Vulpine Adaptive
ICEBIKE Mitts

The discussions of his product quickly lead to some ideas on how his standard three fingered Access Mitt (Lobster Claw style) might be modified for ICEBIKE use.  Kevin is an ICEBIKER himself from Duluth Minnesota and, knows a thing or three about riding in the winter.

Kevin added a absorbent top layer on the thumb and a vary large bright 3M reflective material patch for night visibility, and closed cell insulating EVA foam in the fingers to cut wind chill.  He kept all of the other excellent features such as long cuffs, durable zippers with large zipper pulls and rugged exterior, PVC coated palm for secure grip on the handle bars.

Note that I've had to lighten these images almost to the point of wash-out in order to show construction detail.  These mitts are coal black (except for the reflective patches).  They appear blue here only due to the manipulation of the image.

Some samples were assembled and shipped to three ICEBIKERS for review, one of which dropped out due to Canadian Customs charges.  

The Mitts had to wait for cold weather as the 2002/2003 winter was one of the warmest in Alaska where the reviewers lived.  These mitts are simply too warm for above freezing days.  Even at 5 degrees below freezing they were warm enough that this reviewer's fingers sweated.  

I found by adding a thin polypro glove that aided in wicking that they were more comfortable in the warmer weather.  Adding another layer seems counter intuitive but it worked to prevent the clammy feeling of sweating hand.  The other thing that worked was partially unzipping the zipper, which is located on the top of the mitt, and runs from the cuff all the way to the knuckles. 

The construction detail is flawless, with solid seams, a wide breeze-flap under the zipper and fairly water proof seams.  (Notice, that Vulpine does not rate these as water proof, but the freezing winter rains of South-East Alaska show no mercy just because one is expecting colder weather.  The gloves met the rain test anyway.)  The zipper pulls are huge, and make zipping the gloves with a mitt on your hand easy.  The inside lining is a deep pile fleece, and the outside covering is rugged but supple.  The EVA foam liner for the fingers make the finger compartment hold its shape, creating an air pocket around your fingers as well as totally blocking any wind.  The effectiveness of this foam was demonstrated to me on a wind 10F (-12C) ride.  My fingers were warm.  My thumb was a little cold, but. because of the design I could easily pull it into the main compartment to warm it up. The soft covered thumb is useful for "warming" your nose. I'm not sure the foam is used in the thumb.

Kevin reports that Vulpine has adopted industry standard sizing for the 2005 model year.  So be sure to check the sizing chart on this page:  http://www.vulpineadaptive.com/handwear.htm after you get done checking out the mitts on this page:  http://www.vulpineadaptive.com/ice.htm.

This solves the problem of the mitts being too large. Not that roomy-ness is a detriment, mind you.  I found them far more comfortable than some older tight fitting lobster claws that I have used.  I could slip them on and off easily while riding.

The large size also takes up a lot of room on the handlebars.  My bar-end extensions cramped these mitts a little, but not enough to make them uncomfortable.  The were still supple enough for me to manipulate the tiny switch for my headlights. 

The effectiveness of the reflective patches was something I was interested in testing.  On my normal evening commute, in pitch blackness I waited till I could see a motorist approaching from the rear.  When the car was half a block away, I stretched out my arm and waved it up and down.  Each time I did this I could hear the motorist let up on the accelerator and slow down, or moved further left.  For every second car I rotated my hand palm-to-the-approaching-car (hiding the reflective patches).  These motorists usually ignored me and sped past.  Note that I did have my usual compliment of tail lights and reflectors on the bike, so they could easily see me, but the extra motion of these highly reflective patches did have the desired effect on their behavior. 

These are not cheap mitts, but rather quality winter wear that you can expect will give several seasons of use. At $115 a pair (singles also available for replacements) they are a bit expensive. But they are durable, and long lasting as well as washable.  Mine show no wear, even after a couple falls when my freewheel pawls froze up and refused to engage unexpectedly.  You can ride all day in these and still have warm fingers.  Some "snowmobile-ers" that I know were jealous of these mitts.

Vulpine Adaptive is an excellent company to deal with and willing to deal with special needs.

Update 1/2005

Kevin a Vulpine Adaptive writes that major improvements have been made in the ICEBIKE Mitts for the 2005 season.  These changes are the result of owner feed back and new materials.

The changes include:

• Switching to the rear of the fingers to a panel of neoprene laminated
  with fleece. It's more flexible, and makes a better snot/perspiration/slop
  wiper. We've also extended this panel to the rear of the hand to add more
  protection from the wind.
• The reflective stripe is now 50% longer, and we're using a higher grade
  tape with a better safety rating.
• The zipper is shorter to reduce the stiffness of the rear panel.
• The shape of the hand is completely changed. We've squared off the
  finger pockets. The split is actually a bit shorter to prevent pinching
  the web between the fingers. We've reduced the thickness of the entire
  hand to about 1" for better dexterity.
• The thumb is moved about 1/2" to the side to allow more reach across the
  palm. We've made the entire outer panel of the thumb from a thick
  windproof fleece. Its really stretchy, and adds a layer of dead air
  space to keep the thumb warmer.
• On the inside, we've started using two types of fleece to make the
  lining. On the gauntlet there's a lighter layer of regular polyester-
  covering the areas that would be inside a jacket sleeve anyway. The
  entire hand and thumb is lined with a laminated fleece. It's thinner
  than the previous model, but warmer and less compressible. With this
  windproof layer inside, there's a defined pocket within a pocket-
  ensuring dead air space around the hand. The laminated fleece makes a
  better barrier to conductive heat loss across the palms.
• The outer surface of the palm is now a heavier synthetic Toughtek 9000
  with a raised dot pattern. We switched to this material for all of our
  hand wear.

Kevin also reports that he has dreams of a Winter Cycling Shoe project for the future.

Update 11/2005

As mentioned above, Kevin has adopted a different sizing chart for the 2005/2006 season.  Be sure to check the new size chart on his web site.

Review by John Andersen.