Sugoi’s pinnacle RSE road cycling glove – put to the test by Adele Mitchell.
Victoria Pendleton told me recently that gloves are so important for safety that, when she was young, her dad wouldn’t let ride a bike without them. She explained that an injury to the hand after a fall can make holding the handlebars so painful that training is impossible.
The best cycling gloves also feature sufficient padding on the palms: enough to protect pressure points on your hands for the duration of a long ride, but not so much that they restrict movement or stop you from feeling the bars.
These Sugoi RSE gloves certainly deliver: they feature separate padding at the base of the fingers, heel of the thumb and outer palms which manages to make them very comfortable without being bulky. They also feature a longer palm section to offer protection right over the heel of your hand (a really nice touch!).
They are breathable and very supple: the upper section and palm are both made of soft leather so they feel lovely to wear. They’re also very good looking – I love the stylish ‘driving glove’ perforated leather design, and the contrast stitching looks really smart.
Also worth mentioning is the fact that these gloves feature an elastic panel so that they slip on – and are therefore Velcro-free. Almost every other pair of cycling gloves I own features a Velcro strap, which never fails to attach itself to another item of clothing during washing and can snag delicate sports fabrics and merino. With repeated wear Velcro also tends to cease to be very efficient as a fastening: so stretch slip-on is a much better option in my opinion.
The gloves are a snug fit and feel quite delicate – though they’ve stood up well to repeated use so far. They’re not cheap either – worth bearing in mind if, like me, you’ve endured fruitless searches for an elusive lost glove just prior to a ride.
FOR: Slip on, look great, feel fantastic to wear
CONS: Bit pricey so you wont want to lose them.
Price: £34.99, available from Sugoi.
Photos by: Paul Mitchell.
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