Winter riding gear - what do you use?

Got my warmest tights from Performance, their brand.  They work great and are a lot cheaper than other brands.  My warmest jacket is North Face but I only bought it because it was half price.  I'm cheap so I try to avoid popular brands.   I recommend getting tights w/o chamois so you can run in them too. 

outside of the normal tights that i can run/bike/hang out in. winter specific i have:

a pair of specalized fleece tights, can run or bike in them.
a pair of pearl izumi fleece linded thermal bib-tights. amazing.

hat wise you can get a skull cap, thin hat, make your own (cut the middle of a section of old tights out (mid quad works best, about 5-7 inchs of it. its open on top so it breathes and makes an amazing hat.

shoe covers are a must.

good gloves, dont have to be for riding.

top wise you have a lot of choices and this depends on the riding/weather you will do.

if its VERY cold (30 or down) just spring and get a thermal jacket. it will have a fleece inside, thermal material, neoprean outside. this and a warm under shirt will often be all you need.

if you dont want to drop the cash. do some smart layering. underarmour type shirt, two if needed, bike jersey, any type of windbreaker shell. this combo can keep you warm down to mid/lower 30s if you are working at all.

another option is to wear a long sleeved bike jersey, (normally have some wind proofing in them), the fleece brushed ones are great for this, along with a base layer and maybe a thin fleece jersey over it.

find the brands that fit best, its goign to be diff for everyone.

brands i like for this stuff, and if you look around can find decently: pearl, specalized, mizuno.

for the long sleeved jerseys go to probikekit.com and see what team stuff is on sale, its normally VERY fast and free shipping to the US (under a week in most cases). you can get 100-150 dollar winter jerseys for 50-60. one of those will last forever.
i used mine that i got two eyars ago for all riding under 45 degrees plus as a jacket/base jacket for coaching for two years and it was still in good shape.

WOW! Great stuff! Thanks a lot!

I wear sandwich bags on my sox (not the ziplock kind) and toe covers or shoe covers over my shoes if it's really cold.  You usually only need the front of your foot covered unless it's raining.

I just got a pair of the PI thermafleece lined bib-tights from Performance; they were $20.00 off with free shipping. I have a ride this weekend and the morning temp is supposed to be near freezing so I hope they will be enough.

Most important parts to cover would be feet, hands and head. You will probably want to have a pair of winter cycling shoes (insulated and high-top to keep you warm), or at least another pair of cycling shoes 1/2 larger than your normal ones (to fit extra thick socks). If it's really cold, I wear a pair of very thin gloves (some kind of super-insulated space-age material) and a pair of windproof gloves over that. My head and ears are covered by a skull cap (fleece); you may want to bring the skull cap with you when you try out helmets to make sure that it will fit both with and without the skull cap.

Except for that windproof undershirt (to cover the cheast), windproof overpants and a windproof jacket, and you're good to go. Oh, go to a ski store and by a neck warmer as well, basically just a tube of cloth that you pull over you head and cover you neck. Thin enough to breath, but still keeping you warm.

Ski socks also work very well.  They're not super thick, but they keep your feet and lower legs warm.  Plus you can always put toe heaters in the toe box of your bike shoes.