For me, it was glove size and no padding. I have gone from wearing an x-small to a medium. I cannot tolerate any padding. In this search for the cause of my hand pain, I discovered that while I have small-ish hands (not tiny, though), I have very long fingers. No wonder my gloves were strangling me. I actually had an argument with the owner of one of the LBS's that sold the unpadded Botranger gloves I loved (which they stopped making). He told me that mediums would be huge on me, and that I would probably get them caught in the shifter. Then he saw me try them on, and he shut his mouth.