Monday, July 23, 2007

Keys, Helmet, Wallet…Framer’s Gloves?






Price Paid: $7.49

I have some padded grips on one of my bikes that are great when riding without gloves. The grips are soft and spongy. However, I’ve taken a few spills in my day and the palms take the brunt of the impact when falling esp. on concrete/asphalt. I am always wary of not wearing my gloves when riding this bike because this could be the day I take a tumble. Kinda like I feel when I don’t wear a helmet.

I looked for some gloves at my LBS and all of them were padded. Having double padding (on the glove and on the grips) was overkill in my opinion. I thought that there was a genuine need for gloves with no padding and wondered why LBS’ don’t carry them.

On a lark, I went to a locally owned hardware store to look at worker leather or even gardening gloves that could have worked. I figured that with the leather gloves I could cut the fingers and have a good protective glove. I didn’t find the leather gloves all that comfortable and made the back of my hands itch. The gardening gloves were good, but I didn’t think the canvas would protect my hands enough. That canvas on these felt too much like fabric.

As I was browsing I came upon these “framers gloves”. They have 3 exposed fingers (thumb, index finger, middle finger). These three fingers are the ones I use for shifting and hitting the brakes. I guess they’re for drywallers and carpenters that need to have these fingers exposed to hammer nails, etc. Perfect! They have no padding, except for an extra layer of polyurethane on the palm. The finger cut outs are reinforced with stitching so they will be durable. The top side of the thumb also has terry cloth to wipe away sweat from your brow (just like bicycle gloves). The only drawback is that the leather on the palm side is synthetic leather. It feels solid, but I’ll find out when (if?) I take a spill if they offer good protection.

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