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Glove thread digression

Palm springs

  • Padded/Protected/Thick/aggressive palm

    Votes: 9 15.8%
  • No padding/protection/minimalist palm material

    Votes: 48 84.2%

  • Total voters
    57

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,099
6,036
borcester rhymes
The "best glove for DH" thread got me thinking, which do you prefer, a palm with some protection, or a minimal palm made of clarino or whatever fabric/leather for maximum bar feel?
 

Bikael Molton

goofy for life
Jun 9, 2003
4,029
1,168
El Lay
I don't care if there is some sort of protection at the bottom of the palm, but if there is anything more than a single layer of clarino at the top of the palm (base of fingers) it is a constant torn-callous nightmare for me.

I'm talking about for lift-access DH, doing many runs a day. For XC/trail it doesn't matter as much.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,099
6,036
borcester rhymes
for sure. This is just for lift assisted DH or shuttling, not self-shuttling or XC.

I like some padding for XC, but so far I've been digging single layer palms for reduced blistering on DH days.
 

NJHCx4xLIFE

Monkey
Jan 23, 2007
350
0
Central Jersey
I feel like less padding in the palm for dh would help reduce arm pump too. Less crap to squeeze to get a good grip. The palms have become paper thin on my Dakines and they feel great.
 

bizutch

Delicate CUSTOM flower
Dec 11, 2001
15,929
24
Over your shoulder whispering
I've owned both styles. There are 3 categories though. Thick, medium, and porous vent. I love my porous vented ones. Mud or dust, they have great feel. My medium density palmed gloves (Race Face & Royal) hold up great and have really good grip, but in wet or muddy conditions, you get a little more slip than porous style palms.

Hate thick padding. No matter how well it's constructed, it will bunch.
 

Arkayne

I come bearing GIFs
May 10, 2005
3,738
15
SoCal
It's a downhill bike with 8+ inches of suspension. Who needs padding on the palms?

Full rigid, I'll consider some padding.
 

JRogers

talks too much
Mar 19, 2002
3,785
1
Claremont, CA
Single layer gloves are fine by me. Thor ACs I use are pretty thin, slightly vented and single layer all the way around.

I have found I can go too thing: I used a pair of 661 Rajis for a while and the super thin palm tore my hands up a bit DHing. Was fine for XC and road, but didn't work well for DH for me. Could have been also a problem with the glove fit as well.
 

Capricorn

Monkey
Jan 9, 2010
425
0
Cape Town, ZA
i prefer no padding where the hand makes contact with the bars. I like the feedback, even though my hands hurt after running thru the rough stuff.. I think that might be the case due to what I believe are too thin ODI grips.
 

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,351
5,100
Ottawa, Canada
You're missing a third option: thin palm, with protection for when you crash. Like my DaKine Defenders. relatively thin palm, with a skid pad under the "heel" of the hand. It helps when you crash, but doesn't really interfere with grip.
 

rigidhack

Turbo Monkey
Aug 16, 2004
1,206
1
In a Van(couver) down by the river
I wear gloves as much for when I come off the bike as when riding it, so I prefer a bit of padding/protection. Too much can be a hassle though. I may try some super thin gloves this summer to see how they feel.

The Dakine defender sounds interesting, although I have not had great luck with Dakine gloves in the past.
 

bansheefr

Monkey
Dec 27, 2004
337
0
Minimalist gloves... I've been a fan of the Royal Air Glove the last 2 seasons, can be had for as little as $10 on chainlove from time to time.

 

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
The thinner the better.

My current favorite is the Royal cheapo slip ons. Under $20 retail and very nice so far. Super tacky on the palms and fingers with no bunching or rub points.

Edit - BansheeFR, those are the ones. I bought 10 pairs, they are that good.
 
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