Lizard Skins Glove Sampler : Quick Review – by Grannygear
The Long and the Short of it: Lizard Skins was kind enough to supply a couple of the new offerings for 2021 in their cycling glove line. One pair is long fingered and one pair is short fingered and both are what I would call a light weight glove as far as warmth/fabric. I have used them for a bit now, one pair much more than the others…see below about that…and here are my thoughts.
Aramus Apex: A classic all-round short fingered cycling glove: Retail Price – $22.99
The Aramus Apex has this to say from the website:
–The Lizard Skins Aramus Apex utilizes tried-and-true AX suede palm material, a broader padded surface and a single-piece mesh back that maximizes flexibility and ventilation.
–Padded, three panel AX suede palmWrist strap with silicone pull tabFlexible mesh backFinger loop pullMicrofiber nose wipe
OK, I have to say that these are very nice gloves for what they are. They do not bind or pinch or annoy. There is a nose wipey. They are easy to put on and take off, the finger pull loops doing that task well without getting in the way like a previous set of Lizard Skins gloves I tried. But I pretty much used them once and gave them away.
Why?
Well, for one I really dislike gloves with padding in them. Also I pretty much always wear a long fingered glove, gravel or road. In fact I can only think of one or two rides in the last five years that were not done in long fingered gloves. So between the bias towards long gloves and the hate of padded gloves, you can understand that no pair of short fingered and padded gloves will make me happy.
But I did use them and they were just fine for the most part but I was mystified by the way the padding seemed to never be in the right place…well…never is too strong a word, but I would find that the bar position would often be in-between a section of padding so it was doing me no good at all. Now that said, I gave them to a riding buddy who uses short fingered and padded gloves and he likes them very much. It’s called re-gifting.
Monitor Ignite: Lightweight and versatile glove for all things drop bar. Retail Price -$27.99
From the Lizard Skins website:
The Monitor Ignite is Lizard Skins next-level slip on glove with an innovative neoprene wrist closure and a Cool Max mesh back. Imagine light, breathable and comfortable to the extreme.
- Neoprene slip-on wrist closure
- Cool Max mesh back
- One-piece palm
- Silicone for enhanced grip
- Microfiber nose wipe
- Articulated fingers
I like these very much. They are quite minimal and meshy backed and the palm area simply refuses to bunch up. There is no Velcro cuff closure and they do not seem to need one. It does take a bit of tugging to get into them but there even is a bit of tacky silicone on the cuff pull to help with that. They stretch well and do not pull on the finger tips. No seams annoy. The purchase on the bars is good as well where some light gloves I have ‘squirm’ a bit when you are in techy sections on the hoods. Pretty much excellent.
At The Finish: Now one more thing to say is that the cost of both of these gloves seems quite good. Both are under (or well under) 30 bucks. Maybe that is not so amazing, but the last time I bought gloves they seemed to be closer to 40 dollars. Maybe my memory is off. Either way the prices seem reasonable to me.
The Ignites will keep a place in my gear bag. The Apex shorties will keep a place in my buddies’ gear bag. All is right with the world.
For more on these and other Lizard skins products, see their website here; https://www.lizardskins.com/
Note: Lizard Skins sent the two gloves reviewed here to Riding Gravel at no charge for test and review. We were not paid, nor bribed, for this review and we always strive to give our honest thoughts and views throughout.