First Time Glove Buyer Needs Advice

[malkin]

It might take you a few tries to find your perfect gloves. Just start with something that seems to fit, feels pretty good in the store, and is within your budget. Next time, you'll know more about what you like.

Also, what you like might change.

[jelee1311]

I have a few pairs of PI gloves and to tell you the truth I found a pair of performance womans gloves and I like them better. You can get fingerless gloves and wear wool or liners under them for our still cold (snow anyone) weather. Good luck!

[Bike Chick]

I prefer the less expensive glove with less padding and try to avoid any gel padding if I can. I wash my gloves a lot and the expensive ones with gel don't hold up well. +1 on the gloves with the tabs for pulling them off your hands.

[margrette]

gloves can get tricky, 9 times out of 10 I ride glove-less because the padding is just not where it needs to be, so it may end up being a trial and error thing...the gloves may feel nice in the store but 20+ miles in they might not feel so hot.

[nscrbug]

I think picking out gloves is subjective to various factors. I own about 8 pairs of gloves...seriously. Half of them I no longer wear and demote them down to wearing for spin classes only. Some like lots of padding, others like very little padding, and some like no padding at all. I've tried just about every level of padding in gloves, and I still haven't really concluded how much padding I prefer. PI gloves don't rank very high on my list. I've had several pairs and none of them seem to suit me quite right. I've also tried several pairs of Giro gloves, which I probably would not buy again. The single pair of gloves that did stand out for me, were the Spenco Ironman T.2 Elite. I wore those for almost an entire season before they really started looking ratty - gloves don't last very long...if I get 1 season out of them I consider it decent. But they do have generous padding, but more importantly I think, is the placement of the padding...it just seems to work for me on the Ironman gloves.

[Catrin]

I have found that a lot of the less expensive women's gloves either have too much padding, or it is in the wrong place. I DO like PI Gel Vent gloves, but have found some small men's Gore gloves that I like much better.

I cannot seem to find the gloves on Gore's website, so will post a picture tonight after I get home and go for a ride. I REALLY like them, the padding is minimal and what there is feels very good. There are also tabs to help get the gloves off.

[redrhodie]

I have a pair of Specialized BG gloves I've been using for 5 years. They will not die. I wash them at least weekly in summer. I alternate them with a few other pairs, but they are still my favorites. They have a really nice absorbent fleecy fabric (for nose wiping) which is divine. Really, it's all about that for me. I'm a runner, and I don't mean marathons.