Keeping Warm - Hands (what the heck is a pogie?)

It seems that my fingers are the first to suffer when it is cold.  I have a nice pair of XC-ski gloves that are good to -15 C and thought they would be OK for fat biking in winter.  My first ride was almost unbearable so I bought some liners and my second ride was slightly less unbearable.

My riding buddies had these strange contraptions they called pogies.  Basically, a large mitten wrapped around the handlebar grips and they claimed that you could use a pair of cold weather MTB gloves and still be very warm.  Huh?

Ok, more research.  I could feel the wind through my regular gloves and it made sense as there were parts of the trail where we were cooking along at 25 - 30 mph.  Ah, wind chill was the culprit!  At that speed, and at a temperature of minus 15 C, the wind-chill at 20 kph would be -24 C and at 30 kph the wind chill would be -26 C.  The wind also managed to sneak through the seams of my gloves.  This would explain the biting pain in my fingers.  

There are a few choices such as lobster claw gloves or mittens however I opted for a pair of 45NRTH Cobrafist pogies.  In this rare case, I did not do any research, as this was the only option at Revolution Cycle at the time.  Note that I am a fan of all the local bike shops in Edmonton and at the moment do not have a favorite.

The Cobrafist pogies were easy to install and are well designed.  I did have to make a hole in the stock grips to allow for the locking plug to be installed.  I also needed to rotate my brake levers down a bit to allow for clearance for shifting and braking.  It was not a problem with the design, I just needed to make the change to allow for a more comfortable position.  Uninstalling and reinstalling takes under a minute per side.

The Cobrafists have vent zippers on the top and bottom and a mesh “pocket” in the interior for storing stuff.  The “pocket” does not close so you could lose anything you stuff in there if you take a tumble….

For my first pogie ride, I put on my cold weather MTB gloves and my hands were toasty warm the entire ride!  Mission accomplished and I have no negative comments about the Cobrafists after 3 rides.  They were a bit spendy at $200 however they are well made, easy to install and keep my hands very warm.

I do need to point out  that is anything you add to your bars will affect the handling.  In this case, the pogie adds surface area, which, if you are not precise, can get caught on objects such as trees.  I misjudged, caught a tree, and had an encounter with a second tree and the ground.  No fault of the pogie, I misjudged and will need to take more care.  I don’t see this as a big deal, it happens without a pogie but be aware that there is more surface to hang you up if you misjudge your clearance.  

Here is aftermath of a misjudgement (it was peaceful and a new perspective): 

In this rare case (I am fussy and OCD on some things!), I am 100% pleased with my purchase and I have not identified any issues.

REFERENCE

Here is Environment Canada's wind chill page http://www.ec.gc.ca/meteo-weather/default.asp?lang=En&n=5FBF816A-1#table1.

Here is a link to the 45NRTH Cobrafist http://45nrth.com/products/gloves/cobrafist.

Here are the Cobrafists installed on my Fatboy: