Gloves - finger numbness

[leo.navarro84]

Hey hello everyone.

I'm new here, not from an english spoken country, so i apologize in advance for mistakes on my writing.

Well, i have the following question.
What gloves do you recommend, any advice? My problem is, here (im from Chile) we have a lot of rough and mountain places, where the clothes get easily ripped, and over all, bikepacking and bike touring aren't so known, so there are not good stores (except for road and mtb competition).

I need a glove strong enough, with good cushion (my hands get easily numb), hopefully full finger, but with mesh so not so hot. Sun is hard in the mountains.

I found in a store a Shimano PRO Mission glove. Seems quite good, but is half fingers. And the long version i can't find anywhere here in Chile nor in the internet.

So please, any advice, any tip?

Thanks a lot,

Leo.

[falkenjaeger]

I can recommend Specialized BG GEL. Available in long and short. Not too durable but very comfortable and great dampening.

[Adam Alphabet]

I've had good luck with Fox Reflex's this year. I've used Dakine Ventilator's in the past, much more breathable but far less durable.

Where in Chile are you from? I've bike toured there twice, it's awesome!

[leo.navarro84]

Hey, Addy.

Im from Santiago. And yeah, here we have a lot of places where you can tour around, i love the south!

I saw those in a shop, i'll try them. If not, i'll try instead the Specialized BG GEL that falkenjaeger said (which im not sure if it is possible to find it here)

Thanks!

[jaymtb]

You might also  have a look at the Endura Full Monty.  I have used them a lot with good wear in summer.  They have mesh on sides of fingers for venting, but enough meat to give protection from southwest stickers, and other nasties.   I  normally wear a large, but in Endura an extra large is a good fit- wierd sizing. 
For summer best to avoid the black color.  When all gloves come new, I put some thin lines of Aquaseal across the finger wear areas, which gives better contact/grip on  levers.

The  Ergon grips that many bikepackers use allow a looser hand positions and seem to help with numbness.  For me it seems best to set them with the end seam angled up at least 10 degrees with bike setting level, to avoid cocking the hand back, ie hand in line with forearm. 

Cheers,
Jay

[MattL]

I like the Giro Xen glove.  It's not very padded, which works well when your hand starts to swell, and it has a mesh back that keeps my hands cool yet somehow always prevents sunburn.  http://amzn.com/B00NB90HSW

That said, no matter what glove, I usually get more numbness with gloves than without.  I found that adding aerobars helped me more than anything else.

[Yogi the Barry]

IMHO, gloves are only half the solution. Grips are the other half... Try Ritchey WCS True Grips. There are probably over a  half-dozen different models of Ritchey's grips, dual density, solid rubber, etc. You want one of the simple, single-density neoprene foam models - WCS True or WCS Ergo True [now available in colors other than black]. The grips are dirt cheap and probably some of the lightest grips out there [~50g]. However, I buy them because I can sand them down to better fit my the grip to my hand. I have six-screws and a plate in one hand, which has always caused me grip/pain issues, and modifying the Ritchey grips has greatly helped reduce my issues...