Pinkbike Poll: Do You Ride With or Without Gloves?
For some riders, it's not even a thought. Gloves are part of the riding kit - as much as pants. For others, gloves are optional, worn only for certain conditions or terrain There's also a faction of the sport who prefer to ride barehanded - including some high-profile DH and slopestyle athletes.
On one hand, there's no denying that gloves offer a plethora of benefits, ranging from a better grip and protection from crashes, to warding off brush, drying sweat, and simply expressing your style. On the other hand, some riders claim that gloves insulate against the feel of the handlebars and remove the sense of connection from the bikes.
While it should be clear to all that gloves could also prove useful for staying warm during inclement weather or digging, a quick scan of Pinkbike images and videos gives a clear impression that the glove/no glove camps are firmly entrenched.
Today's poll asks which camp you belong to. Do you always play it safe? Do you only ride with gloves in cold weather? Do you roll gloveless, come rain, hell, or high water? Are there any real benefits to riding gloveless?
It seems that riders from the Southern hemisphere end up riding without gloves more often than not. Is there an advantage? Photo by: Cam Mackenzie
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Cindy was one of the original Ross Indians. Check this from Charlie Kelly: sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/whitehead.htm
Awesome!!!
Gloves do not make me any warmer. They don’t affect my comfort in the least. It’s like they are not even there. They are such a non-factor in terms of comfort, that I don’t understand why people would intentionally not wear them, given the benefits of protection.
I've found sweatbands around the wrist stops 99% of my of the sweaty hands. And also DMR Deathgrips seem to provide tonnes of grip even with wet hands.
For the most part now I ride with the TLD Ace gloves as they have no strap, and are as thin as can be ! So they’re barely even noticeable
I've used them. They don't do much for me at all. Best I've found is the odi longneck or the similar sensus grips.
Cha'mone Motherf**ker
I’ve never had a Lentil on my face!
Give @jbaker99 credit not me
I’ve been gloveless for 3-4 years now, and have never been unable to ride from a hand injury due to crash without them. Only had a couple of instances where I would have benefited from them in that time. Now the comfort and connected feeling is more preferred than the minor feeling of safety they provide
It's kind of like when you're leaving to walk to the store on a cold day and think you'd probably be more comfortable with one more layer, but shrug your shoulders and start walking, feeling a bit colder than you need/want to be, but not really caring, because you know you'll be warm once you're home and no one is going to die either way.
In fact as I'm typing this, my hands are red and puffy and kind of itchy because I just got back from a frosty ride (about 2 degrees Celsius). My hands were cold on the climb, and frigid on the descent, but I'll probably do the same thing tomorrow because it worked just fine, like the hundreds of lunch-time rides before it.
I hate the disconnect of my glove staying put on the grips and my hand moving.
One things for certain, there are a lot of glove lovers who stress the f*ck out over those of us who don’t.
Maybe he should have been wearing gloves.
I've regained full hand control as if nothing happened. Glad i had gloves.
(Obviously glad i had helmet too.. thought it wasn't full face and there's a scar in case i forget
To each their own I say but for me gloves all the way.
Always preferred the feel of no gloves riding BMX and will only use them on the other bikes if I sweat so much the grips are wet faster than I need to take a break in the downhill.
Mechanix gloves rock!
Many of the bike store gloves look spit through and wouldn’t do SFA in a crash.
I also picked up a pair of Outdoor research tactical gloves and have love them.. Yup! They are a bit pricey but they’re still going strong after a few spills.
- getting ejected into a bed of razor sharp shale and having to remove the rock fragments from my hand just does not appeal to me. If i bail with gloves ... it sucks but I can get up, dust myself off keep on riding.
On 2000 ft descent that’s worth the extra heat.
The tactical gloves look great! When I destroy these OR gloves i’ll Swap em out. They look a bit beefier than what I have.
Here where i live (northeast BR) is dry like a hell and easily a 'cold day' has temperatures above 33ºC. My last ride tops up a 42ºC at 9a.m.
From the protection perspective - i would not say huge difference;
Nowadays we have nice and comfy grips - so gloves it self not needed much
Great dexterity, protection, and feel for riding in, great for repairs so your hands don't get greasy (they're originally made for repairing things). Covered on all fronts.
Road: never. Prefer the cooling. But in super cold weather, the gloves go back on.
www.pinkbike.com/news/deity-knuckleduster-with-sam-blenkinsop-video.html