I always wear gloves. I also always pack a first aid kit with antibiotic packets.
My wife took a small spill while riding. She did not have gloves on. Despite cleaning the wound when we got home, she developed a severe infection from a relatively small scrape. It took a month to heal.
Besides providing a level of protection in an accident, they also prevent numbness from neuropathy that develops when one presses too hard against the bar while riding.

I always wear gloves. That's a lot of skin to not lose on a long slide. That said, my mantra while racing was "don't let go of the handlebars until you hit the ground." In other words, don't break the fall with your hands. And I lived by that mantra. Lots of roadrash more than a few times but my hands stayed intact. 3 months after my last race, I went down on ice, forgot my mantra and broke my thumb.

Ben

I wear full finger gloves. Old habit from mountain biking. My favorite are stretchy SmartWool glove liners.

Full finger gloves all year long. Leather gloves during the summer, mild spring, and mild autumn. If I go down lightly or slide, gloves won't stop a break or a dislocation, but they will stop some mean road rash. Wind proof gloves and winter gloves for the rest of the year.

I used to never ride with gloves until it gets cold, and we don't have much of a cold season here. I got a freebie pair of lightweight MTB racing type gloves that are really nice and I find myself using those more often than not now.

Me too. My last two race crashes tore the back of the glove, not the palm.

I always wear gloves. They offer protection during a crash but even more importantly they help protect nerves and muscle tissue from the constant vibration on the handlebars.

The one day I seem to not wear gloves is the day I get into accidents. While it doesn't help with impact much, it saves my palms from road rash for sure ... year round riding with gloves right here. I had so many gloves I threw some away this week because they were torn or falling apart. It pained me.

I would submit that if you're suffering from numbness, neuropathy, muscle or nerve damage, you may have fit issues or are gripping the bars too tightly.

I wear Glo-Gloves year-round. In the colder months, they get pulled over snow gloves. They provide great hand visibility in low-light and are super reflective in headlights.

I don't know how well they'd hold up in a serious fall, but they really help make my turn signals stand out.

Interesting advice, but it's hard to counteract that ingrained response!

Not far off I went for the stormtrooper look with these leather/spandex gloves from Joe Rocket. They are actually nice to ride with:

I'm wearing thin dollar store bike gloves because I hate the feeling of the neoprene handlebar grips for extended periods. Gripping something for too long a time will give blisters. In the winter, I wear gloves to keep my hands from freezing.

I don't do "helmet and gloves" For me it is "gloves and helmet"
I have taken fairly low speed tumbles, downhill and skittered along the road. No helmet action but my gloves were shaved almost 1mm thinner.
You don't need much contact with asphalt to skin your hands, but unlike knees or elbows, hands are really slow to heal and vital for most people for all everyday activities. My surgeon friend always wears full gloves for riding and any other activity where hands can be damaged.

That is brilliant! mirrored sunglass lens? How did you attach it?

With the crocheted backs, really sucked for wiping sweat off your brow...

Velcro would stick to a terry glove...

Didn't realize gloves are so popular here.

I don't have cycling gloves, but want to get a pair for cold weather use. Those hi-viz motorcycle gloves look interesting.

Firm Grip gloves from Home Depot, three pairs (yellow, red, grey), $10. Good for three out of four Canadian seasons. Even though I've Y2Ked a couple of a sets, the first pair has lasted four years; there's obvious wear, but no catastrophic failure.

Yeah, and left a strange suntan pattern too... the newer gloves today are so much nicer. My preference is non gel type... just straight leather, but that is a personal preference.

Anybody have these? They do cost quite a bit more than those hi-viz motorcycle gloves.

Pearl Izumi Pro Softshell Bike Gloves - Men's - 2014 Closeout - REI.com

Always have gloves with me but really only wear them when the weather turns chilly..used to wear them all the time, but not so much now..just getting stronger as i get older i guess..

80 bucks, and on closeout no less!

i have a pair of gloves from harbor frieght that I use while mountain biking. I like the full finger glove for mtn biking. I have a pair with grippy dots all over the palm/ fingers. they work pretty well. I dont think they wick sweat as effectively as my real mountain biking gloves but they were cheap. <$8. I cant find the mtn bike gloves anywhere anymore.

i have short fingered gloves for the summer. Sometimes when it was cool in the morning and warm I would only bring one pair and ride with no gloves home. It felt weird. fall and winter I use a Softshell PI glove and if really cold a "windproof" glove from Aerotech Designs. the combo has kept me warm down to 27F before.


I went down one time Mountain biking and I was glad I had on gloves. I hold the same is true while road riding although I do have a funny tanlines now.