Handske Gloves: Quick Review – by Guitar Ted
Contact points for cyclists get a lot of attention. Deservedly so, as these ‘points’ can make or break a riding experience. Gloves are a part of this, obviously. Recently, a new-to-me company called Handske Gloves reached out to Riding Gravel to see if we’d like to take a look at their gloves. Knowing that a lot of you readers out there use gloves, we said ‘yes‘, and so Handske sent over these full-fingered gloves from their Lightweight range for us to try out.
What It Is: Handske Gloves was started because the company’s founders saw a “category that was being overlooked and taken for granted“. Started in 2018 with a Kickstarter campaign, Handske Gloves exists to “design and make high-performance cycling gloves to keep you cool, comfortable, and in control for any discipline while keeping you looking great on the bike.” Part of the ‘looking great’ facet of Handske is how they work with artists to help them with the graphic designs each batch of gloves sports. All Handske Gloves feature the following:
- Confidence inspiring silicone grip
- Printed palms with touch screen sensitivity for hassle-free connectivity
- Understated or bold graphics complimenting your favorite kits and gear
- Gnar control with our extra-lean fit
- Full-size terrycloth sweat wipe for staying cool when things heat up
Riding Gravel was sent the Huichol Lightweight Glove to try out which has the additional feature of Handske’s new top fabric for maximum breathability. The Huichol has a design created by Rodolfo Maro, which dipicts the ‘colorful traditions of Mexican crafting’. The Huichol gloves are priced at $34.99 USD.
Ride Performance: I’m typically not a glove wearer since my hands are sensitive to pressure and can ‘go to sleep’ on me easily if things are not right. For instance, half-fingered gloves just typically do not work for me. So, any glove I wear generally has to be full-fingered and obviously with Summer heat, I don’t want a glove that makes my hands hot. Fortunately, the Huichol Glove was perfectly fine with me. No issues at all with hand numbness or heat discomfort here. That new top fabric is definitely airy!
Now, as for the fit, I strongly recommend you use Handske’s fit guide. This guide led me to a size I wouldn’t probably have chosen had I not done the measurements. So, the Huichol Glove in XL actually fit me really well. Handske claims that they wanted people to experience a fit that is without extra fabric- a ‘snug fit’. I’d go along with that as how these gloves feel on the hand, but that is not to say ‘constrictive’ or that the gloves feel like they are a ‘second skin’. I found them to be nice and snug, but if they were constrictive in any way, my hands would have gone tingly within minutes and they never did that. Good job on the fit here!
Now as for the other features, I commend Handske on their inclusion of the terry cloth ‘nose wiper’ section on the backs of the thumbs. You’d think every glove for cycling would have this feature, right? Wrong. Too many times we see gloves without the nose-wiper. Handske’s terry cloth section is perfect.
The touch screen feature works well too. Good thing for those of you with smart phone addictions or for anyone with fancy GPS units. Me? I take off gloves no matter. I just cannot deal with swiping screens with any gloves on. That’s just me though. If you can hang with gloves and text, the Handske Gloves have you covered here. I tested it out, but that was as far as I went with that!
The silicone palms are cool. It gives you an added sense of grip, but not too sticky that it gets annoying. In fact, I didn’t notice any hindrance to hand repositioning or any ‘hanging up’ on bar tape when I lifted my hands off the bars. Good job there as well. The padded wrist is great. I like this as it stops sweat from running down my arms onto my hands. It also provides a nice comfortable termination of the glove so that you never notice any discomfort here.
At The Finish: The Handske Gloves are a fashionable piece of kit that has full-finger protection without any real hindrances to comfort or barriers to technology usage. And lets not forget that ‘nose-wiper’ section! The fit guide should lead most users to a perfect fit, and Handske’s claims of a snug but not too snug fit seem spot on. The fabric on the Huichol was airy enough that on humid 90+ degree days I did not feel like my hands were ever uncomfortable.
While there are a lot of things that these Handske Gloves do right, if you are about padding, well, these are not for you. The Handske Glove is thin. Really thin. Nothing there to absorb any vibrations. That is not the reason for these gloves. But if you are wanting better grip, fashionable looks, and well constructed gloves for gravel and back road use, I’d recommend a look at the Handske offerings. Full fingered gloves turn you off? Well, Handske just introduced a half-fingered model. They also do a windproof model for colder weather use.
Note: Handske Gloves sent over the Huichol Lightweight series gloves for test and review to Riding Gravel at no charge. We were not paid, nor bribed, for this review and we always strive to give our honest thoughts and opinions throughout.
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