Nomis Full Finger Cycling Gloves

(06/06/2008)
Summary: Incredibly sticky, great fitting, and excellent value for the performance provided
Price: £30
Value: 8/10
Performance: 10/10
  • Incredibly sticky kangaroo leather palm
  • Grip increases significantly when wet
  • Very well fitting
  • Sweat/snot pad on thumb
  • Full fingered and close fitting glove
  • Bike gloves to me are as important as my helmet and glasses: I very, very rarely ride without them. I’ve only ever found benefits in wearing gloves and am yet to see any drawbacks on protecting my paws, so when a new glove comes to my attention that has been receiving rave reviews, I’m all ears.

    Bike gloves, of nearly any variety, provide a number of advantages:

    • Better grip on bars in all weather conditions
    • Padding and protection of sensitive parts of the hand
    • Reduction in blisters and pressure point sores
    • More control on brake and gear levers with wet or sweaty fingers
    • Protection of the hand in the event of falls from the bike
    • Sweat/Snot pads

    The Nomis Cycling Glove came to my attention as a result of glowing reviews from friends ‘Down Under’. Nomis are an Australian company that have been making a name for themselves in the football and rugby world with the boots and gloves they make for both sports. Their cycling glove is currently a one off product, separate from the growing range of football and rugby products and although it may look like a bit of an afterthought, in fact it’s been so well produced that it has obviously had some time invested in it.

    The most notable feature of the glove is the kangaroo leather palm material that becomes noticeably tacky as it warms on your hands. Add some moisture to the material (rain or sweat) and it becomes even grippier. According to Nomis it provides 5 times more than normal leather gloves when dry, but that increases to 7.5 times when wet. Meaningless numbers in some respects but the practical experience certainly lives up to the claims. Within 20 minutes of starting a ride on my road bike, the tackiness and extra grip became obvious as I moved my hands around the various bar positions and in heavy rain it was definitely reassuring to have confidence in my grip of the bars.

    The padding on the palm is similar to that used in hockey goalie gloves and is proving to be very comfortable as well as durable. It’s not permanently compressing and is still retaining its shape after a good bit of time on the bike. The back of the glove uses a light mesh for cooling and there’s a snot/sweat pad along the back of the thumb. I’d prefer it to continue down the first finger, but this is personal preference and instead they have brought the leather palm around a little, which will aid those using twist-style shifters.

    All this grip is one thing, but would be useless if the glove didn’t fit well and just allowed the hand to move around inside. Glad to say that the Nomis Cycling Glove is the best fitting bike glove I’ve ever used. I normally tend to wear bike gloves through a number of stages in an exped race, not just biking, but also normally ropework. I’ve yet to try these while abseiling but the extra grippy palm may be too sticky on a nylon rope, but that’s about the only time I’d maybe want to swap for something else. The care label says to Hand Wash only which is a pain, especially with the light coloured mesh on the back which can get dirty pretty easily but that’s a small price to pay to look after the special palm material.

    Currently these are only available in the UK through Urban Adventure Gear, with an RRP of £30 but an introductory special of £26 being offered, making them excellent value for performance as good as this.For more details please visit: http://www.urbanadventuregear.com

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