Awesome MTB gloves - review

I've asked so many questions over the last few years at TE that it feels nice to be able to post a little review after finding something that I love.

As a newbie mountain biker I do tend to fall over. Off the hill. Into the thorn bushes. Into piles of dust. It happens, though it is happening less and less often :cool:

I have had a very difficult time finding long-fingered gloves that fit me. I have long fingers and slender hands with small wrists and nothing ever fit. I finally decided to try on more expensive gloves, pretty much out of desperation. I NEED long-fingered gloves. I can cover bruises at work, but fingers torn by thorns and so forth are a little different. My co-workers already think I am batty for all of my biking activities.

I tried the men's version of the Endura MT500 long-fingered gloves at my LBS. I really liked them even though they were too large and my LBS ordered the small women's version with the understanding they would take them back if they didn't fit me. These are expensive gloves, right at $60, and worth every penny.

They are lightweight, very protective, machine washable and so far nothing has gotten through them! My hands don't swell near as much with these as they do my short-fingered gloves for some reason, and the small fit so well that I actually forget they are there! No problems shifting, they just disappear.

I have these gloves in purple. Apparently the blue is no longer available unless you find some left-over 2010 gloves. I am having problems finding them on an American website for some odd reason - they are imported from England but my little LBS has no problem getting them from their distributor. They have problems keeping them on the shelf - which says a lot considering how expensive they are.

I hesitated at paying $60 for a pair of gloves, but they were the only ones I could find that actually FIT. I figured also that I shouldn't quibble where my body contacts the bike. I suspect that I will also get winter riding gloves from Endura as well, if their MTB gloves work so well for me then their other gloves should as well - and they are not all this expensive.