SealSkinz sent me two pairs of gloves to review.
Ultra Grip Gloves Gloves – £30
Riding a time trial bike at this time of the years means grippy gloves are a must. Otherwise your hands slide all over the place. I was keen to test these ultra grippy gloves because they looked warm and grippy.
Firstly, they are warm and highly breathable. They also offer pretty good waterproofing and keep out any wind chill factor. It is a nice combination of breathability and waterproofing, which helps to justify the price, which at £30 is quite expensive for a pair of gloves. One disadvantage is the material is a little rigid. It makes it hard to pick out fiddly little things from your back pocket. It is not like a pair of ordinary gloves which easily fit into the contours of your hands. Though an advantage of this rugged material is that I assume they will be much longer lasting. I find many gloves wear out pretty quick when cycling. At this time of the year, I think they are a good pair of gloves to have and wear. On the inside is Merino wool which makes them comfortable to wear. Though, I often wear an additional pair of inner liners beneath these gloves. I would buy these because they really do a good job at offering waterproofing without getting too sweaty. They are also quite grippy. I use size XL in dark green, though would have preferred to have the more fluroscent yellow.
Ultra Grip Gloves at Evans Cycles
Winter Cycle Glove
After wearing quite a few pairs of traditional ‘ski gloves’ it was a good experience to wear these cycling specific gloves which are specifically designed for cycling. The padding is excellent for long winter rides. They are both comfortable and offer excellent grip. I could wear these riding a time trial bike, where I had to grip carbon fibre ends.
They are relatively warm and breathable. Like any waterproof gloves they have limitations of how much they can keep you dry. I wore them in last Sunday’s downpour, they were very wet by the end, but I don’t think any other gloves (apart from a pair of rubber gloves) would have kept out that quantity of rain. There is an extension over your wrists to help avoid that annoying gap between your gloves and jersey sleeves.
I needed size XL for my hands, but they are very comfortable and easy to wear (with the obvious limitations of any gloves this size. A much better experience than some more expensive ski gloves from High Street shops.
At £36, they are not cheap, but overall work well.
Agree that nothing would have kept out last Sunday’s rain. My first 17 miles were wet. Then my next 12 miles were wetter. Sealskinz socks didn’t keep my feet dry. Nothing would have kept any me dry! One of those days when even the sweet-tempered Sir Galahad would have said, “Bugger this for the Grail!”