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Gloves With Best Padding - Please Chime In

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Gloves With Best Padding - Please Chime In

Old 10-22-19, 06:04 AM
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cqlink 
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Gloves With Best Padding - Please Chime In

I'm getting old and hands get numb around the 5-mile mark. I know there's other ways to address but I'd like to focus on gloves for now.

What gloves provide the best padding? I'm OK with cost. Just want to find a great pair of gloves.

Thanks!
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Old 10-22-19, 06:44 AM
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Funny you should ask, I have 5 pair, the most recent some Specialized with minimal padding that are supposed to relieve stress on the contact points. I was getting ready for my ride the other day and realized all my gloves were in the wash except for some Nashbar vintage looking gloves I never wear, the kind with the knitted tops. I purchased them because they’re what I used years ago thinking they would be perfect if I ever did one of those vintage rides.

My ride is right at 20 miles and usually about 5 miles in my hands start getting numb so I start moving them around, hoods, tops, etc. On the ride with the Nashbar gloves I went about 15 miles before I noticed any sign of hand discomfort. They were noticeably more comfortable and I found I was moving my hands less than all my more expensive gloves. YMMV
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Old 10-22-19, 07:24 AM
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I think you may be looking at the effect rather than the cause. You might need to check your fit on the bike and putting too much weight on your hands.
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Old 10-22-19, 07:38 AM
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I think padded gloves are one cause of numbness. I double wrap all of my bars though with modern cushy wrap and either wear no gloves or ones with no pads.
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Old 10-22-19, 07:56 AM
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Originally Posted by jayhawkpanic
I think padded gloves are one cause of numbness. I double wrap all of my bars though with modern cushy wrap and either wear no gloves or ones with no pads.
The double wrap is something I may try in the future, the bars always feel too small in my hands no matter what tape I use. I play guitar and it took me a long time to figure out larger guitar necks work better for me.

As far as fit goes, aside from riding like a German motorcycle cop, you’re eventually going to get numbness in your hands as you age closer to your golden years.

Unfortunately Nashbar no longer has the crochet gloves.

Last edited by St33lWh33ls; 10-22-19 at 07:59 AM. Reason: Spelling
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Old 10-22-19, 08:01 AM
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I recently got a pair of Rivendell's summer gloves, my first new pair of them in probably a dozen years or more. It takes longer for the numbness to creep in with these than with the gloves I had before, which were generic cheap Bells with thinner pads. FWIW, the bikes ridden with these gloves both have dropped bars set with the tops about level with the saddle and both used shellacked cloth bar tape. It works for me.
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Old 10-22-19, 08:19 AM
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Planet Bike Taurus

https://www.planetbike.com/store/tau...oves-1007.html
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Old 10-22-19, 08:26 AM
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You can buy gel pads that are designed to fit the handlebars, under the tape. This both dampens vibrations and increases the handlebar diameter to reduce nerve activation.
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Old 10-22-19, 08:41 AM
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Originally Posted by jayhawkpanic
I think padded gloves are one cause of numbness. I double wrap all of my bars though with modern cushy wrap and either wear no gloves or ones with no pads.
Same here. I could never wear padded globes. The lumps of padding make my hands hurt. I use unpadded gloves. When I was younger, I mostly didn't wear gloves at all, except in racing. Point is, extra thick padding may help numbness, but could make it worse. Depends on you.
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Old 10-22-19, 09:12 AM
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I aways found the (now no longer available) Spencos to be excellent. There was a pair of Castelli gloves available with gel padding a couple years ago.

you can try the no-name gel gloves offered on eboy.

Another thing you might try is to put padding under your bar tape. Almost all of my bikes have some kind of padding (left over piece of bar tape, or a gel pad) under the tape on the bar tops.

Mark Petry
Bainbridge Island, WA USA

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Old 10-22-19, 11:18 AM
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Interesting timing for this thread. I used to buy a pair of the $7 Nashbar gloves every 2 years or so. I went there this week, and they don't have 'em any more.
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Old 10-22-19, 11:54 AM
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Originally Posted by cqlink
I'm getting old and hands get numb around the 5-mile mark.
What gloves provide the best padding?
Depends on what's actually causing the numbness.

Where are your hands getting numb? What gloves are you using now? How do you have your bars wrapped, or what style of grip are you using?
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Old 10-22-19, 12:10 PM
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Originally Posted by texbiker
I think you may be looking at the effect rather than the cause. You might need to check your fit on the bike and putting too much weight on your hands.
And don't automatically assume you need to raise your stem to get weight off your hands. Over the past couple years, I've migrated to a long low position (13cm drop from saddle to bar) and my back and hands couldn't be happier. My fit now is significantly more aggressive than when I was racing 25+ years ago. Of course, YMMV.

SP
Nwpt, OR
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Old 10-22-19, 12:25 PM
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Most of the modern gloves seem to have an odd padding pattern that doesn't pad where I need it to on a vintage bike. However, Aerotech makes crochet leather gloves that have really nice padding. They do tend to run a little large though...according to their site I should use size large, but the mediums fit me better. https://www.aerotechdesigns.com/gelpaleandco.html
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Old 10-22-19, 12:45 PM
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Originally Posted by HTupolev
Depends on what's actually causing the numbness.

Where are your hands getting numb? What gloves are you using now? How do you have your bars wrapped, or what style of grip are you using?
Generally numb around the palm. Have to shake them to get circulation.

I ride on heavily padded (gel pads) bars, bars with just one layer of the thick Fizik tape and bars with just cloth tape. I move my hand position (back of levers, lower part of bars, straddle the bar at the top) to keep my hands as "numb free" as possible. Gloves help but as we get older, I think this is a common problem.

I've tried using gel pads under bar tape, double wrap etc. Same issue.

I'm good on 23" to 24" frames. Same problem. Adjusting bar and/ or seat height doesn't make that much of a difference unless I go to ape hangers! No problem with those bars

I've about 10 bikes in the collection. At this point, I'd like to get thoughts on the best gloves out there. For me, thickest padding is likely what I need.

Last edited by cqlink; 10-22-19 at 12:51 PM.
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Old 10-22-19, 01:39 PM
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Ulnar nerve neuropathy, or what they call cyclist's palsy is no laughing matter. This used to plague me badly back in the day. I found this to be a good article on the subject, and ways to help prevent it.
Unfortunately I don't have any recommendations for the best modern gloves as all of my pairs are old stuff.
One tip may be to ride with less pressure in your tires, within reason, if you can swing it.

https://www.physio-pedia.com/Cyclist%27s_palsy
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Old 10-22-19, 02:05 PM
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Search ebay's cycling gloves category for "mesh" and/or "crochet" and go from there. I've had good luck with inexpensive ones in the $12 range...
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Old 10-22-19, 02:54 PM
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Originally Posted by jeirvine
Interesting timing for this thread. I used to buy a pair of the $7 Nashbar gloves every 2 years or so. I went there this week, and they don't have 'em any more.
I am sure they are there somewhere, but now cost $70 since A-Main bought the assets.
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Old 10-22-19, 02:59 PM
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Originally Posted by jayhawkpanic
I think padded gloves are one cause of numbness. I double wrap all of my bars though with modern cushy wrap and either wear no gloves or ones with no pads.
Yep, same here. I used Serfas RX gloves with some luck but still had numbness. I've been riding without gloves for the last 2 years and rarely had an issue. This includes ultra-endurance rides - like a 240-mile one day rides... no numbness.
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Old 10-22-19, 03:42 PM
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My favorite gloves are these, from Tre Emme. I bought a pair two years ago because I liked the way they look, but like them so much that I bought another two pairs two weeks ago when I was back in Italy. They haven't much in the way of padding - just an extra layer of goat skin - but apparently that works well for me.

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Old 10-22-19, 04:25 PM
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Originally Posted by Reynolds 531
+ 1 on the Taurus I have two pairs - use them and like them. I haven't gone super long but on a ride of 15 miles I had no noticeable hand discomfort and that was riding with these gloves and bare unwrapped bars
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Old 10-23-19, 11:59 AM
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My take is different. Heavily padded saddles aren't the cure for sore behinds, the shape is much more important. Similarly, my hands don't like skinny handlebars, I've been pre-wrapping with a split down the middle old inner tube to beef up the bar diameter for decades, with a finish wrap on top. The inner tube doesn't add any noticeable cushion, it's just free material for me. The larger radius distributes the weight over a larger area.

Others that mention saddle adjustment, ofttimes one that's pointed down will cause you to constantly have to push back on the bars. If you look at someone that's been riding a Brooks B17 for awhile you might think it's pointed up slightly.

Once your setup is optimized, moving your hands around often while riding is the generally accepted method to keep the dreaded hand fatigue away.
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