Off-road gloves?

[FROSTY:Me]

Folks I hear a lot of mention of bark busters for on our bikes. Has anyone tried using road type gloves with the armoured knuckles and fingers ?
Probably old hat stuff.

[bogan]

arent bark busters the things that bolt on to the handlebars? ie not related to gloves at all. Id imagine road gloves just wouldnt have the ventalation for offroad use.

[cheese]

No fear make some. I tried some on but found them uncomfortable. Booom had some but I think that they didn't last very long.

[ArcherWC]

i would have thought that at any decent pace they would be far to cumbersome.

[xen]

I've got Scott sre's with carbon knuckles, good if a random small branch hits it but nothing like the protection of barkbusters. Gloves aren't going to help if you clip a tree

[cave weta]

I've got Scott sre's with carbon knuckles, good if a random small branch hits it but nothing like the protection of barkbusters. Gloves aren't going to help if you clip a tree

My gloves are the same as xen's but they havent been used in a situation yet, because my handgaurds do the job they are meant to do.

Ive got 12 bikes that get ridden by people with little understanding of their lack of skill. by the time they are kitted up - they feel invincible....

since fitting hand guards I have eliminated lever breakages and throttle and grip damage completely.

And I will never miss those embarasing stumbles and near -offs when a Manuka or gorse stalk suddenly stabs your front brake on!

[sAsLEX]

And I will never miss those embarasing stumbles and near -offs when a Manuka or gorse stalk suddenly stabs your front brake on!

Or a taxi's wing mirror......


Barkbusters are the way to go

[B0000M]

No fear make some. I tried some on but found them uncomfortable. Booom had some but I think that they didn't last very long.

they didnt last that long, but they did last just as long if not longer than my current fox dirtpaws

i think i just fuck gloves real fast

[warewolf]

MX gloves have little protection on the back of the hand, no good against gorse even with hand guards.

Trail/enduro gloves have much more protection, eg carbon or carbon-look hard knuckle protection, a fuller, longer glove but from the same materials as MX type.

I mostly use road gloves for adventure riding, even my good winter thermal/waterproof ones when the weather is a bit damp or chill. My hands very rarely get hot and sweaty, usually the torso/legs is suffering much more in that way. Smooth leather road gloves can slip in muddy conditions, plus the MX/trail gloves are designed to be washed often. Leather is a PITA.

Wrap-around barkbusters are more about protecting the levers on the bike than your hands. Early versions were just the alloy bar, no plastic hand shield. The shield is still an option today.

[bogan]

remember bark busters are not a win-win-win solution, there is the chance of a seriously broken wrist if you come off it a bit wrong, think thats the reason they are not used in the mx scene anyway, somebody should (maybe they do, i dunno) make ones that can fold forward in the event of such a crash, a tiny shear bolt or summat

[cs363]

No fear make some. I tried some on but found them uncomfortable. Booom had some but I think that they didn't last very long.

I've got some of those and find them awesome, I've got other brand gloves but always end up wearing my old No Fear ones. They are at least 2 probably 3 years old now and are hanging in there fine. Admittedly I don't ride every weekend but they do get a good hammering when I do use them. I've heard some other people make the comment about comfort on these and similar carbon knuckle gloves and like a lot of things it appears to have something to do with the shape of your hands, works for some and not for others.

The No Fear ones I have are my second pair and I've noticed the design has changed since I got the first (original design) ones and there is more padding on the inside of the gloves around the knuckle area so perhaps this has addressed that issue?

As far as bushguards go, Acerbis/Barbusters or Cycra all make excellent ones - way above the quality of the heaper brands, but of course you pay for the quality, flip side is they last longer so I guess it depends on how long you aim to keep the bike you're fitting them too.

[Motu]

Although I prefer off road gloves (use them on my pushbike now) I often wear mechanics gloves,as I wear them at work.They are light and have good feel,some have knuckle protection.I also used to wear plain unlined leather road gloves...but they seem hard to find these days,gloves are just so up market....

But if you are damaging your hands Frosty....seek ways not to damage your hands.