Q 36.5 Unique Gloves With Elastic Interface: Quick Review

Q 36.5 Unique Gloves With Elastic Interface: Quick Review – by Guitar Ted

The contact points between human and bicycle are critical in regard to performance, comfort, and enjoyment of cycling. One of those critical contact points is the hand/handle bar interface, and in this Quick Review I take a look at the Unique glove from Q 36.5 that features a new technology. Q 36.5 has teamed up with another Italian company, Elastic Interface, to create a cycling glove with a 3D seamless structure.

What It Is: The Unique Glove uses technology developed by the Italian company, Elastic Interface, a company that provides cycling short inserts for top brands like GORE, Assos, and Voler, just to name a few. They have also introduced this technology used in construction of these cycling inserts for use in cycling gloves. We covered this new technology in a “Gravel Grinder News” post which you can go back and check out here.

Now we have the Q 36.5 brand’s version of this EIT Palm Technology in their Unique Glove. Besides the unusual 3D Seamless construction, the Unique Glove also has a special grip fabric to help with rider control, an 80Kg/m3 perforated high density foam, and the EIT design which is able to help increase blood flow and decrease pressure on the Ulnar Nerve. here is what Q 36.5 has to say on the webpage for the Unique glove:

“A system that protects the hand with perfect shock absorption and temperature management: a seamless palm area and perforated fabric on back of the hand works perfectly together for the best protection.“

The Unique Gloves from Q 36.5 retail at € 78,00 (Approximately $92.00 USD)

First Impressions: I had heard a lot about this new glove before receiving it to try out. The expectations were set pretty high as the idea was that this could be a great way to help mitigate vibration induced fatigue and make gravel riding more enjoyable. I had seen and ridden in EIT cycling inserts in products we’ve reviewed before from GORE and I was duly impressed with the EIT technology for those applications. It made sense to me that something similar should work for a glove.

The short finger gloves I received from Q 36.5 are very light. I noticed that right away. The palm material is unlike anything I’ve seen on a cycling glove and the backing mesh material is so thin and light it is barely there. The outer edge along each glove’s palm area where the palm meets the backing material has a thin reflective strip. There is a traditional ‘pull’ ring between the middle and ring finger outlets to aid in removing the gloves, and that’s pretty much it here.

Pulling the gloves on was easy. They feel like almost nothing when on. Taking them off was maybe a touch difficult, but what short fingered cycling gloves are not this way? I know of none. So in that regard they are typical.

Ride Performance: First, a disclaimer: I have never got on with short fingered cycling gloves of any type for very long. My fingers are quite sensitive to the finger opening area and, for whatever reason, the tighter that opening is on my skin the more my fingers start to tingle. It doesn’t take much either. For that reason, if I wear gloves at all, I wear full-fingered ones which I have no issues with wearing at all. But my preference is to not wear any gloves. Okay, so with that caveat, here is my take on the Unique Gloves.

The palm area of the Unique Glove is really quite good. I have not used a padded glove that didn’t feel bulky and that didn’t shift oddly under pressure while riding, but the Unique Gloves did not do this. It stayed put and felt unobtrusive, for the most part, throughout rides of two hours or so. The feel is that of dexterity. Meaning that it almost feels like your hands only, not like you have a glove on.

The airy nature of the backing material and the glove’s overall light weight have something to do with that, I am sure, but the Unique Glove also provides relief from vibrations as well, so your hands are more relaxed and I never had the typical soreness from getting ‘beaten up’, for lack of a better term, from the gravel roads. Now yes- I had issues with the short fingered openings, and I don’t deny that this particular feature of the Unique Glove didn’t sit well with me. However; if these were full-fingered gloves? Sign me up.

And the good news is that yes- there will be a full-fingered model offered soon. We hope to get that model in for testing once they become available, but I think we’re going to find that the Q 36.5 gloves with the EIT palms are going to be a winner.

At The Finish: Gloves for cycling have not typically kept up with the advancements in technology and new knowledge applied to cycling short inserts and that for shoes and pedals. We seem to be missing similar comfort and performance features for cycling gloves. But no more with the Q 36.5 Unique Gloves which bring a scientific, performance based design to these gloves which seems to have great promise for the gravel and back road cyclist.

I liked what the Elastic Interface designed palm does for reducing vibrations and how it felt like barely anything on the hands. My dexterity and comfort I have while not using gloves was not hindered by the Unique Gloves, but was enhanced by the reduction in vibrations and in the tactile grip the fabric has to offer. Only the style of this glove was off-putting due to my personal preferences. A long-fingered version would likely be the ticket for me here. But maybe you get on with classic short fingered gloves? Then you really should consider the Q 36.5 Unique Gloves. They aren’t cheap, but your hands are worth it.

Note: Q 36.5 sent over the Unique 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.