Girly hands and bike gloves

[msm]

I have a problem with finding bike gloves. I don't know if it's because my hands are particularly girly, or if it because I have been trying on and buying all the wrong gloves from the wrong places.

My problem is that the fingers are far too long. There's about half an inch flapping freely about in the wind on my index, middle and ring fingers, and well over an inch on my little finger. Not only does this mean that rapidly moving my fingers from the throttle to the brake is a clumsy affair as the tips catch, but it also get damn cold with all that extra air cooling down my fingertips.

I normally take a size S or XS in women's gloves, and I am finding the fingers are still too long. If anybody else has this problem, could you please let me know what you did to fix it, and/or what brand gloves you have?

Perhaps all that extra room is meant for long fingernails

[The Stranger:Me]

I have the same problem.

I still struggle with finding the right size in winter gloves as they are always miles too big but I find that dirt biking gloves go to alot smaller sizes. The dirt biking gear is also available for kiddies too just incase your'e really tiny I dont really see any disadvantages to having dirt biking gloves. They still do the same thing on the road as they would do off road so works for me

Henderson Motorcycles seem to have the best sizes for me

Good luck

Christine

[Goblin]

I have the same problem too.

I've had the same ancient pair of Thinsulate gloves for many years. They're XS and still have room in the finger tips. In winter I use a pair of lambswool & angora gloves inside them which takes up a bit of the slack in the tips. I'd suggest you try in the kids section for something a bit smaller, might be a little cheaper than adult sizes too. I think motoX gear is not designed for warmth as MX is hard work and you tend to get very hot, so might not be much good for road use. Or do as speedy suggested & get yours modified.
Good luck and please let us know how you get on.

[msm]

Thanks for the advice, people Having the gloves modified sounds like it could be costly, though I would consider it if I found a pair of really great gloves in the future. My current ones are average winter gloves, when I got them I was only riding pillion so I had places to stick my hands if they got too cold anyway..

I read the debate about glove liners that was raging a while ago, and I'm still unsure as to whether I should get silk, merino, angora or a synthetic. Currently I just wear an ordinary pair of cotton gloves under my winter gloves, which obviously isn't quite cutting it. Decisions, decisions!

Next paycheck I'll go and check out some kids gear. I live in Christchurch where it has been bloody cold lately, and I ended up with mild frostbite in my fingertips after scooting to work one morning. Brrr.

[Quartida]

Too bad you're in Chch, because I was going to say to go to Coleman's on K Rd...I have pretty small and girly hands, but I ended up having to get a size large gloves because the others were just too small It was bizarre.

They're Hipora brand, I think. (Hipora? Does that sound right?)

[Nicksta]

i have the same issue... i'm up in the states and am doing some investigating into more types and brands of gloves... might be a case if bringing a few pairs back for us ladies??

[hellnback]

The wife had the same prob, we went to motomail and tried every single pair of ladies/mens cloves they had and none of them fit. In the end we found a pair at amps, they were about $70, (leather not waterproof) - sorry can't remember what brand they were, I'll ask the missus and post when I find out.

[Goblin]

i have the same issue... i'm up in the states and am doing some investigating into more types and brands of gloves... might be a case if bringing a few pairs back for us ladies??

If you brought a few extra pairs back, I'd take a pair off your hands....so to speak.

[Ixion]

In passing, the problem is not restricted to ladies. Although my hands are far from girly, I have the same problem. My hands are very large, but if I get gloves large enough for the hand, the fingers are an inch at least too long.

Ideally I'd wear an XL or even XXL, but to reduce the finger overhang problem I end up squeezing into an L.

What I do is poke the end of the finger back into itself. Which replaces the inch of floppy overhang with a half inch of stiffness. Still does nothing for feeling but its easier to work switches etc.

[placidfemme]

If you can't find any womens gloves small enough, might be wise to look around on the net for kid's road gloves... I don't think any shops would stock any really good kids road gloves... but they must be out there

(has simialr problems shopping for helmets... sucks having a small head)

[WickedOne]

Get in touch with Qkchk (KBer). She bought a pair of Spidi (I think) ladies gloves and she was very happy with them.

[SDU]

I have the same problem. The real bummer about it I find is when I find something that fits it is usually the most bloody expensive ones in the shop!
My MX gloves are kids ones, they are easy its just finding the style that doesn't ball up. Superiors are good for range usually.
I got some neat summer leather gloves a few years back in form Pit lane- Cycletreads. If they don't have it, they'll order in for you. They are good value there.
My winter gloves I got last year were from the Eric Woods. XXS Ladies, they are plain leather & are warm, but some off our frosts this year are really testing them. Don't forget to think about if you want to be able to wear liners, mine are a fraction tight in the fingers to comfortably wear polyprop liners (except when they are wet) so I might have to check out silk liners to solve that. I thought the gloves would give a bit more than they have.
There is another shop called Just Motorcycles in Brighton that is getting in ladies wear too. Good Value there too!
Happy Hunting.

[slob]

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but on a related matter, has anyone had to replace their brake + clutch levers because their hands couldn't reach them easily?

My girlfriend just bought a Honda CM200 cruiser style bike to learn on, but we've discovered that the levers are a bit too long a reach.

I was wondering if any of the ladies came across this problem and if so, what did they do about it?

[Beemer]

The expensive ones come in the right sizes unfortunately - all my Spidi ones are a perfect fit and I have particularly small hands!

Slob, I haven't had to change my brake/clutch levers but on the RG150 I had, my husband made a modification. It was years ago now and he's not home so I'll try and describe what he did! He put some sort of a spacer in between the lever and the part it rests against when not being squeezed. I think it was a big washer or something similar, so it meant the lever was closer to the bars before I started squeezing it. He had to make some adjustment to ensure the clutch wasn't partly engaged, but it worked a treat. I didn't bother with any alterations to the brake lever as I only used three fingers on that anyway! The BMW I had was a bit of a stretch but they don't make adjustable levers for the CS. The Goose has an adjustable lever on one side but both were an easy reach anyway.

[msm]

Thanks very much for the help, everyone. I don't feel quite as out of proportion anymore and I have a few clues where to look next. Being just shy of 6' tall, I generally find bike gear designed for women to be too short in the limbs so I go with mens stuff. Never thought I'd have the opposite problem with gloves. Guess I am not a hideous freak after all!