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To continue with our favorite minimalistic gloves, I enlisted my off-road guy Michael Allen to chime in. Here are his thoughts about one of his favorite’s. -KK
When it comes to gloves there is always a trade off between protection and comfort. Although most companies provide a midrange glove that has decent protection and comfort, they never seem to be as comfortable as a thin minimalist glove. Maybe that’s one of the reasons that I’m a handguard guy, because I don’t want to rely on the protection of a bulky glove. Either way, when I come across a good minimalist glove, I usually wear it until it has holes and is completely worn out. I love a good glove so much that although I agree with Kris (don’t mix match gear) I’ll wear a good glove with any gear regardless of if it matches my current gear.
Recently I came across one of my all-time favorite gloves when I received a new set of Leatt gear that came with a pair of Leatt GPX 1.5 Gripr gloves. Although these are not Leatt’s top of the line glove they have become my favorite “go to” gloves (especially since they’re black and white, which matches other sets of gear). They consist of a thick elastic cuff that stays in place on your wrist, while not cutting off the circulation. The material on the palm is called MicroGrip and it also wraps around the thumb area where you grip the handlebars. The palm is also seamless which makes the grip comfortable without any hot spots from stitching. The back of the hand, as well as the sides of the fingers are made of a very breathable material that helps keep hand sweat to a minimum.
Although these gloves are minimalist on the outside, they help protect the palm very well against chaffing and blisters. In terms of going bush bashing, you may want to look into more protective gloves or get a set of handguards. The only issue I’ve had with these gloves is the elastic wrist stitching can come separated from the palm of the glove. This happened when I would pull the glove on carelessly from one area of the elastic repeatedly. To show how much I liked these gloves, I had my wife re-sew them, so I could continue wearing them on a big trail ride I had the following day. If you like really comfortable gloves and aren’t too concerned about outer protection or warmth, look into the Leatt GPX 1.5 Gripr glove line. -Michael Allen
