What mountain bike gloves should I wear?

Mountain bike gloves may be a bit different from regular riding gloves. There is no problem at all if you wear mountain bike gloves and do normal riding. Let’s see what factors to consider when choosing mountain bike gloves.

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Should I wear gloves when mountain biking?

Yes, gloves are essential when riding a mountain bike.
If you don’t bring gloves from home, it’s a good idea to wear work gloves. Work gloves with rubberized palms would be even better.
When riding a trial bike where grip is very important, I practiced with 3M gloves (link).

If you don’t ride with gloves on, it’s easy to injure your hands.
And your hands may slip and fall.

Which glove should I choose?

It should not be slippery.

The main purpose of mountain bike gloves is to prevent slipping.
If you ride a bicycle bare-handed, your hands will slip off the grips if your hands sweat. Very dangerous.

You can see gloves with rubber protrusions on the palms to emphasize that they are not slippery, or useless silicone treatments.
There is no need for such elements because just wearing gloves provides enough grip.
So, in many cases, simply putting on the gloves accomplishes the goal.
Of course, when practicing skills, gloves with rubber or silicone bumps on the palms are recommended.
Less slippery and may help.

There are also gloves with special silicone treatment on the fingers.
The finger part that catches the brake is treated with silicone, so it is emphasized that it is not slippery when holding the brake.
This also doesn’t make much sense.

This is because the part that actually touches the lever to hold the brake is not the tip of the finger, but the middle part.

It should be easy to wipe off sweat.

When you’re riding, sweat really pours down like rain.
Sweat drips from my eyes, nose, and mouth.
You can stop for a while and wipe it with a towel, but in most cases you can’t afford to do that. At that time, I wipe the sweat with my thumb.
The material of that part should be a glove that can absorb sweat well.

In the picture above, in the case of the two right hands, the inner part of the thumb is just an extension of the glove, but in the case of the left glove, it is made of a material that absorbs sweat very well, such as a towel.
With these gloves, you can wipe off sweat very quickly.

Hand injuries must be avoided.

It often happens that you touch the ground or trees with your hands while riding.
At that time, in the case of half gloves with fingers sticking out, it is easy to injure the inside or outside of the finger.
That’s why mountain biking gloves must have fingers covered.
And in summer, when only your fingers are tanned and only the backs of your hands turn white, it looks strange.

When I was a beginner who fell a lot, I tried wearing gloves with protective caps on the back of my hands.
However, there has never been a case where the back of the hand actually collided.
There was a lot of fear that the back of my hand would hit a tree.
And since these hard caps put pressure on my joints, I remember throwing them away right away because it hurt so much throughout the ride.
Gloves with a protective cap on are of no help.

Gloves that are too large should be avoided.

Gloves are of different sizes. For fingerless half gloves, it is not difficult to choose the right size gloves.
However, finding the right size for mountain bike gloves that cover your fingers is not easy.
This is because the length of the finger and the circumference of the hand must be considered together.

If a person with thin hands buys gloves according to the circumference of the hand, the length of the hand is longer and the fingertips are compressed and painful. If you buy gloves that are too big for your finger length, the circumference of your hand will remain and your hand will slip inside the glove.

On the other hand, if your fingers are short compared to the circumference of your hand because your hands are thick, you have no choice but to buy gloves that leave your fingertips behind or that are too tight around your hand.

If you try on a few gloves, you can find the right brand for your hand. If that’s difficult, it’s a good idea to find a glove that stretches along the length of your finger.

How do you wash your gloves?

Just run the washing machine.
At this time, in the case of gloves with Velcro, they may stick to other clothes and cause damage. Therefore, it is recommended to wash the gloves with the velcro tightly closed.
But these days I buy gloves without Velcro.

conclusion

Gloves are an indispensable accessory for mountain biking.
Gloves improve the quality of riding and allow you to ride safely.
It is better to wear long finger gloves rather than half gloves to prevent injury, and it is better to use a material that is easy to wipe away sweat.

These days, there are even gloves with specially treated fingertips that allow you to touch your smartphone. It’s not very good, but it’s useful nonetheless.
Gloves are consumables. The better the fit, the faster it usually wears out.
The less comfortable it is, the longer it lasts.
It is recommended to rotate several moderately inexpensive gloves.