With what should I cover my ears while biking in winter?

December 20, 2024 11:42 AM

Some way to cover ears that is not a balaclava or a hat is wanted; must be compatible with bike helmet.

I have a very large head (yes, yes, I know) and thick hair and I wear glasses. As a result, balaclavas are right out (glasses fog over) and the kind of beanies that fit close to the head under the helmet are never big enough to cover my ears.

What can I use to cover my ears under my bike helmet? I feel that with ears covered I won't really need a hat under the helmet for virtually any day that I'm actually likely to ride my bike.

Specific brands and products are welcome - I mean, I know that ear muffs exist, for instance, but which ones?

posted by Frowner to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (26 answers total)

Have you ever tried flat style behind the head ear muffs like this? I've got thick hair too but keep it short. These are great for me when my hair is cropped short in back, but they don't work for me if I have any length. Mileage may vary. Anyway, the flat style ones should have no problem interacting with a helmet.

For a head of any speakable size I definitely recommend you get ones meant for for big headed men.
posted by phunniemee at 11:49 AM on December 20 [4 favorites]

I like an ear warmer like this. (I don't endorse that brand, it's just an example though it has a ton of good reviews; there are also tons of makers on Etsy who will knit you one.)
posted by BlahLaLa at 11:55 AM on December 20 [1 favorite]

There exist beanies that are shaped to cover the ears. I have one similar to this one, which works under a helmet and covers my ears on my relatively large head, and here's another example which has big ear-shaped sides (which I found in a quick search, so I can't vouch for it).
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 12:00 PM on December 20 [1 favorite]

I use little triangles of warm fabric that attach to helmet straps, and they definitely help keep my ears warm. I originally got mine from cat ears (I think), but they don’t seem to sell them anymore. These are pretty similar.
posted by IridescentMoth at 12:04 PM on December 20 [7 favorites]

I have a huge head too, and I have a couple of ear-warming fleece headbands that work well under a bike helmet.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 12:06 PM on December 20 [4 favorites]

My SO uses something like BlahLaLa recommended. Good for warm ears while not overheating the rest of your head, especially when exercising, limits what you need to fit in your helmet.
posted by biffa at 12:11 PM on December 20

I also have a pair of bandless ear muffs, which I now keep in my bag as backups, but I much prefer the helmet-based ones I linked above.
posted by IridescentMoth at 12:12 PM on December 20 [2 favorites]

A merino wool buff is my go to, dozen different ways to wear it that fit how protected you feel the need to be.
posted by Static Vagabond at 12:19 PM on December 20 [2 favorites]

I've used phunniemee's recommendation before, and it was pretty awesome. Though these days I generally just go for a long lightweight wool hat under the helmet, that I can cover my ears with...
posted by rambling wanderlust at 12:39 PM on December 20

I use these ear warmers by Yakkay, which are designed for their helmets. However, I wonder if they'd fit other helmets, or if you could find a similar product. These go over the straps, are soft fleece on one side, and provide pretty decent coverage and warmth. Plus, they have a cute rabbit logo, which at the very least warms the cockles of my heart.
posted by but no cigar at 12:44 PM on December 20

Those helmuffs IridescentMoth posted are amazing! I should sew some!

On really cold days, I wear a full on winter helmet. I used to put a thin fleece scarf over the top of my head hanging down over my ears, fasten my helmet over it, and tie the ends...
posted by advicepig at 12:46 PM on December 20 [1 favorite]

Oooh - here's another brand, similar to Yakkay's: Wind-Blox
posted by but no cigar at 12:48 PM on December 20

Hard hat liners are balaclavas without a permanently mounted face section and are available in a variety of styles (all terribly unstylish).
posted by Mitheral at 1:00 PM on December 20

I'd go with any nice scarf of the sort you usually wear just inside the collar of an overcoat, tied under the chin.

I've seen people wearing them that way.
posted by Jane the Brown at 1:03 PM on December 20

I wear a very thin gaiter; it's essentially a doubled-over headband made of stretchy polyester. It only covers my ears and doesn't extend under my entire helmet, so all I do is loosen the straps a bit to make it fit.

Another option is folding a bandana diagonally and wearing it like a headscarf and tucking it under the helmet, which I've done when it's been unexpectedly cold and I didn't plan ahead.
posted by blnkfrnk at 1:08 PM on December 20

Pearl Izumi made a headband designed for exactly this. You could also use a "buff", as popularized on Survivor, to good effect - I use one frequently for biking as a big headed, thick haired person.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 1:38 PM on December 20

Building on Mitheral's hard-hat liner idea, I've used this helmet liner with a hard-hat and sunglasses in temps low as 20° F, and it kept my ears and neck warm & comfortable. Whether you need this extreme depends on what you consider "bikeable weather".
posted by Ardea alba at 1:45 PM on December 20

Alternatively: if you can find a skiing helmet that fits, wear that in the winter instead of a bicycle helmet. You'll be sorted out for temperature and the protection they offer per the certification specs are comparable. This is what I do, and it works very well.
posted by mhoye at 1:53 PM on December 20

Gore makes a windstopper helmet cap that has been my go-to for winter cycling for years. IME the windstopper is key in keeping my ears tolerable, as I generate plenty of heat so long as the wind can't cut through what I'm wearing. I have a fairly large head (7 5/8 or 7 3/4 hats) and the large size fits me just fine.
posted by lhputtgrass at 2:03 PM on December 20 [1 favorite]

I have a merino headband! Mine is by Stoic, a double layer 180gsm one, or 160gsm, can’t remember. Rebought it after losing it it’s that good.
posted by lokta at 2:04 PM on December 20

I had a Pearl Izumi headband that was shaped to cover my ears. I lost it somewhere and got a similar one from MEC (Canadian version of REI). This by itself is good to around 0C. Warmth wise it would be good until colder temps but I find that my earlobes start to peek out of the headband after a while and at colder temps that can get uncomfortable. To combat this I put a thin neckwarmer on my head as a hat. I can pull it down so it covers below my ears so they won't peek out and then arrange the top so that my helmet can fit on top of it. Last year I used a different neckwarmer but I can't find it so I've been using the linked one. The neckwarmer doesn't need to be thick or warm itself, it just helps with blocking the wind and needs to be thin enough that you can still put your helmet on.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 2:04 PM on December 20

A balaclava doesn’t have to be out. You can’t wear the bank robber type with glasses, but I happily bike with glasses while wearing this Ridge Merino balaclava. I mostly just cover my chin, but I can get away with covering my face for spurts of a few minutes as long as I buckle my helmet against my bare chin and then pull the balaclava over that.
posted by Hex Wrench at 2:06 PM on December 20

I too have a big head and glasses and wear a bike helmet in cold weather. I like to wear a thin but warm headband under my helmet. Right now I have a poly fleece one from Eastern Mountain Sports and a merino one from Smartwool; they are both very old and I'm not sure EMS exists anymore but the Smartwool one is this headband but in a hideous pattern that I got because it was on clearance. Even like a super-basic headwrap headband from the drugstore can work if it's not too cold.

For a long time I had a Bern winter sports helmet that was rated for snow sports and biking and had an optional snap-in liner (and a removable goggle strap holder!), but alas, it gave its life to save my brain and they don't make anything with the snap-in warm liner any more, probably because it's not compatible with MIPS.
posted by mskyle at 2:18 PM on December 20

Response by poster: For a long time I had a Bern winter sports helmet that was rated for snow sports and biking and had an optional snap-in liner

I had/have this! I was wondering why I couldn't find another one. Mine is a size too big and works its way down and rests on my glasses, and I'd been looking for another and couldn't find one!

And thus I have to wear my other helmets, which leave my ears uncovered, or else just wear a hat and bike slow. (Granted, virtually all my snow riding is "two miles on a sequestered path to the grocery store in good weather in daylight" so that's not as risky as it sounds and I'm a bit weak on using helmets on sequestered paths anyway, but I'm not getting any younger either)
posted by Frowner at 2:31 PM on December 20

I've recently found success with wearing ski goggles over my glasses, with the fabric of my balaclava up under the seal of the glasses. To my amazement, the setup actually stops my glasses from fogging!
posted by wyzewoman at 2:56 PM on December 20 [1 favorite]

I wear a merino wool buff which does a decent job if it’s not too cold and I’m not going too fast. It’s super thin so fitting under the helmet isn’t a problem for me. However, I’ve been looking into those triangle things that go onto the helmet straps and that really seems like the move for your situation!

I don’t think those behind the head earmuffs would work; non-bike riders probably don’t realize there are straps back there that are below the bottom of the actual helmet part.
posted by misskaz at 4:11 PM on December 20