Not riding gloves, but if you work on your bike then you might want to check these out…

Now as somebody who used to spend all their working week fixing bikes I know that mechanics tend to fall into two groups; those who hate wearing gloves, and those who always wear them. Personally I have always been of the former variety, only wearing them when I really feel like I should (for example when dealing with DOT brake fluid), but these new gloves are so impressive that they could even tempt me over to the dark side.

Wearing gloves when working on your bike isn’t just about keeping your hands beautifully clean and soft (although that seems to be enough reason for some), it’s also about generally protecting yourself from what are often not particularly nice chemicals. We might like to think that our bikes are ‘green’, but sadly the fact is that a load of the stuff that keeps them running sweet is actually not that nice at all.

Despite knowing full well that a load of the stuff that my hands were coated in wasn’t doing me any good whatsoever I still couldn’t ever bring myself to use gloves. One reason is that I just don’t like the loss of ‘feel’, but the main negative was the fact that all the other ones I have tried only last about five seconds before you rip a hole in them…which then makes them completely pointless. You also get fed up of putting new ones on all the time.

These Black Mamba gloves though put an end to all that though. I don’t know how they’ve managed it (maybe they broke into the R&D unit at Durex?) but these things are unbelievably strong. Even if you deliberately try and rip them you struggle. Impressive stuff indeed. Despite their strength they’re far from thick and so I also found that their ‘feel’ is surprisingly good. As I said before, these gloves are so impressive that I might well start using them regularly, and if you do any work on your bike then I really recommend trying some out yourself.

Price: £13.50 (Box of 100)
www.2pure.co.uk
www.blackmambagloves.com

PS> Some riders apparently swear by wearing these in winter under regular gloves to provide instant waterproofing and wind resistance, but don’t expect your hands to be able to breath in them!