McWheels
Off the long run
Something that affects me quite hard and quite quickly is cold hands. It doesn't help that I live on the local geographic roof, so everywhere is downhill to start with. I've tried layerd gloves, thick gloves, mittens and so on, but I might have hit on something, and it cost a whole 3 quid.
To be fair the idea isn't at all new, and pogies or bar mitts or handlebar muffs can be found from many commercial emporiums. The closest I've found for a drop-bar is from https://barmitts.com/products/road-bike-dual-position-bar-mitts?variant=29543538229346, a rather fetching set of neoprene dual-position mitts. But I don't need dual-position, and I can't ride on the hoods so neither is actually designed to my (our) use case.
So I set to work today and started making a pair of templates, to which I would later apply a child's jacket.
I found this Bob the Builder one for 3 quid in a local charity shop. It's not the absolute greatest material, but it'll bee mostly waterproof and a windstopper. There was an adult's jacket with brown fur on the inside(!). I might yet iterate these.
This is the right hand side with the bar cutout which doubles as a securing point. The top corner is actually the sleeve hole which I've since sewn shut. I reflect now that I might have made that corner squarer to give the hoods more room but it would have added another half an hour of cutting, hemming, shaping and attaching something to the far end of an already enclosed pocket - not fast when you're very mediocre with a sewing machine.
The left side uses the hood and the remainder of the body to make a 2-part pogie which presents quite differently. This isn't bad actually since the bell is in the top right corner of this one and I still have room to operate it. Both have a popper rather than velcro to hold them round the bar.
First test ride this evening was really rather successful. I deliberately wore gloves under-sized and over-used, and it was excellent.
What could be better? The right one has space for the bar-end shifter, but could do with being a little longer on the outside panel, or in fact all around, plus the cutout corner for the top of the hood. The left one encloses much better but for both I might use stiffer material so I can a take hands in and out more directly.
All told a mostly fun afternoon on the sewing machine and I think something not discussed here much.
To be fair the idea isn't at all new, and pogies or bar mitts or handlebar muffs can be found from many commercial emporiums. The closest I've found for a drop-bar is from https://barmitts.com/products/road-bike-dual-position-bar-mitts?variant=29543538229346, a rather fetching set of neoprene dual-position mitts. But I don't need dual-position, and I can't ride on the hoods so neither is actually designed to my (our) use case.
So I set to work today and started making a pair of templates, to which I would later apply a child's jacket.
I found this Bob the Builder one for 3 quid in a local charity shop. It's not the absolute greatest material, but it'll bee mostly waterproof and a windstopper. There was an adult's jacket with brown fur on the inside(!). I might yet iterate these.
This is the right hand side with the bar cutout which doubles as a securing point. The top corner is actually the sleeve hole which I've since sewn shut. I reflect now that I might have made that corner squarer to give the hoods more room but it would have added another half an hour of cutting, hemming, shaping and attaching something to the far end of an already enclosed pocket - not fast when you're very mediocre with a sewing machine.
The left side uses the hood and the remainder of the body to make a 2-part pogie which presents quite differently. This isn't bad actually since the bell is in the top right corner of this one and I still have room to operate it. Both have a popper rather than velcro to hold them round the bar.
First test ride this evening was really rather successful. I deliberately wore gloves under-sized and over-used, and it was excellent.
What could be better? The right one has space for the bar-end shifter, but could do with being a little longer on the outside panel, or in fact all around, plus the cutout corner for the top of the hood. The left one encloses much better but for both I might use stiffer material so I can a take hands in and out more directly.
All told a mostly fun afternoon on the sewing machine and I think something not discussed here much.
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