conditions and being on my MTB instead of road bike.

Cafewanda

Yeah but Wallace your body is geared up for the heat before you add the clothing whereas with me, my finger tips and toes freeze no matter what combination of clothing/footwear I have on

Interestingly enough despite the extreme temps I tend to wear just a baselayer and my high-viz Altura jacket as I still sweat. What's that about? :shock:

rolf_f

Cafewanda wrote:

Yeah but Wallace your body is geared up for the heat before you add the clothing whereas with me, my finger tips and toes freeze no matter what combination of clothing/footwear I have on

Interestingly enough despite the extreme temps I tend to wear just a baselayer and my high-viz Altura jacket as I still sweat. What's that about? :shock:

Funny how people just don't understand what poor digit circulation does. Everytime someone posts that every solution they've tried doesn't work, someone writes a post saying that Aldi gloves are great and for their feet there is nothing better than putting some ice water in their shoes before they go out!

You can tell these fortunate souls as they use the words 'fingers, toes, winter, minus 10 and toasty' all in the same sentence!

For example - compared to Wallace1492 - I wear liner socks, woolie boolies, Northwave GTX goretex lined winter boots and BBB Ultraflex 3mm thick overshoes - my feet just about don't get frost bitten. They are sadly many miles from toasty.

For my hands, Sealskins Cold Weather gloves and silk liners are not enough. However, life is better with TKMaxx Rizen snowboarding gloves. But they still don't get toasty - tonight I'll try thinsulate gloves under the snowboarding gloves instead of the liner- hopefully that will help.

As for heated gloves/socks - I doubt they'd last for two hours or more. And the Maplin ones just heat the hand - not the fingers which is the area that I have the problem with.

Core temp is fine. Everything is fine including feet and hands. Just fingers and toes are the problem.

coopster_the_1st

Cafewanda wrote:

Yeah but Wallace your body is geared up for the heat before you add the clothing whereas with me, my finger tips and toes freeze no matter what combination of clothing/footwear I have on

Interestingly enough despite the extreme temps I tend to wear just a baselayer and my high-viz Altura jacket as I still sweat. What's that about? :shock:

This is your problem. You are not keeping your core/arms/legs warm enough and thus your extremities are being getting cold as your body is concentrating on keeping the central parts of your body warm.

Try at least one more layer on your core & arms (and maybe add arm warmers as well). This should keep your hands warmer. If it works, add more layers to your legs

londonlivvy

Rolf F wrote:

Cafewanda wrote:

Yeah but Wallace your body is geared up for the heat before you add the clothing whereas with me, my finger tips and toes freeze no matter what combination of clothing/footwear I have on
:

Core temp is fine. Everything is fine including feet and hands. Just fingers and toes are the problem.

I know what you mean Rolf and Cafewanda, my b/f suffers terribly with freezing feet and hands, regardless of how warm his core is. I've done some research over the last month, hoping to find a genius solution. I bought him some of those chemical sachets that look a bit like tea bags as a solution for long rides, but it gets expensive and isn't really a solution for going to/from work every day.

I think these look awesome http://www.thermosoles.com/ - no cumbersome battery to strap to your leg / boot etc like the Maplin ones, which I imagine would get irritating if you're pedaling hard rather than just sitting on a motorbike. But mighty spendy and without a personal recommendation I've not had the courage to shell out.

A cheaper alternative I saw somewhere was to get a space / foil blanket and cut out an insole shape and apparently it bounces the warmth back into your shoe. Worth a try I think - space blankets are only a couple of quid. Guess what he's getting for xmas?

dhope

londonlivvy wrote:

mighty spendy and without a personal recommendation I've not had the courage to shell out.

Find a UK seller and use distance trading regs to return it if it's crap?

rjsterry

londonlivvy wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

Cafewanda wrote:

Yeah but Wallace your body is geared up for the heat before you add the clothing whereas with me, my finger tips and toes freeze no matter what combination of clothing/footwear I have on
:

Core temp is fine. Everything is fine including feet and hands. Just fingers and toes are the problem.

I know what you mean Rolf and Cafewanda, my b/f suffers terribly with freezing feet and hands, regardless of how warm his core is. I've done some research over the last month, hoping to find a genius solution. I bought him some of those chemical sachets that look a bit like tea bags as a solution for long rides, but it gets expensive and isn't really a solution for going to/from work every day.

I think these look awesome http://www.thermosoles.com/ - no cumbersome battery to strap to your leg / boot etc like the Maplin ones, which I imagine would get irritating if you're pedaling hard rather than just sitting on a motorbike. But mighty spendy and without a personal recommendation I've not had the courage to shell out.

A cheaper alternative I saw somewhere was to get a space / foil blanket and cut out an insole shape and apparently it bounces the warmth back into your shoe. Worth a try I think - space blankets are only a couple of quid. Guess what he's getting for xmas?

Better still, cut another piece to cover the top of the foot and stitch/tape them together to make a kind of space slipper. Fit that between a couple of pairs of socks and you should be cozy. I suffer from cold fingers, and find that if I over-dress at the start of a ride, so that I warm up very quickly (feeling too hot within 10 minutes), my circulation will then allow some bloodflow to the extremities. Having 'tricked' my body, I can then remove the extra jacket, and the hands keep warm.

rolf_f

I think my core is well insulated enough - bib shorts, bib tights, merino base, softshell, boil in the bag Aldi fluoro jacket. End up frying on the climsb. This is the thing - I haven't yet seen anyone with definite circulation issues claim digit toastiness. Last week, at one point, my feet were almost sweating but my toes were getting numb. I reckon if I stuck my core in the oven at gas mark 8 for two hours, I'd still have cold toes and fingers within 15 minutes of leaving the house!

Those Thermo soles look interesting but I'd be reluctant to bung another small fortune at the problem when I can now just about tolerate things. I haven't a serious case of the defrost agony of toes and fingers for a few weeks since I got the Northwaves and glove liners. I'll wait for the verdict on the space blanket project!

gasgas

I work in a motorcycle shop and we sell these:

http://www.keisapparel.co.uk/

they work very well and will last up to 11 hours on a single charge.

I use one of the heated vests for my daily comute on a motorbike and it is a god send!!

The insoles are great too and can be cut to shape.

cheers, James.

rhext

I don't know how good my circulation is. But I can tell you what I've found makes a difference on my 1 hour commute:

1) Good quality merino socks on their own will keep my feet relatively comfortable for an hour down to about zero (when I say relatively comfortable, they're still getting cold, and wouldn't be fine for more than about an hour, but I can get to work without serious discomfort). It's definitely worth paying more for good quality socks.

2) Another pair of thin woollen socks underneath them will buy me another couple of degrees.

3) Overshoes will buy another couple of degrees (so we're now down to about -5).

I had a breakthrough this year when I decided to go out mountain-biking in the evening on one of the seriously cold days. I knew it was going to be rough, so I put two pairs of leggings on. Surprisingly, not only did this keep my legs a lot warmer, but it also seemed to help markedly with my toes. So I've started doing that on my commute (fairly comfortable at -8 this week). Apart from that, I have ski gloves on my hands, merino baselayer, midlayer plus softshell jacket, merino beanie under my helmet, buff round my neck and over my chin. Seems to work OK. I'd not lay claim to toasty extremeties, but neither am I regularly suffering from frostbite.

rhext

gasgas wrote:

I work in a motorcycle shop and we sell these:

http://www.keisapparel.co.uk/

they work very well and will last up to 11 hours on a single charge.

I use one of the heated vests for my daily comute on a motorbike and it is a god send!!

The insoles are great too and can be cut to shape.

cheers, James.

Yes, looking on the web site, one of those would definitely keep you warm ;-)