When the weather gets cold there is probably no single piece of cycle clothing more important than your gloves. Anyone who has ridden for any length of times in the biting cold with no gloves knows how painful and dangerous it becomes as you lose feeling in your fingers and struggle to control the bike. If you can't grip the brakes or change gears, cycling isn't much fun.
I bought these gloves in September when Rapha released its new autumn-winter range but it is only in the last couple of weeks that I have really been able to properly test the Rapha winter gloves. Before then, when the weather was in the low teens, I gave these gloves a quick test over a 30 minute ride. They were far too warm and I quickly got sweaty hands and had to take them off.
But with the temperature dropping close to zero on morning rides, it was time to put them on again and give them a proper test ride.
The gloves come in three colours - a bright orange, chartreuse (a bright yellow) and traditional black. I chose orange, partly because it nicely matches my bright orange Rapha transfer jacket and partly because I thought it might help motorists see my hand signals during the evening commute (I mean signalling whether I am turning left or right rather than suggesting they are onanists, although sometimes riding in London I feel like giving more of the latter signals than the former).
The problem with having such a bright coloured glove is that gloves naturally pick up dirt. Riding in the winter there is dirt flying everywhere, whether from picking up your bike to carry it into the garage or from putting a dropped chain back on in the middle of a hailstorm. There's a reason why most cycling gloves come in black. Even after 10 days wear you can definitely see the dirt on the gloves.
Anyway, putting on the gloves they look really good. My hands seem to be a good fit for Rapha's medium glove size, although if you are doubtful about what size your hands are then you can print off a glove sizing chart from the Rapha website and work it out exactly for yourself. The best feature of the gloves are however the gripping cuff that means that the glove fits tight to the skin and can go under a jacket sleeve and you don't need a draw-string to ensure a tight fit, which is how many winter gloves work.
On the bike, they keep your hands warm and dry. In the rain they are reasonably water-resistant, although they definitely wouldn't protect against torrential rain (nor do they claim to though). Even with the temperature only at 2 degrees though I found that after about 30 minutes hard riding my hands were actually too hot. Rapha says "the inner uses a brushed polyester liner for soft, fleece-like insulation, which works with the breathable outer for maximum comfort" but my experience was that it wasn't perhaps as breathable as it could be. I reckon that these would be decent gloves down to about minus 10, after which you might want to switch to the Rapha deep winter gloves, which are for those who like Arctic cycling trips. That said, I am quite a warm blooded person and am still wearing bib shorts when it is 5 degrees, so perhaps most people will find they are perfect in temperatures around the zero mark.
My main concern with the gloves is that the palm, thumb, middle and index fingers of the Rapha winter gloves are reinforced with leather (Pittards goatskin leather, naturally, to go with the yak leather uppers of my Rapha Grand Tour shoes). Anyone who rides in leather gloves or mitts will admit that after a bit of use they get somewhat whiffy. Cleaning leather gloves is not that easy and these gloves will need cleaning - they even have a fabric sweat/nose wipe (Rapha's description, not mine) on the thumb, to catch those winter drips. Rapha warn that "if washing these gloves, once dried, leather glove balm should be applied to the leather palms to keep them supple" and I should think that you would need to wash these gloves at least once a month if you are a serious rider. Personally I will find it a bit of a pain to have to put balm on them every time I wash the gloves and it is definitely something you should consider if you are planning on buying a pair for yourself.
This wouldn't be a Rapha review without mention of the gloves' price. At £85 the Rapha winter gloves are not cheap but they are effective and if you plan to ride through the winter then you do need a decent set of gloves. I've happily worn these gloves out and about when shopping in London and they are stylish enough not to be seen purely as cycling equipment, although the large Rapha logos do stand out so they are slightly lacking in subtlety. Despite the price, I am really happy with these gloves and they should last me quite a few seasons, especially if I remember to properly look after them post-washing.
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