Originally Posted by
livedarklions
Over the years, I've wiped out a few times with no gloves, and I've never had serious abrasions on my hands, just some minor cuts that really didn't hurt much. The more painful things I've experienced were from impact on the thumbs and fingers, and gloves would not have any effect on those.
If I wore leather gloves, I'd get wicked prickly heat on my hands.
The potential is still there though as shown in the video a few posts above. I never hurt my hands as badly as the guy in that video, but I have had some nasty road rash on my palms when falling off bikes and skateboards in my youth. Then I quickly started wearing gloves and never experienced it since.
For road riding I wear fingerless gloves mainly to protect my palms, but I actually prefer gloves to sweaty hands holding the bars. For mtb I wear full gloves and lightweight knee and elbow pads too if I'm riding anywhere rocky.