How to Choose the Best Biking Gloves for Your Needs

Best Biking Gloves for Your Needs

Biking gloves are an essential accessory to support comfort when cycling. Besides improving grip, such gloves are also necessary to reduce the friction generated. There are a lot of cycling gloves available in the market so some of you are getting confused to choose one. In this article, we will let you know anything about cycling gloves.

Why You Need Biking Gloves

If your hobby is biking, you probably already know the reasons why you need cycling gloves. But some people are still not aware of the importance of wearing gloves when biking. In a nutshell, such gloves are necessary for your safety and performance during biking. Here are the benefits of wearing cycling gloves.

·  Cycling gloves will increase your riding performance. It is because such gloves provide sturdy grips so that your hands will not get slippery on the handles.

·  Road bike gloves can be used as a cushion that protects your fingers and wrists from bumps.

·  Cycling gloves will protect your hands from getting scratched and sprained when you accidentally fall off your bike.

·  Cycling gloves will protect you from hot and cold weather.

What to Consider When Choosing Biking Gloves

In order to make sure that you choose the best cycling gloves according to your needs, there are several things that you have to consider. Here they are.

The Type of Your Bike

The first thing you need to consider when choosing cycling gloves is the type of the bike you have or are going to buy. Gloves for mountain bikes and gloves for road bikes are not the same. So, make sure you choose gloves that fit your bike type. Mountain bike gloves are designed to go through rocky, rough terrains. So, globes for mountain bikes need to have good grips so that bikers can properly control the handlebars.

In order to provide adequate grip, the palm of mountain bike gloves is coated with an anti-slip material. There are also the ones with textured palms for optimal grips on the bike’s handlebars. On the other hand, road bike gloves are designed to reduce cyclists’ discomfort due to vibrations in the bicycle frame.

It is because the suspension on a road bike is not as good as one on a mountain bike. So, even a small vibration feels pretty significant. Therefore, road bike gloves are equipped with thick cushions or special layers to ‘absorb’ the vibration.

Full Fingers or Half Fingers?

The next thing you must consider when choosing biking gloves is the type. There are 2 types of cycling gloves, which are full finger gloves and half finger gloves. As the name suggests, full finger gloves cover all parts of your hands, from your wrists to your fingertips. Since it covers all parts of your hands, full finger gloves provide more comprehensive protection when an accident happens.

Full finger gloves are ideal for mountain bikes as they can protect the hands from rocks, branches, and others. As the opposite full finger gloves, half finger gloves do not cover your hands up to your fingertips. So, they provide better air circulation, and your fingers can move more freely. Half finger gloves are more suitable for biking in the city, especially during hot weather. In terms of price, half finger gloves are commonly more affordable than full finger gloves.

The Material

You also need to consider the materials of the cycling gloves you are going to buy. This becomes important because the material will affect your comfort when wearing the gloves. Common materials used to manufacture cycling gloves are spandex, polyester and nylon, and synthetic leather. Spandex offers high elasticity so that it can follow the shape of the hands. But it has poor absorption.

Polyester and nylon are two materials that can easily dry and offer great durability. But the same as spandex, polyester and nylon do not provide good absorption. While synthetic leather has a great look as it looks like genuine leather. However, it does not offer great durability.

Other Features

Check if the cycling gloves have other features or benefits. For example, there are ones that come with an anti-UV feature that can protect your hands from the bad effects of the UV rays. If you often ride your bike during the day under the sunlight, it is better to choose gloves that can protect your hands from the ultraviolet rays.

By wearing cycling gloves with such a benefit, you can protect the back of your hands from getting sunburnt or even skin cancer. There are also cycling gloves with a sweat wiping feature that is definitely practical as you must be sweating when cycling. Such gloves come with a towel-like material on the sides that you can use to wipe your sweat.

Or you can choose full finger gloves that are equipped with touch panels. This feature allows you to use your smartphone without having to take off the gloves. You know, there might be times when you need to pick up a call when cycling. The touch panels are featured in the fingertip part of the gloves.

Biking Gloves Recommendations

Below are some recommended cycling gloves for your reference :

Pearl Izumi Basic Gloves

Pearl Izumi basic gloves are one of the top cycling gloves because of the UPF 50+ technology features. Thanks to this technology, your hands will be safe from the UV rays. Also, these gloves come with great cushions to dampen vibrations when you are biking. It comes in 5 different colours, which are red, black, white, grey, and green. However, Pearl Izumi basic gloves are only available in half finger types.

Giro Jag Glove

Comes with moisture-wicking technology, Giro jag gloves can keep your hands, palms, and fingers moist. It also features foam made from ethylene-vinyl acetate or EVA, making the gloves extremely flexible. Moreover, Giro jag gloves are lightweight and embrace your fingers very well. It offers great durability and is suitable for both newbie and advanced road bikers.

So, are you ready to choose your biking gloves?