I’m back to road riding and getting quite a bit of numbness. My super padded Spesh BG gloves ain’t helping (in fact, padding’s so thick, it’s angling my wrist and may be part of the problem).

I’m looking for comfy gloves and, being a bit of a bike tart at heart, if they’re sleek and snazzy even better. I don’t want them to fall apart after a few rides and don’t mind spending a few quid if they tick all the boxes. I fancy the Castelli Paves but hear that they’re as durable as tissue and if buying online, there’s the usual sizing shenanigans with Castelli where Ronnie Corbett would have been used as the template for “Large”. Moon on a stick?

What would you recommend?

I like the look of the Lusso ones as I do like a nice finger-less glove in summer 🙂

I bought some Scott ones from Start cycles for £5 and they’re really good! Had em for about 4 years!

They don’t do the same ones anymore, but can’t go wrong at these prices:

https://www.startfitness.co.uk/cycle/bike-wear/gloves.html?gender=98&manufacturer=17

the carnac leather ones are fab for the money …. the leather is so much nicer/softer than the spesh ones at twice the price.

I’ve actually found going gloveless and running a sensible tyre pressure a far better way to sort hand numbness on the road bike…

I am a huge fan of Pearl Izumi gloves. Not crazy expense, but well thoguht out and a huge range. I have these , which admiddedly have gel padding but I don’t find it intrusive. I think they do non-gel ones too

Basic Altura here, no padding (unlike almost anything else)

Poss not bling enough.

(called track mitts BTW)

Louis Garneau Air Gel mitts.

Evans stock them.

Pearl Izumi have always worked well for me.

Double wrap the bars?

I like the Planet X gloves. They were £3 a pair last week, looks like they are now £5. They have a few different styles, some with more padding. These are the most comfortable for me. https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CLPXFITMT/planet-x-fit-mitts

nothing from stoner ?

😉

Endura’s stuff works for me.

However, I’d suggest that you might want to consider your bar tape first if you’re getting tingly/numb fingers. The current stuff I have on is really causing me problems after a couple of hours riding.

Numbness could be too much weight on your hands. I like to keep my saddle completely level for that reason.

Thanks for all the replies so far. Going to hunt them out to look in more detail (was hoping there may be a standalone consensus “Yeah, Bontralized Silky Aerogrippers” type of reply, but quite varied so far).

Positioning looked at and shorter stem fitted for more upright stance. I’ve thought about bar tape too (good suggestion, thanks 👍).

Define “A sensible tyre pressure”. Intrigued. I’m using Grand Prix 4000s at a calibrated 100psi. How low would you suggest? (Genuine question and not one to which I already have an answer).

I’m back to road riding and getting quite a bit of numbness. My super padded Spesh BG gloves ain’t helping (in fact, padding’s so thick, it’s angling my wrist and may be part of the problem).

Two words here

Bike

Fit

Padding is less likely to be the problem, and fit if far more likely.

Define “A sensible tyre pressure”. Intrigued. I’m using Grand Prix 4000s at a calibrated 100psi. How low would you suggest? (Genuine question and not one to which I already have an answer).

Depends also on your weight, tyre width and to an extent nowadays rim width.

If you’re 120kg and those are 23mm GP4000s, then good luck. If you’re 65kg and those are 28mm on a decent rim, then you could substantially drop.

(I’m 87kg, with 28mm tyres on a wideish rim and I run about 80psi rear and 65-70 at the front. I know it’s way lower than people would consider normal but it works for me over Surrey’s battered road surfaces)

Thanks theotherjonv, that’s very interesting. Based on your calculations, I figure I could go a lot lower psi. I’m 74kg and BMI in the 20-25 range. Tyres are 25mm. Is there an algorithm you use to work that out or is it educated guesswork? Lots of hills in Wales and my only concern would be running the tyre off the rim coming downhill or giving the rims a serious ding (done the latter before).

I like the Planet X gloves. They were £3 a pair last week, looks like they are now £5

That’s because in typical PX piss-take fashion, they introduced free postage on orders over £11.99 this weekend, but hiked prices up on pretty much everything. So unless you literally order no more than a couple of items, this weekend you will pay more than the normal £4.95 postage fee and then some.

+1 for bike fit, I recently got a new commuter road bike and the initial discomfort was due to the short stem and top tube placing too much weight through my arms

That’s an interesting comment, Kilo (and I’m not disputing what you say) but the exact opposite of what I was told when I was fitted up. I had the stem changed to a shorter one because it was felt that I was leaning forward too much with a longer stem and it was making me put more weight on my hands. A more upright riding position was felt to take the pressure off the wrists and help (but does make the handling a bit more “twitchy” I think).

I have a longer stem here and may just fit that to see if it helps. I was fitted up when I got it (some time ago) but may go back if reverting to longer stem doesn’t help.

Thanks for all the comments. Please keep any further recommendations about fingerle…..track mitts, coming 😃👍

Tinners – it’s guesswork but there are some sites that make recommendations. But that said, I use way less than the recommended levels. I don’t think there’s much risk of rolling a tyre at the kinds of pressures we use, even lower ones in the range; pinch flats maybe but not something I suffer with even with my higher weight.

https://roadcyclinguk.com/how-to/maintenance/the-importance-of-tyre-pressure/

How long until numbness begins to appear?

If you’re managing 5 hours, for example, then you’re doing pretty well and it’s possibly vibration rather than position. Position problems can limit blood flow and cause numbness more quickly

I’m 89kg, 23mm tyres and 85F/95R. I flipped my stem so that it’s angled up, and use gel pads under the handlebar tape (Spesh Bar Phat). The pads are 7 years old now and have been re-taped several times. HTH

PS I nearly forgot gloves 🙂 I’ve got several pairs, £5 Aldi to GripGrab at £35, no massive differences for me, except the price

Numbness comes on within 30 mins. Both hands. Which reminds me, going to try longer stem before popping back to shop next weekend to see if fit needs tweaking again.

I did wonder if it was anything to do with my neck because 2 hours in, my neck starts to ache and it’s been through a few injuries in the past, although I’m getting blisters on the heel of my palm too (for the first time ever) so I think gloves/bar tape may be partly to blame.