After posting on Rick's Knicks, Liza persuaded me to post about my new wool pants. These are Value Village pants: perfect fit and a nice thickness of wool. They're not as thin as fancy slacks, but not super crazy Swedish Army Wool Pants thick either. Really good for riding in the 30-40F range.
I made a quick modification to the cuffs to velcro them back. I stole Grant's design from his MUSA pants. (Which, at $40, are about the best deal on US-made cycling pants you can find.)
That's the velcro design. I sewed some reflective fabric on top of the grabby side of velcro. Simple and easy. Total cost: about $8.
Nice. I tried some of the crazy thick ones on today. I haven't bought them yet because I wasn't sure if I was going to herd raindeer this winter or not.
ReplyDeleteI too almost bought some thick military issue wool pants yesterday, but I think they would be too warm for even the most severe spokane weather.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you typically use for the single digits on up to 30F? For commuting 4 miles, I've been using either blue jeans alone (yeah, I know) or jeans + sweatpants. I usually break out the sweats when it dips below 25F.
ReplyDeleteNot an ideal solution, but it works for me.
taylor/derek: yeah. the super thick don't really offer that much more warmth on a bike. In my experience, wind cuts through the wool. So you just end up with heavier pants that bind more and not a ton more warmth as you face the wind on a bike. For herding deer, they'd probably be pretty good.
ReplyDeleteTLP: single digits -- I wear poly long johns then then some kind of wind protection/water resistant shell.
In past years, I've really liked REI headwind; they have wind protection up front and semi-breathable poly in the back.
This year, I found a good deal on some Ibex pants of the same design, but they use wool in the back.
I have the same thing in an Ibex vest and a jacket (the design is called "Breakaway" by Ibex): it's a great great design. The wool on the back lets the heat/vapor escape without getting clamy. I live in my vest this time of year. Soon, I'll be living in the jacket. The pants were spendy, but they'll rule in the coldest of the cold.
I also scored some fancy REI pants (acme pants). I'm not sure how great they'll be for super cold. I'll report back on those.