No. Walk carefully away in case you fall over and hurt yourself.

And definitely not carrying scissors?

I still use my hands (and feet. funnily enough) to break my fall fairly often too…

That’s why I was asking GW. 🙂 I can’t imagine how you’d lead into a headfirst roll without using your hands, arms and shoulders to break the fall as ‘gently’ as possible, spreading the impact as much as you can.

Riding without gloves to me is a little like riding without shoes – just doesn’t make sense. However if people want to then it’s not my place to stop them.

On the flipside, learning to fall properly is also a really useful skill – I’ve heard stories of people hitting A Line on their first trip to Whistler only to go over the bars and break both wrists because they are not used to the size and speed of the riding there.

I’d still always wear gloves though. 😉

And definitely not carrying scissors?

Holding the blades. Holding the blades…

GW would seem to be too rad for helmets. I just wondered why.

Earlier in the thread:

GW – Member

The fact I don’t wear gloves and rarely a helmet def means I sweat a lot less when biking.

😕

Julian – yes, that’s one of the reasons (but we’re not talking why I choose not to wear a helmet just now 😉 )

Hairy sweaty palms.

On the flipside, learning to fall properly is also a really useful skill

I once went over the bars in Eskdale, down a particularly steep incline, did a complete somersault, and landed on my feet. To much hilarity, I received a round of applause.

It was totally unintentional. I doubt I could do it again 😳

Why do I wear gloves? Easy, convenient snot wipe.

PJ hands/feet contact is not required to initiatte the roll or break the initial impact.
no two falls/crashes are the same

I generally wear gloves but can see why others choose not too. not really sure why wearing/not wearing gloves is such a big deal for some people… pretty minor personal choice at the end of the day…

Nah, it’s certainly not a big deal, was just curious

I had a huge crash at the end of 2010 and smashed my collarbone, as well as generally messing myself up big time.

The strangest thing about it in hindsight was that one finger of one of my Fox gloves was ripped off, and never to be seen again. Maybe it vapourised? Bizarre.

Anyway, I am sure my hands would have been a mess without the gloves.

i dont wear them nowdays.

Never used to wear em until a hot day in CYB was going very fast downhill my sweaty hands slipped off the bars. It hurt lots – always worn since

Gloveless hi five! 😉

no gloves means i can rotate my hands to table/invert 🙂

callousandgloveless high5!

GW/jedi, I am sure someone will be along on the thread with a de-gloved/gloveless ‘hi four’ 😉

In Cornwall it’s a ‘hi six’ fwiw.

I tend to Tuck n roll mainly

Sounds a little like…
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doq-eQ47lSI[/video]

Just the thought of riding without gloves makes my hands feel “wrong”. If I forget my helmet I’ll generally ride without and just be extra careful, if I’ve forgotten my gloves I’m off to the nearest shop…

Your fingers are the most sensitive part of your body – worth protecting.

Back the hell up, what now?

My fingers are certainly NOT the most sensitive part of me!

I can quite definitely tell you I can’t touch a hot plate with my thighs, my forarms, my lips, my face, my ears etc but I sure as hell can take a plate out of the oven without much effort with my hands (briefly!).

I wear them because I hate losing all the skin off the heel off my palms when I inevitable fall off and put an arm out.

Same here always wear gloves when cycling regardless of which bike im on sometimes track mitts sometimes full finger gloves

I usually wear them just out of some assumption that they protect my hands. Often forget them and doesn’t make any difference really. Not sure I’ll buy more when these ones wear out.

Started off riding mountain bikes in the early 90’s, didn’t bother with grips to start. But as I quickly found, riding rigid bikes with the crappy grips that most people used back then, gloves helped you hang onto the handlebars a bit better. I also skinned the palms of my hands a couple of times in low speed crashes without gloves, before learning the fabled “tuck’n’roll” method of crashing.

I’ve ridden with gloves pretty much ever since. These days I prefer it as I find it more comfortable, and my hands are better protected from things like branches, bushes etc on the trailside rather than the ground when I come off. I’ve got very soft delicate skin too (have to moisturise my hands quite often otherwise my knuckles can just crack open and bleed at times!), and my hands blister or get callouses readily riding without grips. I also think a wet/sweaty hand slips off a grip far more readily than a gloved hand does too.

But each to their own, and I can understand why many people prefer to ride without them. For instance GW likes very thin, in fact worn grips, with no gloves. I like quite chunky grips, with gloves. We’re all different!

I wear full finger gloves with unpadded palms for several reasons. First, there are a lot of thorns and such (locally called jaggers) that can rip the heck out the back of ungloved hands or your fingers if you wear fingerless gloves.

Second is to protect my palms if I put a hand out in a crash.

Third now is probably just habit; I’ve ridden with gloves for so long that it feels weird to ride without them.

I work in a job where clean unshredded hands are vital. Also i don’t want sore, callussed, cut to ribbons hands when I am playing with the kids or cosying up to mrs gd! And that is before the chopping of fierce chilli or use of feisty spices in the kitchen. A bit of abrasion protection is well worth it.

I have ridden in gloves for so long I cant tell you if they have any.grip advantage but if they are not on on.the mtb it feels wierd.

Mitts, all year round.

‘Cos when I got my first drop barred bike, that’s what you wore.
I read it in here:

And like all the advice contained therein, it was correct then and now. 😀

I wear full finger gloves for protection from thorns/brambles mainly, I have a bunch of faint scars down my right hand from riding too close to thorn bushes gloveless while at uni. Pulling lots of tiny thorns out from my skin with tweezers got a little wearing after a while and I’ve ridden in gloves since.

1 I go down hands first, so they add protection. Hate that burning feeling of scuffed hands.

2 They allow me to grab muddy sticks and other muddy stuff, since without gloves grit from the mud sticks to your sweaty hands and becomes annoying. (makes wresting fallen trees a bit easier too, avoiding splinters)

3 The callus-ometre: When the calluses on my hands start to go away it means I am not riding enough.

I hardly ever go through gloves.I’m on my 2nd pair of troy lee air gloves since 2005. I just don’t ride hard enough/grip hard enough/fall off enough.

Shredded the palm a bit on them the other night. First fall in years. I never try hard enough and I enjoy getting home in one piece more often than not these days.

Richard’s Bicycle Book. Fantastic. My copy is exactly the same colour of oil stained off-white. I’ve also just realised that it is 30 years since I originally got it. It included instructions on how to set up the original indexed gearing: Shimano Positron (didn’t work, but looked cool on my mate’s Raleigh Magnum).
The best bit was the advice on dealing with dog attacks: “Any small dog can simply be hoisted up by the legs and his brains dashed out. With a big dog you are fighting for your life… If worst comes to worst, ram your entire arm down his throat. He will choke and die. Better your arm than your throat.”
Fortunately I’ve never had to test this particular piece of Richard’s advice…

Gloves are compulsory in BMX racing.
But more important, I have a beautifully made pair of Sombrios. Which I love like my wife loves her shoes.
Two pairs of brilliant Azonics that fit so well it’s like riding with no gloves but I have grip.
Some windproof Specialized deflects for cool to cold weather riding.
An insulated waterproof massive pair of full on winter gloves.
Some seal skins which I have had for years but only used once.
I loved Fox full finger gloves but they my fingers always popped through the ends before long.
I even get out on my road bike with full finger gloves.
Don’t like fingerless gloves. Owned a pair once when I started mountain biking and went a motorbike shop and bought some MX gloves.
If you don’t want to ride with gloves that’s cool. I work with my hands a like to give them a little bit of protection while riding.

Gloves are compulsory in BMX racing.
But more important, I have a beautifully made pair of Sombrios. Which I love like my wife loves her shoes.
Two pairs of brilliant Azonics that fit so well it’s like riding with no gloves but I have grip.
Some windproof Specialized deflects for cool to cold weather riding.
An insulated waterproof massive pair of full on winter gloves.
Some seal skins which I have had for years but only used once.
I loved Fox full finger gloves but they my fingers always popped through the ends before long.
I even get out on my road bike with full finger gloves.
Don’t like fingerless gloves. Owned a pair once when I started mountain biking and went a motorbike shop and bought some MX gloves.
If you don’t want to ride with gloves that’s cool. I work with my hands a like to give them a little bit of protection while riding.