Given recent accidents – hands have become very important for me of late! Not something I usually worry about – but these days I am keeping a careful eye on the 10 digits at the end of my elbows. With this is mind, I thought it was time to add to the glove collection since most of what I have are lightweight summer XC gloves and of no practical use for winter outings on the bike. I wanted something that would keep my hands warm but would not sacrifice ‘feel’. It would be easy enough to buy some generic thick winter gloves but my preference would be to retain some element of sensation and movement; it goes without saying that I am not a fan of thick material that makes the gears, brakes and handlebars feel wooden to the touch. However, I don’t want blue fingers either.
Gore’s Mistral Gloves seemed to fit the bill, offering windproof technology in a thinner, less bulky package. The soft shell material they are made of seems very close to the velvety, tactile nature of the Phantom Jacket that I reviewed a couple of month’s ago. This makes them very comfortable whilst on the hands. The size inside is marked EU 8 (USA L) and they fit me perfectly. How many times have I pulled on a pair of bike gloves to find that the pinky is too long? Thankfully, no such problems with the Mistral.
The gloves themselves sport a number of features. The long wrist cuff is great and overlaps any long jersey by a safe margin and the elasticated cuff is not too tight but tight enough. So hopefully no cold or wet escaping down through the glove. The palm area has a degree of non-slip padding and some silicone coated patterns on the inside fingers for extra grip. The outside tips of the fingers themselves have an extra band of material for reinforcement. A wing of soft material graces the web of the hand between the thumb and forefinger – for winter nose wiping. This is not huge but adequate.
Finally, the glove sports a reflective Windstopper logo on the forefinger and a reflective dotted brush pattern across the finger-tips and inside cuff. A Gore logo is placed on the cuff area.
In use, the gloves comfortably fold around any of the contact points on the bike – drops, hoods etc. Just as I had wished, there is no ‘wooden’ feel here that can happen with thicker gloves. Gear changes and braking did not present any problem. The palm padding is more than adequate too. What came as a surprise were how warm they felt on a cold winter ride, especially in blocking out the wind chill. Okay, if the temperature really plummeted, the thinner material would struggle but I would put these at a 3 season glove and fine for mild winter days. Above or around 5 °C, they were fine.
One minor niggle was the number of internal wash instruction tabs that adorn the inside of the cuff. Three in total with the smaller sizing tab making four in total. Most of the time, these things are just annoying, especially in close-fitting bike gear. However, as stated, this is very minor and is easily dealt with by brandishing a careful pair of scissors.
