2010 Ladies G-Love Review - Part 1

Source: Elise

For centuries women have been adorning themselves in this fanciful accessory, so it seems of no small coincidence that you can’t say glove without love. And despite the fact that one might successfully argue bike gloves to be a necessary component of equipment, they also maintain their fanciful status.

Introducing the vast world of women's biking gloves. The sufficient, the appropriate, the functional, the good and, of course, the fancy.

Enjoy Part 1 inside,
For the convenience of comparing, below you will find a nice chart with all the gloves. Two noticeable things excluded from this chart are how comfortable they fit and the sweat wicking capabilities. Comfort assessment was omitted due to the vast variety of hand shapes. Likely yours will not be the same as mine even if you were to have the benefit of measuring yours up to mine. And although some brands seem to have glove sizing charts, it’s tough to base your hand size on a knuckle circumference and finger length. As we all know from buying shoes, it’s ideal to try them on first. I mean just because a glove looks hot in a picture does not mean it will feel great after gripping your handlebar for hours. I strongly suggest visiting a bike shop near you to try a few on. There is certain to be one that has the appropriate fit for your specific sized hand.

As for the sweat wicking capacity, it was left out simply because I don’t sweat nearly enough to test that particular aspect properly. And without further ado, here are the gloves, listed alphabetically by brand.

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Part 1: Dakine, Fox, Giro and Kona Gloves

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Dakine has a good selection of ladies' products and their gloves are no exception. I found all three to be more than adequate.


The Covert is a no fuss glove featuring a slip-on cuff, synthetic suede palm, silicone finger grips and terrycloth thumb panels. The back-panels are made of breathable nylon mesh with neoprene knuckle flex.


The Cross-X clearly takes a few steps up from the Covert with an added neoprene cuff, extra palm padding and adjustable wrist strap. Its thicker material and superior fit make it a great choice for some serious dirt jumping or DH riding.


The Ventilator showcases a sleek, light summer look and feel. And true to its name it’s extremely lightweight and breathable. The micromesh venting is a welcome combination for hot sunny days; along with the finger grips and sweat wipes, you’ll be set for those long XC rides.

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Fox really fit my hands ‘like a glove’; proper finger length and width, proper thumb size and palm proportion. Plus, all three of these gloves have adjustable wrist closures for added customization.


The Digit looks ready for battle. The styling, construction and material choices make it extra durable and the padded knuckles make me wanna punch someone. This is one aggressive glove.


The Incline is quite the opposite of the Digit, as it looks quite lady-like. Its simple construction and design make me want it for those casual Sunday rides, you know the ones where you’re just touring around town on a cruiser. I’m certain the Incline can withstand more of a beating, but I’m not about to give it the opportunity.


The Reflex Gel is one of my top three picks. It’s cushy, soft, lightweight and comfortable. It has a good solid inch of cuff with an adjustable wrist strap, four gel pods in the palm, terrycloth sweat wipe, breathable material and silicone finger grips. It’s such a good-looking summer glove I never want to get it dirty.

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Giro sent me three distinctly different gloves to review, and they all fit very differently.


The Loma fit a bit loose on me, but of all the slip-on models these get my vote. They are light and simple, but manage to maintain the most critical aspects of comfort; a decent nose wipe, finger grips, very breathable upper and three-panel synthetic leather palm.


The Monica gloves are featured in the 2010 May/June issue of Impact Magazine as hip triathlete apparel. So despite the fact that the fingerless glove has never been my thing, not even in the early nineties, they must be back in athletic fashion. This model features gel palm padding, is extra breathable with four way stretch upper and has a three-panel leather palm. If you’re in the market for fingerless, then these will definitely exceed your expectations.


The Xena really hugged my hand when I put it on and if I had to pick only one of the gloves in this review it would be this one. I love its extra long wrist coverage, the adjustable wrist, finger grips, three panel synthetic leather palm and knuckle padding. Every time I put this glove on, my fingers relish in its comfort and my brain starts conjuring up excuses to wear them when I’m not biking. Enough said; it’s in my top three.

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Kona makes two ladies gloves, XC and Supreme. I didn’t manage to get my hands on the Supreme, but it looks like a good solid glove, with an adjustable wrist strap.


The XC is a tough glove to get on. The slip-on style wrist opening is quite tight for the hand size. I just found it frustrating to get on and off. Once on however the fit is good. It has silicone grips on the brake fingers, 4mm gel palm pad, a soft terry nose wipe and excellent airflow through the dimpled mesh on the back. If only it had adjustable wrist straps.

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That is it for part 1, stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow where I go over ladies' gloves from Mace, POW, Race Face, Specialized and Troy Lee as well as tell you my favorite three paw coverings.

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