GripGrab Unisex's Nordic Windproof Deep Winter Lobster Padded Touchscreen Cycling Gloves Thermal 3-Finger Bicycle Mittens

Product Information

While lobster gloves are a cross between normal gloves and mittens, the new Pearl Izumi Inferno gloves are a cross between lobster gloves and regular gloves! You can see the 2-finger design below: If you suffer from discomfort from gripping the handlebars, as many people do, these have gel pressure point padding in the areas that often cause niggles, and the palm is made from a synthetic material that promises grip and durability. Don’t forget – liner gloves These aren't bargain basement pricing but there's nothing warmer at this price level. Pearl Izumi doesn't cut corners to get there either. The lobster glove design pairs your first two fingers and your last two fingers for warmth at a much lower price. It's still easy enough to handle braking and shifting, and there's even touchscreen compatibility, but it does require a little bit more thinking about it at first.. These gloves are very light in weight and offer great warmth while riding on cold nights and mornings. The gloves are sealed very well with neoprene cuffs and Velcro straps to keep the wind and water outside. If I could only have one pair of deep winter gloves it would likely be these. I have a lot of trouble keeping my fingertips warm and the Pearl Izumi approach is better than any five-finger option I've tried. They aren't cheap but, to get the same level of cold-weather performance you have to spend a lot more money on alternatives. If you want to ride through the coldest days, start with these lobster gloves before trying something else. If your rides are going to be wet also then get more than one pair.

I'm hardly breaking new ground here by recommending the Pearl Izumi AmFib Lobster Glove. Talk to most cyclists who've been riding in seriously cold weather for a long time and these will come up. The reason they are so well known and loved comes down to what it takes to keep you warm. You can make exceptionally warm five-finger gloves but after a certain point, the price starts to really jump.

Don’t forget – liner gloves

There are details beyond just cold-weather performance that make these attractive, too. One of those details is smartphone compatibility. Pearl Izumi makes sure you can use your smartphone without removing your gloves although realistically you'll be using your thumbs not your finger. There is a touchscreen point on the forefinger but given the lobster design it's almost completely unusable. I wore them on Tuesday and at the end my hands were really wet, not that it was raining but because they don't appear to be breathable. Neoprene gloves work by holding water close to your skin and allowing it to work as insulation. The problem is that they don't work when the outside air is near freezing. The outside air overcomes your body's ability to warm the water and you have both wet and cold hands. You have to keep the outside air away from the neoprene and if you put them inside of a shell glove it solves everything. The shell will leak but the water that comes through will become a part of your insulation. You can remain warm and comfortable for hours with a pair of neoprene gloves inside a shell. What are the warmest winter cycling gloves? You will want to mostly save these for drier days though. Pearl Izumi uses a technology called PI dry to apply DWR at the fibre level. It won't ever wash off but it's still a durable water repellent and that only goes so far. After enough time these will soak through and it becomes hard to get your hands out when they are wet.

We've reviewed plenty of winter gloves on road.cc, but the lobster design is a little rarer, so there aren't many to compare these GripGrabs against. Sizing is a little peculiar. Large is my default, so in some respects I wasn't surprised to find our XL samples a little roomier in the fingertips, but in other respects it was bang on. Gore invented the idea of a breathable membrane. Many of the other options on this list use either a Gore-branded membrane or a duplicate of the same concept. Not every membrane Gore makes is waterproof, but the membrane in the Gore C5 Gore-Tex gloves is absolutely and completely waterproof and guaranteed to be so.The deep winter rating comes firstly from the 100% windproof outer fabric. This fabric has a high breathability rating of 15K (15,000 g/m2/24h), so your hands will remain comfortable even if you work up a sweat. A PFC-free DWR (Durable Water Repellent) coating on the outside will shrug off light rain and spray.