C r a i g M o r r i s: Moose Mitts

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Moose Mitts

I have grown tired of having cold hands. I have been using Columbia ski gloves combined with a thin glove with reasonable success. I found that the bulky gloves was akin to wearing boxing gloves and it was a pain in the ass when I needed to have a minuscule amount of dexterity. I also noticed my hands became very cold when riding singletrack and contact with the aluminum brake levers conducted the cold directly to the hand. Rather than look into another glove I decided to look into the moose mitts or pogies. I saw several homemade examples on the interweb. Yes, those are coffee cans. Brilliant!

I also discovered that Mike Flack over at Trails Edge (right here in Michigan) has developed a cottage industry around this simple concept. He now offers a drop bar version.

Standard Version $59.99 pr.
AMF Threadworks Bike Mits

I checked around and found similar models of pogies for ATV, motorcycle & snowmobile use:

$18.95 pr. + S/H
Ebay LINK:

Moose Utility Division:

I'm all for supporting the local LBS but in this case I had to go with the less expensive option. I rode with them yesterday using a lighter glove and experienced great results. The Trails Edge Moose Mitts go further up the arm but I am happy with the overall size of these. There is plenty of room although they don't seem to be too bulky. So far, so good and my hands are much happier now.

Protecting Your Hands article:

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: Nice note...Thanks Craig.

One thing I'd like to add is that We make all of our Moose Mitts by hand in our bike shop. The Moose brand you bought instead is made in a third world country...and actually copied our design and name. Not that I expected you to know this when purchasing...

The Moose Mitt is actually our own name, which others have adopted as a in industry standard. But the fact is our cycling pogies are the original and only Moose Mitts.

Thanks again for the plug...let me know when you want some real Moose Mitts

Mike; January 12, 2011 at 4:11 PM
Unknown said...: Thanks Mike. I'll see how well these knock offs work out. I really like the look of those drop bar mitts. Nice work! You're right, I know where you are when it's time to upgrade to the real deal.; January 12, 2011 at 11:38 PM
Anonymous said...: I stumbled across this while looking for ideas to keep my hands warm on my motorcycle. I would like to point out that Hippo Hands came about long before Moose Mitts, which were developed in the early 70's by Craig Vetter. While Mike is correct that the Moose Utility mitts are made in a third world country, Moose Utility Division is a line of ATV and offroad accessories. They also have the Moose Racing product line. It's doubtful that the "Moose" name has any relation to the Trail's Edge Moose Mitts.; October 22, 2014 at 3:15 PM