agc1976

Newbie question: Should I wear gloves when?...

1. Riding around the block
2. Commuting
3. Longer rides 20+ miles

sh00k

you get the famous answer - it depends.

generally speaking, gloves are great safety in case you wreck. some people hate them, others use them for any biking they do.

you can get gloves with padding/gel inserts that may help on longer rides. you can also get really comfortable hand grips to make riding long periods a little more easier on your hands.

so it all depends really... something like this varies per person, imo.

Brian T.

I wear mine 99.98% of the time I'm on my bike, but that's me.

RonH

1. No
2. Yes
3. Yes

wirehead

I just put 'em on by default, even if I don't "really" need 'em. Too hard to break habit.

anaheim flash

mine have retro-reflective stripes, so they make me go faster....

WCoastPeddler

I wear gloves most of the time -- I think it makes me look a lot more hardcore.

Actually, they do make a difference and I'm quite used to wearing them so if for some reason I forget to wear them, it just feels a little off.

Panthers007

Pearl Izumi 'Slice' gloves - the high-visibility color. When I flip-off a driver, I want them to see it.

terraskye

I dont wear mine to the grocery store (around the block) but most everywhere else I do

cyclehen

wear them all the time-- a habit like my helmet.

Luddite

I can't be arsed to buy gloves. Plus I'm a week away from being a Starving College Student.

qmsdc15

I crashed when I was riding around the block one evening because I didn't realize the surface of the road on the other side of my block had been milled in preparation for repaving. The grooves in the road caught my wheel as I came around the corner fast. It took a lot of painful scrubbing to get all the pieces of asphalt out of my palms.

KShep

+1 ....always wear them.

Steve in MA

+1

I can't think of any time that I don't wear my gloves. Been wearing gloves for 20+ years, so riding without gloves would feel unusual.

frunty

After getting a fistful of splinters when a stupid jogger swerved suddenly, I always wear gloves. The impact cushioning is pretty nice too, you can definitely feel it on longer rides.

WCoastPeddler

Those wooden joggers are the worst.

Panthers007

They're also good for sweeping your tires for any sharp objects that might have been picked up.

flanso 

Perspiration and rain make my grips slippery. Gloves help me keep hold of the bars and brake levers.

mikeybikes

Always wear my gloves. I get numb hands after a half mile without them.

lshaped

i'm clipped in on all 3 of my bikes which means there's always a possibility of doing a slow motion fall over- wearing gloves is a must if you crash which we all do at one time or another

LesMcLuffAlot

I wear full fingered gloves pretty much 100% of the time now. I used to work at a job where I used my hands doing manly things and my hands were pretty tough. Now I work at a job where I wear latex gloves for most of the work day and my hands are softer than soft.

I can't ride without gloves anymore, I get blisters on my longer ride. Plus my hands get really sweaty and makes things slippery. I don't wear them for the padding. None of my gloves have padding in the palms, I don't need them for that.

I have a horrible glove tan,

LesMcLuffAlot

daveizdum

If you ride without gloves, you'll build up calluses, and you'll never have hand problems again. If you don't want calluses, this obviously isn't the right solution. I climb rocks, so my hands are like kevlar.

If you want gloves to protect you during a crash, that is an option. But, if you're landing on your hands during a crash, you're landing wrong, and you will suffer worse injuries than scraped hands. Any good snowboarder, BMXer, skateboarder, or mountain biker knows that learning how to fall is as important as learning how to ride. Never use your hands when you fall, unless you like broken fingers, wrists, forearms, elbows, and collar bones. Try to roll and land on fleshy things. Your a$$ and shoulder will heal in a few days. Your wrist will take 6-8 weeks. I learned this lesson the hard way.

qmsdc15

I forgot about the calluses. I remember a friend you wore bike gloves so he would have softer hands to stroke his lady friends with.

I'd rather break my collarbone than my back. Rolling over the hood of a car, yeah, but I don't know anyone who rolled after highsiding in a corner. Such a move might be beyond the skill set of the average hybrid rider. I'll think about it though, I actually avoided getting tagged this morning by consciously modifying my response to a left turner after the recent injuries of three of my associates by left turners made me to think about the last time I got taken out by a left turner and what I could have done differently.

You make a good point. When I taught snowboarding, I always advised to fall on forearms, held again the body, with clenched fists, rather than on outstretched hands. In snow it's really easy to turn your hands or fingers in a very bad direction, if you try to break your fall with open hands.

I have also rolled off my mountain bike, by holding onto the bars and controlling my endo so that my back landed between the rocks. It's amazing what you can do when you really need to, and it's helpful to visualize your response to possible scenarios.

baldsue

+1

Also, remember to wash them 'cause they can start stinking from sweat. Probably not much of a problem as we turn the corner away from summer.

daveizdum

That's impressive! I completely agree with you about visualization. I had been thinking about the left-turn problem too. The last time I had a problem with a left-turner, I pushed off the bike, dove, and was sitting on the edge of the curb looking at my crashed bike in the center of the street by the time the guy would have hit me. Had I not thought about the scenario many times beforehand, it could have been my body in place of the bike.

You said that many hybrid owners might not have great accident skills. This saddens me. The idea of a hybrid is that it's versatile enough to ride in many different environments. More environments means a greater number of riding challenges and accident possibilities. If anything, a hybrid owner should try to have better accident skills than any other type of rider.