I was researching some cycling gloves, and I heard from a co-worker that you should buy different gloves depending on whether you use drop bars or flat bars.

I've been checking out Amazon's glove selection and such; Virtually nothing seems to show any product's intended type of bar usage in the description. So is this a deficiency in the labeling? Or is it just a myth that you need different gloves for flat vs drop handlebars?

Thanks for reading.

One purpose short finger gloves have is not pickin gravel out of your Palms if you fall .
you can crash on any style bike.

then the glove choice is non specific..

Flat bar (eg mountain bike) gloves usually have less padding (or even no padding) because the way flat bars are gripped spreads the pressure over a wider area of your hand. Also, flat bars usually have thick rubber grips unlike the thin tape on drop bars. On the other hand, some hard core road bikers do like unpadded gloves because they give better road feel and they are hard core enough not to need padded gloves.

I use these with my flat bars.

Specialized BG Sport gloves, about $24.99 from my LBS.



They have padded palm supports which really helps your hands from cramping. When I first got my bike, I did not ride with any gloves and my hands would be really sore and have cramps afterwards. These gloves helped dramatically and my hands/palms are no longer sore after I ride.

I just got some Bontrager fingerless sport gloves to use on my flat bar... will see how they work....I say buy what feels good to you...

This is the first time I've seen bike specific gloves mentioned. It all depends on how much padding you need for comfort. Given that there are several hand positions on road bikes and you can get bar tape with more cushioning, I think it's a matter of personal comfort.