Hand protection for winter cycling

Living in Toronto, Canada I cycled 6 km to and from work, summer and winter. It was late at night, the temperature was -15 celsius and I was riding downhill. Even with winter gloves, my hands were so cold that I had to tuck one behind my backpack in order to keep my fingers from freezing. I knew that steering with one hand on a slippery roadway was bound to end badly. Awake in bed that night I thought again of possible solutions. It seemed that keeping the wind off my hands was the key and so the next day I cut off sections of an old windbreaker and draped it over my handlebars. When I was riding, the nylon material clung to my gloves and it was difficult to get my hands in and out from under the cowl but it did seem to be an improvement.

The first BarBra was relatively simple in design.

It seemed that a stiffer material and a 

flexible frame would keep the cowl from collapsing.

I went with my clothing designer wife shopping for 

material. The shop had a roll of bright 

orange water resistant material.

Many thanks to my wife Alexandrina, who cut and sewed all of the prototypes.