SEALSKINZ Waterproof All Weather Cycle Glove

Product Information

Knit gloves are a staple of winter riding in the cold and wet and there is a somewhat endless range of choices for them. Lots of companies make them and I've yet to find a particular advantage to one brand. The Giro Xnetic H20 gets the nod because they have a high visibility colour and some of the best pricing. There are lovers of these style gloves that manage to make them work through an entire winter. I run cold though and I find that in the US Pacific Northwest, these are strictly an option for milder days.

A nose wipe is an absorbent patch, usually located on the thumb with which to wipe a running nose. Most of the best winter gloves for cycling will have one. However they aren't all created equal. If you suffer from a runny nose when cycling in cold weather it's worth looking for a glove with a generously sized wipe. It's also vital that it's made using a soft material, such as a fleece-like material that feels pleasant against the skin. This area is also useful for wiping rain and road grime off your cycling glasses. The Xnetic's low weight also means that once on you barely notice that you're wearing them. This can also be attributed to the high level of stretch, which sees the glove forming to your hand shape with ease. It also creates a good seal at the wrist, stopping any unwanted drafts from entering. Giro's Xnetic H20 gloves are billed as waterproof, and they are. But they are also more than just something to reach for when the skies threaten rain. Thanks to their lightweight, minimal design they work well as a go-to-glove for cool conditions, whether you're heading out on a long road ride or popping to the shops on your bike. At just 62g for the pair, they store away easily.I'm hardly breaking new ground here by recommending the Pearl Izumi AmFib Lobster Glove. Talk to most cyclists who've been riding in seriously cold weather for a long time and these will come up. The reason they are so well known and loved comes down to what it takes to keep you warm. You can make exceptionally warm five-finger gloves but after a certain point, the price starts to really jump. The technology at work here is well disguised. This is a simple looking glove that will be appreciated by any minimalist. However the three-layered fabric, which almost has the look and feel of a knit glove, blends an durable outer with a waterproof membrane and a hypoallergenic lining. And it works very well indeed. Instead they use a blend of fabrics that keep the weight down and dexterity levels up while still offering protection against the elements. Keeping out the wind is crucial: fabrics such as Gore Windstopper and similar will do this, and feature on the best winter cycling gloves,as well as offering water repellence and breathability. The inner padding and/or membrane varies from glove to glove and on what sort of temperature the glove is aimed at, whether deep winter or chilly and wet.

Just so I'm clear though, the Sportful lobster gloves still leak. For some reason Sportful didn't tape all the seams and water will work its way through. The advantage is that even when water comes through, there's no insulation to hold that water. Of course that also points to the other negative of the Sportful Lobster gloves, you will need another layer inside of them. In milder weather it's not actually necessary to have completely waterproof gloves. Your skin is waterproof after all, so as long as you have gloves that keep your hands warm, they don't necessarily need to keep you dry. Options such as a wet weather neoprene glove can work well in cool not cold conditions. They're often basic in style, with no padding or additional features, such as cuff adjustment. Neoprene gloves work by holding water close to your skin and allowing it to work as insulation. The problem is that they don't work when the outside air is near freezing. The outside air overcomes your body's ability to warm the water and you have both wet and cold hands. You have to keep the outside air away from the neoprene and if you put them inside of a shell glove it solves everything. The shell will leak but the water that comes through will become a part of your insulation. You can remain warm and comfortable for hours with a pair of neoprene gloves inside a shell. What are the warmest winter cycling gloves? Compared to both the Castelli and Gore gloves in this section, the Sportful offering isn’t quite as warm. On the interior you’ll find Primaloft Silver insulation which is still impressively warm but not quite the warmest out there. Unlike other gloves though, Sportful constructs the fleece interior in a way that it won’t pull out when your hand is wet.Pearl Izumi calls the Summit WxB glove a mountain bike glove. Don't worry, they work great on a road bike. Many of the best unpadded long finger gloves carry the mountain bike tag and this is yet another one. In the mountain bike world they are often summer specific but the Summit WxB is a bit more robust than that.

You will want to mostly save these for drier days though. Pearl Izumi uses a technology called PI dry to apply DWR at the fibre level. It won't ever wash off but it's still a durable water repellent and that only goes so far. After enough time these will soak through and it becomes hard to get your hands out when they are wet. Sealskinz ‘Fusion Control’ refers to its triple layer construction: a merino wool inner lining, a hydrophilic waterproof membrane, and a soft-shell outer layer made from durable goatskin. The intention is to provide a close-fitting, breathable, waterproof glove that allows for flexible movement of the fingers. Are Sealskins gloves any good? The other useful thing to remember is that you should bring more than one pair of gloves. In some ways, this is the counter to my first piece of advice. Not everyone is as cold as me and having another option solves that challenge. It's not always about options though, changing gloves mid-ride is the only way to manage a long winter ride if it's raining. I promise you will not mind the extra bulk of a second set of gloves when you change into them. Is there such a thing as waterproof gloves? We loved the minimal padding on these, and found them the perfect winter cycling glove for it's excellent grip in all weather. with zero dexterity compromises, including both navigating a touch screen and unwrapping a mid ride energy bar. They're certainly a performance pair and we found them to be the best winter cycling glove to pull on for winter league racing.We couldn't help but highly rate these brilliant winter cycling gloves from Endura. They aren't quite as finessed as the higher end brands, but with both impressive wind and water proof characteristics, they could easily fit in to both categories. The first thing I tend to tell people about finding the right winter cycling gloves is to go warmer than you think you need. If you are someone who tends to run warm and constantly has warm hands, you probably know this and you can choose appropriately. For everyone else, go warmer. Your hands sit without moving much for long periods of time and at least for me, when it's cold my hands are cold. I don't think I've ever been on a long cold ride and felt like my hands were too warm. The only real down side is their lower temperature range limitation, meaning that it's likely that you'll have to invest in something like the Rapha Pro Team Winter Gloves, or even the Rapha Deep Winter gloves for real freezing rides. The answer depends on the timeframe we are talking about. A good pair of gloves with a waterproof membrane, or even a DWR coating, will keep your hands dry for a while. Ride long enough though and they all saturate. The only option that is actually waterproof is a shell. Sportful makes a shell I included here but there are some others out there. They are truly waterproof but they also require another glove for warmth and that second glove will eventually get wet also. When you leave the house on a bitterly cold day, you might make it through a ride with only a single pair of gloves. If you leave the house and it's raining you will need a change of gloves if you ride longer than about three hours. How many winter gloves do you need?

The Eddie Bauer Guide Pro Smart heated gloves aren't a cycling specific pair. Don't let that dissuade you though. The Guide Pro Smart heated glove is a serious deep winter option even without the heating elements so there's a good amount of padding on your hand anyway. I do wonder if these were designed by cyclists if someone might have tried to slim them down a bit but it’s not a terrible trade off given the use. More importantly, these gloves work better than any other set of heated gloves I've tested. In case you need to wipe your face, or maybe not, since you can't throw these in the wash (Image credit: Josh Ross) There is no denying the high price tag that the Rapha Pro Team Winter Gloves command, more than both the other 'elite' brands winter offerings, such as the Castelli Perfetto RoS gloves. However, if you want the perfect winter cycling glove for racing, then these are spot on. Keeping the gloves clean requires care. Sealskinz recommends just spot cleaning. The gloves can’t be machine-washed, dry cleaned, tumble dried or ironed. So if you did fall in the mud during a gravel ride you may have to wave goodbye to the prospect of seeing your gloves perfectly clean in the future!Neoprene gloves seem like the perfect solution to riding in the rain. In reality, that is true but only when the rain is reasonably warm. As long as the air isn't too cold your hands will get wet then warm the water in the neoprene and you'll be toasty warm. If that's your riding environment then neoprene gloves are a great option and there are a ton to choose from. Read our full Specialized Prime Series Thermal Gloves full review here HOW TO CHOOSE Does owning a pair of winter cycling gloves make a difference?