A good pair of gloves is pretty essential if you want to keep riding through winter because it’s hard to pull the brake levers if you ride with your hands in your pockets.
With temperatures dropping as low as 2 degrees over the past week, we’ve been observing the seasonal switch from track mitts to full finger gloves. Almost as if we had planned it, we’ve also seen the arrival of truckloads of new gloves in our shops.
To help you choose which winter gloves are for you, you might want to consider our latest gloves as belonging to three camps:
Minimal, tactile, warm gloves for cool autumnal rides
We accentuate the word warm in this title to differentiate these gloves from minimal, tactile summer gloves, such as Endura MT500s, which barely warm your hands.
Endura FS260-Pro Nemo Glove £26.59
This single-layer neoprene glove works on the wetsuit principle to insulate and cushion the hand. A massive staff favourite. See blog.
SealSkinz Neoprene Glove £ RRP £32.00 £28.80
An equally well made neoprene cycling glove from another great British outdoor-wear company.
Endura Dexter Glove £24.69
Windproof, water resistant and breathable softshell gloves.
Endura Windchill Glove men’s and women’s £26.59
Windproof and colourful.
Endura Strike II Glove men’s and women’s £28.49
Three-layer glove with breathable waterproof / windproof membrane.
Liv Hearty LF Women’s Winter Glove £24.99
This wind-resistant touchscreen-compatible women’s glove is as convincingly constructed as every Liv bicycle.
Liv Norsa X LF Women’s’ Glove £29.99
Norsa offers an extra level of thermal warmth without added bulk.
Warm, insulated, waterproof gloves for cold winter rides
Designed to keep your hands warm in the worst conditions, all the gloves in this section are better insulated than the ‘minimal, tactile, warm gloves’ described above.
Having said that, you wouldn’t describe any of these gloves as over-bulky (as mainstream waterproof gloves can be) so you need have no fears of them compromising your feel and control of the bike.
Endura Deluge II Glove RRP £39.99 £37.99
Thinsulate insulation creates a warmer, windproof, breathable waterproof glove, which is touchscreen compatible.
SealSkinz Dragon Eye Road Gloves RRP £40.00 £36.00
SealSkinz breathability rating is on a par with Gore-Tex so you’ll be happy to wear Dragon Eyes at temperatures where lesser waterproof gloves might overheat.
SealSkinz Brecon Glove men’s and women’s RRP £45.00 £40.50
Made for sub-zero temperatures, Brecon Gloves achieve a 4/5 rating on SealSkinz’ thermal climate scale (compared to the 3/5 Dragon Eye).
SealSkinz Men’s Highland Glove RRP £55.00 £49.50
SealSkinz’ best insulated 5/5 glove. Like the Brecon and Dragon Eye, the Highland Glove has been upgraded with SealSkinz anti-slip technology, designed to prevent pulling out the liner when you extract your hand from the glove (as can often be the case with multi-layer gloves).
Highly reflective gloves for night rides
Reflective gloves contribute to helping ensuring you’re seen after dark. Two particularly eye-catching options are Altura Night Vision water resistant gloves and Sugoi Zap waterproof gloves.
Altura Night Vision Windproof Gloves men’s and women’s RRP £34.99 £40.50
Guarantee your hand signals will get seen.