Advice on gloves needed
 

(Technically this should probably be in the gloves section, but I thought I'd try here since it's more likely to get some reads)

Bit of a newb question...

Ok, so I've only been riding since May, and when I started I rashly bought some cheap (£20) Buffalo winter gloves. These gave me sweaty hands, no feeling of the controls, and whenever I took them off the frikkin lining would turn inside out.

So within a week I bought some summer gloves from Hein Gericke, these are probably the most the summery of summer gloves, they have bugger all protection and are massively ventilated. This was great back in July, but this morning it was 8 degrees and my hands were a light shade of blue when I got to work.

So, question is, is it too early to be buying decent full-on winter gloves, should I instead be buying something in-between? Perhaps with some thin inner gloves in my pocket for when necessary? Or is everyone starting to switch full-winter mode now?

Cheers,
marc

It's never too early to wear winter gloves. Cold hands aren't fun. Get some decent gloves before you have an accident caused by your coldness! There's always heated grips and muffs to think about too.

I've been using my winter gloves for a week or so now. I've got a pair of Racer winter gloves which I've found excellent. They are fully gore-tex so they don't leak and are nice and warm. They aren't massively padded either so you still get a good feel for whats going on.

I have some very good Buffalo winter gloves but they were somewhere nearer fifty quid if I remember.

One thing to remember - if you put the gloves on in the shop and you can just tug them off by the finger tips then the friction between your glove and the tarmac should you come off may also remove the glove as you slide along the road. Always try to buy gloves with a wrist strap that prevents this and do it up every time (not so tight that it cuts off your circulation of course). Gloves should fit well but not be too snug as the trapped air layer helps keep your hands warm

Thor is quite right about cold hands - you don't want them as they will be very slow to react in a hurry. It's better all round to have two or three pairs of gloves and some thermal silk inner gloves to be able to react to the weather. A spare pair fit under the seat and stop that nice ride out turning sour on you if you stay out longer than you thought and your hands get really cold!

Or just add heated grips and muffs (if you like that sort of thing) and you can wear your summer gloves all year!!!

HG 2-finger Pathans are superb winter gloves... They don't look protective but they always test surprisingly well, and they're fairly cheap. I've been wearing mine on and off for a week or so- still wearing my HG rooskin summer gloves the rest of the time with the heated grips on.

I can't remember what make my other pair is, Richa I think- I'll find out, they were cheap, incredibly warm, and fell apart after about 10 hours. When I phoned them up, they didn't even ask for the gloves back, just sent me a cheque, so I obviously wan't the only one.

I have decided to stick with Goretex only now - my last winter waterproofs sweated on the inside and I ended up with stinky fingures - after washing a couple of times they fell to bits. Nothing worse than cold hands - apart from cold wet hands that stink! Get some decent Goretex gloves for the winter.

I rely on heated grips, and a very thin pair of liners under my summer gloves
Kept me going last winter :D

another vote for HG 2 finger Pathans good gloves and pretty cheap at about £30

I started wearing my winter gloves last week, nothing worse than cold fingers. I treated myself to a pair of Alpine Stars Jet Road gortex gloves last year. They are quite thick, but very warm.

Cheers
Mitch

I've just treated myself to some 'Master IV' (according to the receipt) gore-tex gloves from Hein Gericke. They were £70 but they are amazing, I'm really impressed so far. The only other pair I found that I was just as impressed with were in the Dainese store in Manchester and were almost twice the price!!