Newbies--wear gloves!

[TrekTheKaty]

I started wearing gloves because my hands tingled on short rides. They helped. Then I tried clipless pedals, and during the learning curve, learned what gloves are for! Protecting your hands when you fall!

A friend got a "new" hand-me-down bike from a neighbor. He went to hop over a curb he hopped over every day on his other bike and fell--tearing up his hand up badly--he didn't have on gloves! You always ask newbies if they wear a helmet, but not if they wear gloves!

I had my first "wreck" this weekend. While riding on the road, I slowed down at the top of a hill to wait for two more riders. When they caught up, I cut across a seam in the road and went down. A scraped knee, a few bruises, but nothing serious. Today I have a big bruise on my hand--that could have been BAD if I hadn't had on gloves.

I know--you don't ride on the road. Your hands don't tingle. You don't ride that fast. You don't plan on falling:) It's cheap insurance--BUY GLOVES (and keep them in your helmet, so you don't forget them).

[fastdogs]

I'm a believer. Last week I crashed on the trail. There were lots of loose, sharp rocks, and of course I tried to catch myself with my hand. I had a deep bruise in the heel of my hand, it was sore for about a day. I can imagine what it would have looked like without the gloves- these rocks have cut the sidewall of my tire before. I keep my gloves inisde my helmet, so when I put the helmet on I also put the gloves on.
vickie

[earthgirl]

gtk!!!

i always thought gloves were to prevent your grip from slipping or something...

[Jiffer]

Gloves can be for many things. It's different for everyone. Some say it helps grip the handlebar once your hands get sweaty. I don't have that problem. Instead, my hands get sweaty FROM the gloves. Some say wearing gloves is more comfortable for your hands because there is padding in the gloves. My handlebars have cushy gel stuff under the tape, so this is a non-issue for me. Some say they help with numbness in your hands. My gloves actually caused my hands to go numb, instead of the other way around.

So ... I don't where gloves.

However, if I tried DIFFERENT gloves, I might not go numb. Protecting my hands from a fall is the only reason I would wear them. I've been intending to get some new gloves, but I MUST have PINK! And my LBS shop only had one pair in that didn't fit me. They are, however, ordering a couple of other pairs for me to try. I do wear gloves in the winter because of the cold so, if nothing else, I'll wear them then and, hopefully, get so used to them by summer, I'll keep wearing them. :) I do get comments all the time about not wearing gloves. Someone commented that I was like the guys in the Tour de France. I never noticed, but I guess many of them don't wear gloves.

[Flur]

When I was young and just getting into biking as a child, my uncles were big bikers. One of my uncles hit a patch of grease on the road and went over his handlebars. He put his arms out in front of him and and his hands hit first. I saw what that looked like - skin sheared down on the palm - and the horrible healing process that comes with it. This is why I wear gloves.

[Cataboo]

I have a lot of wrist pain, so I had bought pearl izumi symphony gloves because they claimed to have ulnar nerve support or whatever - the padding in the gloves made my wrists worse, so I stopped using them - put padded gel & cushy tape on my handlebars.

Then I had my first (well, only) big crash... skidded a fair amount across the road and lost skin on arms and legs and on my palm.

The very first thing I did was stop riding in sleeveless shirts and yank out my pearl izumi gloves & operated on them. I yanked out the padding, so they're just leather on the palms and they don't irk my wrists anymore. They're fingerless, so my hands don't overheat, and I like the cut of the pearl izumi's around the wrist - they're not tight on the wrists, so they don't agravate my wrists.

[RoadRaven]

I know this post is late... but I only just found it...

Jiffer, I strongly urge you to try on different gloves, and perhaps even buy a size too large so they are roomy and don't make you go numb.

When you come off a bike - whether its one of those silly slo-mo falls (I can't get my foot out of the pedal as I stop), or whether its hitting the deck at a faster speed (the quickest impact I have had is at 33kph) - your hands are the first, or almost first things to touch the earth,

If your hands get cut up, you won't be back on the bike.

I sometimes timetrial with no gloves, but mostly I wear gloves because in the event of a tumble, I don't want to be prevented from riding on the road again because I am waiting for my hands to heal.

In my 33kph crash, I broke my helmet and had minor cuts to my shoulder and kness. My gloves were shredded, but my hands only sustained one minor tiny graze.

Its worth wearing gloves.


And yes... gloves get stinky. So wash them every couple of weeks. Mine stay out in the shed velcroed to a line where the helmets also hang. So they are being "aired out" as well.

And yes, gloves seem to make your hands sweat, but the reality is your hands/forearms sweat anyway. Your gloves just catch it.
<<cheeky questions>> Will you also stop wearing your socks, jersey and shorts cause they absorb sweat also??

Seriously though, if you love to bike, buy gloves... please

[wildhawk]

I have a pair of Chiba gel gloves and the padding is perfect - not too thick and not too thin. My first pair cycling gloves were one of those Wallyworld specials and did nothing to support my hands - padding was too thick, in the wrong places, etc. The Chibas work great - also it is important to get the right size - gloves too tight will cause hand pain, etc. I have carpal tunnel in my right wrist so my hands are very sensitive to pressure on the median nerve. And I hang them to air dry with my helmet when I get back from riding. As a bonus, they have a sporty reflective striping along the front and top too that helps with dusk/after dark riding.

I am now looking for full-fingered gloves for winter riding - any recommendations?

[TrekTheKaty]

The only problem I had riding last winter was my hands getting too cold. I think I had the beginning of frost bite once! So, no expense spared--I just bought the Phantom Gloves by Gore (I got them from Terry--www.terrybicycles.com/detail.html?item_no=1352&c=Accessories).

We've had a few 45 degree mornings here, and they're great! If I could just figure out how to buckle/unbuckle my helmet and zip/unzip my jacket with gloves on :D

[RoadRaven]

I don't have specific recomendations, WildHawk, but like CunninghamAir, my partner's hands get frizzed on frosty mornings.

Sometimes when he knows his gloves wont be enough, he wears bread-bags over his hands gloves while he descends the 10kms down to sea-level and into sunshine (much of that 10kms gets no or little sun during winter).

[vinbek]

I wear gloves to protect my hands, to change flats and to wipe my nose.
If you have ever changed a flat, the last bit of tire to push back onto the rim, needs a good stiff push with the palm of the hand. I ride 20cm tires and the bead is very tight on the tire. I could not get my tire back on the rim without the use of the palms of my hands. And the terry at the thumb is for wiping the nose - which I need in cold weather.

[TrekTheKaty]

Oh, yeah! I forgot--"and to wipe your nose!"

[CommuterChick]

I went to an REI seminar the other night about women and bikes, and the pro rider's constant mantra (other than clean your bike) was WearGloves WearGloves WearGloves , fullfingered only. Everything she demo-ed about repairs came with "see? aren't you glad you're wearing gloves?" And now with this thread about accidents I'm rethinking my approach.

But for those of us who are saving pennies or still shopping, my stay-warm-in-winter fix with what I have on hand is

1. light glove liners, I've had them for years for xcountry skiing
2. fingerless padded bike gloves over the liners
3. if it's really cold I then put something like a good waterresistant glove (or even mitten would work!) over that. I now have some Mountain Hardwear windstopper gloves that I use here and for skiing that are perfect.

In Colorado I like this approach because at 7am I may need this, along with tights and wool socks, but at 4:30 I may need shorts and a T. So my gloves come in layers too.

But there's probably a flaw here for the accident concern, so I will be looking for other gloves as well, there are Christmas wish lists after all.