George

Why can't you just where regular padded gloves with fingers. I was just at Lowe's and they have a real nice pair in the tool section. They were well padded and they had the velcro straps on top and pads on the back of the hand as well and best of all they were only $20. I was wondering why riders use the half finger gloves year round.Or do you get full gloves when it gets cold?Thanks George

NOS88

At one time most / many bikes had friction down tube levers used to shift. (There are those of us who still like and ride this set up.) It's much more difficult to use these levers with full fingered gloves.

Rowan

It's all to do with what makes *you* comfortable and happy. If you have found something that is not cycling-specific, but does the job you want, go ahead and try/use it. I've thought about those tool gloves myself from time to time.

will dehne

George,
I do not want to be tacky but this is a bit delicate. The bikers I have been with, boys and girls, do not have or use napkins when and if their nose runs which it often does. They, and I, have a procedure in place which works with the glove-fingers cut off. It does not work so good with the gloves you mention.
OTOH, in very cold weather, I do use leather gloves with full fingers and lining. The above mentioned procedure does not work so good with those.

Nermal

Nicely put, will. Drat! I had forgotten about that runny nose.

Mojo Slim

I have a pair of official bicycle winter gloves that are good in very cold weather because they are lighter weight and less bulky than non-bike gloves, albeit I have used ski gloves on occasion. They're warm, but harder to shift and brake. I sometimes ride in 30 - 35 degree weather. I have also used (just this weekend) wool glove liners under fingerless gloves, which are very light weight and fit in a pocket easily when it warms up.

As far as the runny nose issue. I'm not one to use the "snot rocket" mode. Wrist sweat bands are good for sweat and other fluids.

George

I should have clarified a little more.I thought their may have been a special need for them besides hot and cold.NOS88 gave me what I was looking for, but the other answers helped to. I said the gloves were $20,but they were $30 and fit like a second skin.For anybody that wants to look at them,they are called Mechanix Wear 3.0 and Lowe's sell them.Thanks everybody.

Rowan

THAT has just solved a problem a friend and I were discussing at the weekend because we were riding with gloves that don't have the snot patch on the thumb and forefinger. My friend suggested a patch of terry-towelling sewn with elastic strips to keep them in position. But the sweat bands can serve the function exceptionally well without the fuss. Thanks!!

leob1

Wear what works for you. My favorite gloves are full fingered, I wear them year round.
Your results may be different.

jm01

Full fingers for me...I need that grip on my grip shifts and keeps my fingers protected on the rapid fire shifters...the first thing to go on my gloves is the thumb and index finger because of the constant shifting on the trails

Also...full finger gloves prevent those weird tan lines

howsteepisit

I find that when I wear full fingered gloves (in cold weather) my hands tend to slide forward in them and press on the ends of my fingers. So I prefer 1/2 finger. OTH, my wife likes full fingered mountain bikes gloves year round.

John E

I wear full-fingered cycling gloves year-round, even though I live in "weather wimp" coastal San Diego County and have downtube friction shifters on three of my road bikes.

a77impala

Menards has half finger gloves that work pretty well for less than $6.00. They are a little warm in hot weather though.

Digital Gee

Just as the summer comes to a close, my lightweight gloves have begun to fall apart. A couple of seams are giving way, and the suede is wearing down to nothing near my fingers. The gloves lasted just one season, but they were cheapies (Six Six One) so no big deal. Time to return to my *ahem* winter gloves once more. No more mesh.

chipcom 

Cuz then you can't be this guy...


YO ADRIENNE!!!!

Seriously George, some wear fingerless to keep some dexterity, some because they think it's cooler, from both a temperature and/or a hip standpoint, some so they can have biker hands. Wear what works for you.

Grampy™

Anybody that can ride an Iowa winter with "fingerless" gloves is way more man than me. I wouldn't think of going for a ride in cold weather without my Thinsulate/Gortex gloves, that would be a good way to lose a couple of fingers around here.

greywolf

I saw a pair of gloves in the hardware place too , they were very simular to cycling gloves but with fingers (easy to cut down) but these ones were anti-vibration gloves for use with pnumatic tools ect & had some very good covering on the palms to cut down onthe vibrations , be great for a rider who suffers with hand numbness

jppe

If you've ever done a 100 mile ride in the summer, you quickly learn that comfort is the key. Keeping a grip on the bars and hoods while also keeping the hands as cool as possible is important!!

The two things that get the coldest for me when riding in the winter are the toes and the fingers. I usually wear full-fingered gloves along with the cotton liners. This is for temps 40 and below. Above that generally the full-fingered gloves work okay by themselves.

bikingshearer 

Gloves that are good for cycling, with or without fingers, have to move with your hand and fingers rather than scraping along them. If the ones you have found pass that test, wear 'em. If not, pass on 'em.

As far as I am concerned, the greatest breakthough in gloves came when they started making ones that had terry cloth "wipe zones" on the back and could be thrown in the washer and drier. The way my hands sweat, pretty much all the time, I use to destroy the old leather-and-string types in record time.

CrossChain

Having "real" fingers in fingerless gloves just works better (for me). Searching in a jersey pocket for a gel pack, rubbing my eye, scratching my back, feeling the inside of a tire for a remaining piece of that damned radial tire wire that just flatted me, peeling a cliff bar wrapper riding no-hands, reaching in and adjusting some misaligned testicles (into my [own] shorts that is), reaching into a partner's back pocket for a gel pack, poking the button on my Cateye, etc.

These things are more easily done (for me) with naked fingers. Come some January morning, the hell with that stuff...gimme real gloves. Frozen, numb fingers hurt and make my & NOS88's dt shifting less surefire.

Lion Steve

I put a pair of loose-fitting lightweight knit full finger gloves over my half finger cycling gloves when it gets winter time. I get the padding that I need from the half finger gloves, but get to cover the end of my fingers, as well.

lhbernhardt

It's the custom for track riders to wear full-finger gloves, so I wear them for all my riding all year round. In the summer I'll go to a thinner full glove. Baseball batting gloves are really good for this, especially the white ones made by Mizuno, which look like the really, really expensive keirin gloves favored by a lot of trackies (in fact, Canadian Olympic gold medalist Lori-Ann Munzer wore Mizuno batting gloves when she trained in Burnaby prior to the last Olympics). I like Adidas stuff, so I wear the black Adidas batting gloves when I race on the track. Black leather full finger gloves somehow make you look more intimidating, good for track races. In the winter, I use thick gloves, and in the rain I wear neoprene gloves.

I've also played classical guitar since I was 15, and still play now and then (to the point that I still keep the fingernails on my right hand longer than those on my left), so I appreciate the extra hand protection of the full-finger gloves. I know of one bike racer who is a classical pianist, and he always wears long gloves.

- L.