The discussion of plastic vs metal pedals and temperature got me thinking about my cold hand situation.

I was monster trucking around ft snelling last week and stopped to take a leak. Had to remove 2 layers of merino wool gloves and my pearl lobster mitts. My hands got warmer taking the stuff off and putting it back on post torrential urination.

Is this because the aluminum bar stays cold long and would my hands give off enough heat to warm up carbon fiber? I think this may be the issue with my bar mitts working better when the bike is stored indoors. I'm probably heating up the air pocket in the neoprene, but the bar stays cold and then makes my hands cold.

well ona simple level, metal is a great heat conductor and carbon is not. Thus the metal bar can be colder due to a bit of a heat-sink quality, where the carbon bar will locally heat up from your hands, but shouldn't transfer like the metal does. However, having a solid cork or foam bar wrap would likely mitigate much of the issue either way.

Bar tape needs to come with its R-value listed.

It's a salsa moto ace bar with rubber grips. There's a carbon model too, but I may just toss hand warmers into my bar mitts for now (or more realistically, when winter actually arrives)

I've got foam tape on my bike and have been riding around all winter with just a pair of fleece gloves. The wind had more effect on my hand comfort then the bars.