How do you keep your feet warm?

[dom91]

I am thinking of doing 1k over winter solstice next year. However, I am not sure if my toes could manage it.
Just a couple of days ago I went for 6 hour ride at +3C - everything is fine - head, torso, legs, hands all fine (or at least manageable) but my toes got super cold after 2.5 hours. I needed like 20-30 min walk to get the feeling back to normal

Im not really sure what I can do about it - I have decent waterproof boots, warm hiking socks. Boots are pretty snug so I can't really put much in there

The only option I see is heated socks of which I am a bit sceptical.

I ride the bike throughout a year so this is not something new for me but 24 hours on a saddle at 0- +5C is a bit a challenge

 

[owl*]

I too suffer from excessively cold feet, and heated socks are the best thing ever.
I have to turn mine down after 5 minutes because my feet get too hot!
Use them without temperature control of some sort, and you will actually burn your skin.

 

[DrNeo]

Are you wearing any heated gear? If not, you're body probably can keep up with the heat being wicked from itself as you ride. You don't make much body heat with just regular road riding, so you need to add some (heated vest, heated seat, heated grips, etc.) otherwise your body will start pulling blood into the core to conserve heat, thus giving you cold feet.

I'd also make sure that your boots/socks are too tight, that too could reduce circulation. Also, our feet sweat a lot, so if your waterproof boots don't breath (think GoreTex), they eventually will be wet and cold. Merino wool socks are going to be your friend.

 

[Shawn K]

The only option I see is heated socks of which I am a bit sceptical.

I ride the bike throughout a year so this is not something new for me but 24 hours on a saddle at 0- +5C is a bit a challenge

Do what you'd like, but I highly recommend heated gear. There's no amount of passive heat retention that will perform as well as the active addition of heat.

At bare minimum, I recommend a full heated jacket liner and heated socks. Talk with Ken Phenix (you can find him on Facebook - LINK HERE).

Not joking. Don't mess around with a thousand mile ride at near-freezing temperatures. It's not a case of "walk around and you'll be fine". Hypothermia is real, and it's deadly. Remember that you're not dealing with just ambient temperature, you're dealing with wind chill as well. At 70 mph, an ambient temperature of 0C equates to -11C with the wind chill factored in. Putting on another layer or two won't suffice.

Spoken as a man who has ridden significant distances in weather below 0C, with both passive heat retention and active heat addition. There is no substitution for heated gear.

 

[GSears]

Boxer twins and Wally flaps are great for keeping feet warm in the winter. Not so good in the summer.

 

[HACKLE]

As Shawn K says. Cold can, and does , kill. Look up Warm and Safe Heated Clothing. Sox [socks], pants, jacket and gloves. I don't ride without the lot in winter. And our winters are much milder than yours. Cheers.

 

[dom91]

I too suffer from excessively cold feet, and heated socks are the best thing ever.
I have to turn mine down after 5 minutes because my feet get too hot!
Use them without temperature control of some sort, and you will actually burn your skin.

Do you feel any wires? Do they work with boots because I see there are some sort of controllers at the top of sock

Are you wearing any heated gear? If not, you're body probably can keep up with the heat being wicked from itself as you ride. You don't make much body heat with just regular road riding, so you need to add some (heated vest, heated seat, heated grips, etc.) otherwise your body will start pulling blood into the core to conserve heat, thus giving you cold feet.

I'd also make sure that your boots/socks are too tight, that too could reduce circulation. Also, our feet sweat a lot, so if your waterproof boots don't breath (think GoreTex), they eventually will be wet and cold. Merino wool socks are going to be your friend.

Already have heated grips and winter gloves.
I wear thermal shirt, regular t-shirt, fleece, jacket insulation and waterproof jacket keeps me pretty warm.
A heated seat tho would be nice-to-have definatly
Boots are already size 12, so finding size 13 will be pretty hard and a hassle if they dont fit. So I just need to learn to live with it

It's all good, that's what I am after - suggestions. I mean, they vary from getting a new bike to buying heated socks for £15 but its good to know what works for people

Thanks all for the concerns, the suggestions above will keep me warmer and safer

 

[dom91]

"The coldest ride" dude he wore some Scarpa orange boots but I feel it may be a bit overkill for my purposes https://riders.drivemag.com/wp-content/uploads/default/0001/98/the-coldest-ride-5-1937.jpeg

 

[owl*]

I run the wires from the socks up the inside of my trousers but on the outside of the calf and thigh. as long as you keep away from the bent part of your knee and the inside of the leg, where it would touch the seat, you can't feel it. As for a heat controller, I use a remote one on the handlebars which is much more convenient to adjust when on the move.
The material of the socks is very thin. I wear them over the top of my normal riding socks, and do not need an extra sized boot.

 

[dom91]

I run the wires from the socks up the inside of my trousers but on the outside of the calf and thigh. as long as you keep away from the bent part of your knee and the inside of the leg, where it would touch the seat, you can't feel it. As for a heat controller, I use a remote one on the handlebars which is much more convenient to adjust when on the move.
The material of the socks is very thin. I wear them over the top of my normal riding socks, and do not need an extra sized boot.

Nice, another button to add to my cockpit Can you please link what kind of socks you have?

 

[AwDang]

Heated insoles work wonders!

 

[GSears]

Do you feel any wires? Do they work with boots because I see there are some sort of controllers at the top of sock

Boots are already size 12, so finding size 13 will be pretty hard and a hassle if they dont fit. So I just need to learn to live with it

Altberg boots go to size 14, never leaked are warm, not needed heated socks, even down to -7 C.

They fit at the factory in Richmond, N Yorks (A66)

Brilliant service

 

[Firstpeke]

I also wear AltBerg boots, (Hoggs), and merino wool socks and never had a problem with wet or cold feet....

That said, I now have the BMW with the heated RDL seat and as an option a Gerbing jacket and gloves.

I have found that the jacket only needs to be on at the minimum, if at all, and the gloves are great as they heat the backs of the hands and fingers as well... with these and the heated grips and seat I can actually be too warm.....

You do have to be careful with heated gloves, if it is very cold and you turn them up until your hands feel "warm" you can actually get a burn if the wires are too close to the surface of the material at a tight spot.... DAMHIK...... I did not realise it was as cold as it was over Bodmin moor in the early hours some years ago!

 

[kerrizor]

One option is to see about adding silk liner socks - really thin, but add just that extra bit of insulation you might need. (https://www.rei.com/product/165407/rei-co-op-silk-liner-crew-socks)

In an emergency, you could do worse than grabbing a couple plastic bags, the thin ones that many stores offer (dunno if this applies outside NA) - useful as a MacGyver waterproofing as well, but instead of letting water in, it keeps the cold air out for a bit.

 

[owl*]

Nice, another button to add to my cockpit Can you please link what kind of socks you have?

I tried Gerbings heated insoles but they didn't work for me, as when I set them to the level of heat I needed, they burned my feet where the pressure is when they're on the footrests.

Here are the socks I've found to be the perfect option for me https://www.motolegends.com/accessories/warm-safe-heated-socks.html

I control the heat via a Powerlet dual controller, but they are a bit rare in the UK now.

If you only intend to have the one bit of heated clothing, Gerbing do a cheap temperature controller here https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/mo...soVTX9mS5hQrxCmwQff25o2nckFDQ0dsaAhoDEALw_wcB

or if you intend adding a heated jacket or gloves you'll need a dual control like this one https://www.thevisorshop.com/en/gb/...SCZapaAVn8RlJrZ9Fh_jNHrzXwikKbq8aAvNzEALw_wcB

 

[Firstpeke]

Ah, you should note that the "cheap" controller also requires the actual jacket controller as the cheap bit is the remote option......

https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_prod/467168

So the cost would be £75 for both....

I have a separate controller for my gloves and jacket as the gloves need a bit more than the jacket when it's cold...

Also noted that the new socks are long and whilst they may be very, very good, I suspect I would get a bit sweaty if I had socks, gloves, jacket and heated grips as well as heated seat!!!!

When I did my first charity end to end years ago, I had my Gerbing gloves on which in the torrential rain from Lancashire to South Queensferry were so waterlogged that I must have squeezed about a pint of water out of each one..... and my hands, whilst warm, looked very wrinkled..... almost poached......

 

[owl*]

No such thing as too much heat in my book.
I remember riding back from just North of Amsterdam a few years ago, on a Ride to Eat, riding in front of the incoming "Beast from the East."
Left the hotel at an indicated minus 11C.
Had heated socks, jacket, gloves, grips and seat all going.
Was toasty warm, and got home during a snow storm just before my village got cut off.

 

[Shawn K]

No such thing as too much heat in my book.

I used to think that, until my (former) heat controller quit working. It was then that I realized that all that toasty warmth had made me sweat, which then made me very cold when the heat went away.

As I heard one person here put it (EricV, I think), the trick is not to be hot, it's to be not cold.

I've done it both ways, and whoever said it was right on the money.

 

[owl*]

Everyone's different. Like Prince Andrew, I don't tend to sweat, so I've never experienced that problem.

 

[EricV]

That's pretty close to what I and others have said. I aim for "not cold" with the heated gear to avoid that cycle of heat/sweat/chills which can cause people to crank the heat up even more and the cycle repeats.

@dom91 - The good heated insoles/socks use carbon elements, not wires, so you don't feel any wires. I've not used either, but hopefully riders that do can chime in on their favorite brands. I like Warm and Safe, but it's not as easy to source on your side of the pond. I agree with @Firstpeke on controllers, in that you often do not want the same setting on the socks/insoles as you do on the other heated gear items, just like the gloves.

Consider a heated jacket liner. The concept is that if you heat the core, that blood flows to the extremities too, keeping all of you warmer. I don't care for the vests, as in cold/wet weather my arms needed the heat unless I bundled up, which defeated the purpose of the vest. You want any heated gear to be close fitting. Air space between you and the gear makes it less efficient. You can counter this by wearing a snug windbreaker or rain jacket over your heated jacket liner and under your riding jacket in a pinch.