Road Cycling - gloves

Besides the obvious protection of your skin rubbing against the handlebars, can someone explain the advantage of wearing fingerless gloves with the gel inserts? Does it really minimize the shock of rough roads as so much is transfered through the bike itself. Do the gloves help with the tingling feeling that occurs about an hour into the ride. This feeling I thought was more from the constant postioning and can be relieved by shaking off or changing postions. Thanks for the help.

I wear gloves mostly to absorb sweat, enhance my grip, prevent rawness/chafing, and to protect my hands if I should happen to hit the ground. Not for padding. So I wear lightly- or even non-padded gloves. I tried gel gloves once and hated them; it felt like I had a blister the size of my palm.

You're right, I think, that one of the big advantages of drop bars on a road bike is that you have enough different positions available that you won't go numb if you just move your hands every now and then.

RichC

They are also very helpful when you come off the bike during a crash. They save your palms from a real beating.

Dan

Sweating and crashing.

wiping tires.

Sweat's the biggie for me. I just rode 30 minutes where the heat index was about 95 degrees (it's 99 now... ugh) and my gloves were SOAKED through by the time I got home. I can't imagine how I'd be slipping off the bars if it weren't for those. And I can totally see how they kept me from getting hamburger hands when I fell off my bike.

I recently got some PI Gel-Lites that have GOBS of padding right where I need it, but leave plenty of mobility in the fingers. Plus a nice little terry patch to mop up my face. They did NOT help with the tingling though. I'm having to learn to just ease up on the bars, use my abs more.

I never thought about sweat or to stop numbness with gloves it was just to protect the hands when you go down. I have never used a gel glove not to impressed with gel seat etc.

for me it's all about the little terry cloth patch on the back of them. nose wiping is good- it's a bit more considerate than launching one in a group ride. other than that, though, i haven't really noticed a huge benefit (though, the crash protection might be nice). sherwen used to ride gloveless, and now he gets to watch/commentate on racing all day every day. coincidence? yeah, probably.

They are a must in Mountain Biking in my opinion. I have a tendency to crash, and on one crash I shredded my gloves. I would rather it be my gloves than my hands.

For road biking, I agree with some of the other posts in that is is an issue of sweat. I find that thin gloves with some sort of terri-cloth backing is ideal for keeping the sweat out of you eyes.

Gel is very good for mountain biking, i've tried the specialized BG gloves, but the pad isn't quite in the right places for me on road bike. I prefer the Pearl izumi gloves for my road bike.

A lot of people dont like gel and I can understand their reaoning. However they do seem to work quite well as absorbing roadshock. When I go along mass ave in Boston I can get numb hands in about ten minutes as opposed to three hours of riding on good roads.

Like others I like them due to keeping extra grip when sweating, the snot wipe factor, the crash graze protection factor etc

Gel is a personal thing I guess and I prefer it in some cases

I had some hand numbness and picked up PI gel gloves. Big improvement-numbness went away.

I never wore gloves until I wrecked. It sucks to have scraped up palms. You would not believe how much of an inconvenience scraped up palms causes, especially if you don't have a significant other to take care of things for you. I wear gloves all of the time now when I ride.

I tried gel gloves once and hated them. I still prefer the old style crochet with real leather palms.

One year I decided I didn't need gloves and rode all season without them. By the end of the year I had a very painful spot on the outer edge of my hand/wrist joint. I think it was the repeative bouncing on the handbars from the rough roads that caused the problem. I have wore gloves since and never had the problem. I also agree that if you ever fall you'll be very glad to have gloves on.

I use 2 different types of gloves, one set with a thick leather palm & the other with gel pads. I ride on some poorly paved country roads that cause considerable vibration. The gel gloves are far superior for reducing the tingling in the hands.

In fact, I'm planning on getting another pair tomorrow when I make the 1 1/2 trip to my local (?) LBS.

I use fingerless gloves to protect the hands in case of a fall and to wipe sweat off but no longer use it to wipe a tire unless I notice something actually stuck (with Armadillo tires no need really). But I do use the gel even though I hate gel seats. The gel does absorb some of the vibration but more importantly it will help prevent nerve tingling and eventually damage to palm area that can be painful, the gel just protects better.

Louis: I did find a pair of crotchet real leather palm gloves with gel from Trico Sports and they only cost me $14! So far they lasted 1 1/4 years; my last gel gloves from Pearl Izumi that costed $35 lasted 6 months!

Originally posted by froze
I use fingerless gloves to protect the hands in case of a fall and to wipe sweat off but no longer use it to wipe a tire unless I notice something actually stuck (with Armadillo tires no need really). But I do use the gel even though I hate gel seats. The gel does absorb some of the vibration but more importantly it will help prevent nerve tingling and eventually damage to palm area that can be painful, the gel just protects better.


I do for the same reason.

Back in my racing days (especially Crits) I put gloves to good use more than once. I'll guarantee that one crash will make you a glove (gel of not) user for life. First thing to hit the ground (normally) is the palm of your hand. Because of this experience I never ride my Harley without gloves. They may not save everything but I prefer that the first layer I lose to be made from a Cow/Deer and not Me.

After a really bad crash 18 months ago I had some deep grazing on my knuckles. My secretary asked if I'd been dragging my knuckles on the ground again! For about six months the keloid scars that were left after the grazes came off was bright red, but now it's faded to just a little pinker than the surrounding skin. I shudder to think what would have happened if I hadn't have been wearing my mits.

I remember a cold morning when I'd forgotten to put my mits on, and I discovered how often I wipe moisture from under my nose when cycling. I do try not to shake hands with people when wearing them, although the other person probably would have no idea what the mits had been used for.:p

Cheers
Beaver

save your palm from having anew skin, everytime you hit the road