Unlike mountain biking, wearing gloves when riding a BMX is much less common. When riding a BMX it's very important to have 100% grip and feel of the bars. Anyone that feels uncomfortable with their glove should get something that fits better or continue reading this article.
The control of your bike is directly determined by your use of the handlebars. Gloves come in between you and said bars. This means it's important to get the glove choice right otherwise you'll be hurting your ability to ride well.
Our top choices
Our Choice
Tall Order Barspin Glove
These gloves are so perfect for BMX riders in mild to warm climates. The ventilated fabric will deal with sweat brilliantly. The palm material and reinforced thumb will prevent you getting sore after long days of riding.
Check PriceCheapest
Achiou Full Finger
Achiou make many types of gloves, hats and scarves for many different uses. These gloves are perfect for MTB, and motocross due to the extra gel grip on the palms.
Check PriceUpgrade Pick
POC Resistance
POC employ a very scientific approach to their product research, development and manufacturing. They concentrate especially hard on keeping riders as safe as possible when using their products.
Check PricePOC Sports Resistance Gloves
Click Here to Check Best Price
POC Sports is a Swedish company that concentrates only on the protection of extreme sports athletes. Founded in 2005, POC started by addressing the ski racing market. They gained lots of traction with their inspiring mission and technology.
Some of the world's smartest sports and safety scientists work for the POC Lab; the scientific group that researches brain injuries, spinal cord injuries more in the hope of creating better products for POC Sports.
The first big break POC received was the approval and representation of POC products at the Turin winter Olympics of 2006. US alpine ski racer, Julia Mancuso won the gold medal in the giant slalom event while wearing a POC branded helmet and goggles. The infamy POC gained from this event helped them fund more research and development of protective gear for sports such as BMX, mountain biking, snowboarding and more.
Currently, they offer approximately 6 different gloves, mainly targeting downhill and enduro mountain biking. The Resistance gloves are aimed towards enduro riders. Gloves for enduro riding are tough but super breathable, grippy on the palms with extra for the braking fingers.
This design style makes them great all-around gloves. Perfect for BMX biking on a cold day or when riding downhill on a messy track.
You may have seen the fabric POC use on the backhand before. It features moisture-wicking fabric, great for those cold, wet days on the trail. The palm, on the other hand, is made from a supple material that is well ventilated but also grippy. Like many gloves in the mountain biking market, the index and middle fingers are silicone printed to aid with braking. As well as these two fingers, extra material has been added to the thumbs in the hope of removing a super annoying experience when cycling. Texting whilst wearing gloves!
Touch screen compatible fabric isn't the only thing on the gloves. Cleverly POC has also added a terrycloth nose wipe. I think a lot of people will find this useful without even realising.
In my opinion, POC is similar to Apple in their approach to product design. Everything they make is very sleek, minimalistic and obviously well researched. These gloves feature one small logo, leaving the rest of the fabric blank. Along with the recognisable name and simple logo, it's made them stand out against the crowd brilliantly.
Tall Order BMX Barspin Glove
Click Here to Check Best Price
The barspin gloves, manufactured by Tall Order BMX are a dream for BMX park and street riders.
Tall Order is the brainchild of world-renowned rider, Sebastian Keep. 25 years after starting to ride bikes, Seb finally achieved his dream of owning his own bike brand. His 2+ decades of experience, Seb hoped to make successful YouTube videos, while providing high quality, well-used parts for the tight-knit BMX community.
It hasn't taken long for Tall Order bikes to be used in 12 countries and by riders of every skill level. Their YouTube channel has grown well alongside the brand, bringing in tens of millions of views.
Back to the Barspin glove. Most gloves on this list can be used when riding BMX but to the nature of this type of riding, a lot of BMX'ers often complain about gloves getting sweaty and glove palms being so thick they don't give enough feedback.
It seems like these gloves solve these problems pretty effectively. The sweat issue has been solved by a breathable, near see-through, mesh material. If you look at the images closely you can actually see the riders hand through the mesh. This will expel heat and sweat extremely effectively. So much so there'd be no point taking these gloves out on a cold day.
The palm has also been designed to help out on warm days. A thicker, more durable material has been used that retains the breathable holes as seen on the exterior side. The palm has a lot fewer holes to not affect the durability of the glove, although you can still expect a lot of sweat to be cleared up.
Out of all the products on this list, if I were to choose one for exclusive BMX park and street riding it would be these. They're light enough to keep the feeling of riding gloveless. Thin and with enough ventilation to keep you comfortable riding all day.
Fox Dirtpaw Mountain Biking Gloves
Click Here to Check Best Price
There are simply so many different Fox gloves it's impossible to narrow them down to only a couple for this list. Anyone unsure as to what glove to buy won't be disappointed buying any glove by this brand. They even have a Kevlar infused glove for the toughest of rides.
I have chosen the Dirtpaw glove as the only tougher glove that could be used for motocross as well as mountain biking. Now over 15 years old, the design is well established and widely regarded as a durable piece of cycling equipment.
It's common for high quality, durable motocross gloves to be sold at extortionate prices. With the creation of this glove, Fox has proven they have a wealth of knowledge on how to create a brilliant but affordable motocross glove.
You will see a lot of differences between this product and the others featured on this list. The first and foremost being the extra protection added to the back of the hand. When riding at the speeds and in the conditions downhill racers and motocross riders do, you must protect your hand on all sides. Downhill races often take place in forests. It's no surprise that these riders graze, bounce off or simply smash into these trees all the time. Highly durable material with extra, streamlined plastic in this area will give the vulnerable hand a little extra protection.
On the other side, you have a padded, single layer conductive Clarino® that is touch screen compatible with stretch mesh finger gussets. This will improve mobility, which is important as the backside of the hand is so rigid.
Unlike the regular, small area of touch screen material on most gloves. You can use any part of the palm on a touch screen. Gone are the days of taking your glove off because the small patch of touch screen padding on your thumb isn't working.
The cuff is nicely designed on this motorbiking glove. Compression moulded neoprene will create a tight seal on your wrist before you even close the wrist strap. As many of you will know, the velcro doesn't perform well after it's been coated in mud. That is why Fox has used a high-quality hook and loop wrist closure to securely fit the cuff to your wrist even in the worst conditions.
Shadow Conspire BMX Bike Gloves
Click Here to Check Best Price
The Shadow Conspiracy is famous for making certain parts for BMX bikes. These are generally physical bike parts but they produce some great riding gear. The Shadow Conspire gloves are one of these pieces.
This is currently the only glove the company makes, granted it is printed with several gorgeous designs. The materials, production and manufacturing are all the same.
Shadow has taken all their clothing tech from previous pieces of riding gear and tried to include it in this one pair of gloves. The glove is built around a lightweight synthetic leather construction with lovely flexibility. A lot of riding gloves only provide a good amount of grip on certain areas of the palm. Conspire gloves are different. The palm is a silicone print with some nice but subtle designs. The palm print designs depict the Shadow branding near the wrist and on the two predominant braking fingers.
The wrist area and velcro strap are pretty interesting on this glove. The cuff is slim tech with a minimal hook and loop closure. The tab you pull to close the strap is a coffin tab and the whole area is made from neoprene.
Neoprene is the material used for making wetsuits. It's a great stretchy material that will give this glove the feel of a simple slip-on glove while also providing you with the extra security and adjustability of traditional gloves with wrist strap closures.
Fox Ranger Short Finger Gel Glove
Click Here to Check Best Price
If you've ever thought about buying clothing for mountain biking you've likely looked into Fox. Protection and clothing are what they do and they do it brilliantly. The product range is mainly focussed on motocross, with most of the clothing being heavy-duty and durable.
The company opened in 1974, with a very smart physicist named Dr Geoff Fox leading the way. Geoff originally named the company Moto-X Fox and began selling motocross parts on the European market. It didn't take long before they were making high-performance suspension and engine parts for their private professional motocross team.
The switch to apparel came about fairly randomly. The pro team wore red, yellow and orange race outfits that the company manufactured themselves. After the riders started performing so well many people wanted to know where they could buy such an outfit. It only took a few years from here for Fox to be completely reorganised into a major motocross and mountain bike apparel company.
Now onto the Ranger gloves. Many brands on this list only develop a few different gloves. Fox, on the other hand, has dozens of different variations. In my opinion, Ranger gloves are one of the best. You can buy these as full finger or short finger gloves. On this list, I'm recommending the short-fingered pair. There is a reason for this. While fingerless gloves are common within cycling, it's usually for road biking. It's not often that you find a pair of gloves that are comfortable, lightweight and durable enough for BMX and mountain biking.
Available in five different colours: black, grey, light blue, red and a gorgeous cardinal red. The face of the fabric is a high-quality 4-way stretch polyester with the brands' text and logo screenprinted to it.
Apart from the lack of finger coverage, the main difference between these and the full finger ranger gloves is the gel padding on the palms. There are two padded areas. The first is at the base of the fingers and will protect the pads of your fingers as this is where a lot of the force is applied when gripping a tube. The second padded area is over the larger, bottom of the glove.
Fuse Chroma Sticker Bomb MTB Glove
Click Here to Check Best Price
Fuse is a protection company that also makes great clothing for the BMX market. Knee pads, gloves, helmets, shit pads and bike bags are their main focus. By their placement on this list, I believe they make some high quality, attractive bike gloves.
WeThePeople, the sister brand of Fuse, was the starting place for their BMX protection. Over the years riders have become more and more interested in safety. The WTP riders were no different, commonly requesting lighter, more comfortable and more durable pads. There was so much effort put into the design and development of these pads that riders all over the world started using them. FUSE was born as a separate protection brand soon after this realisation.
Most pads made by the company use breathable perforated and tough duratex neoprene with EVA foam under a nylon hard cap. Other products use a Defence Foam System, which is similar to memory foam. You probably don't care much about this information as it doesn't pertain to the Chroma gloves at all.
There are two different types of BMX gloves from FUSE. The first being the Omega and the second being the Chroma Sticker Bomb. Fuse has kept a very plain, subtle design for the Omega but went completely opposite for the Chroma.
Chroma gloves are produced in 4 different styles, all very brightly coloured with a super cartoony style. The names of the four styles are Wolf, Dimension, Laser Cat and the Sticker Bomb. The only reason I picked the Sticker Bomb instead of the other designs is simply due to my enjoyment of the design.
Many of the features here are similar to other gloves of this standard. Firstly, reinforcement has been added to the index finger and thumb. These are two of the most hard used areas of the hand when riding a bike. You will always use at least your index finger to brake, while also always using your thumb to grip the underside of the bars. If you've ever taken a long ride without gloves you'll have seen the grip wear off onto the crease of your thumb. That just shows how important this area of extra durable material is.
Secondly Surrounding the reinforced patch on the thumb is a microfiber material that covers the whole thumb. This is useful for dealing with sweat while on a ride.
The final feature may not be useful to all BMX riders but it's a good idea to include on a biking glove. FUSE has added a pattern of extra-grippy silicone patches on the index and middle fingers. When using disc brakes you'll rarely need more than these two fingers to brake with. Knowing this FUSE have added this grippy area to prevent your fingers slipping when braking.
Achiou Full Finger Bike Gloves
Click Here to Check Best Price
I have included these gloves on this list for beginners or those that are looking for a cheap, effective option. Unlike the other brands on this list, Achiou isn't a dedicated cycling company. Granted, they create a lot of cycling gloves, face masks, and joint braces but many aren't suitable for bike riding.
These full-finger mountain biking gloves are suitable for men and women. As well as unisex, you'll have no problem pulling these out at the BMX park, mountain bike track or motocross track. These gloves may not feel as perfect as some that are designed specifically for that task but they'll definitely get the job done.
Comparatively, you'll find quite a lot of anti-slip damping pads here but it's uncommon to have as many as the Achiou glove. They slightly take away the realistic feel of a glove but you'll be able to ride comfortably for a lot longer. The constant vibration you get when riding a dirt bike or on a mountain bike track can give you quite a lot of pain after a long ride. This gel padding will reduce the friction your hand has with the handlebars thus increasing your comfortable ride duration.
The small amount of touchscreen material applied to most gloves simply isn't enough to work effectively. Achiou has done a good job with their cycling glove. The full index finger and thumb tip are touch screen compatible.
What to Look For When Buying Cycling Gloves
Fit
As with any type of clothing, the fit is extremely important. Your hands do most of the work when keeping you out of harm's way when riding a bike. If your gloves don't fit properly you'll be restricted from properly accessing your brakes and gears.
Every mountain bike and BMX rider has different sized hands. Glove shape, finger length, wrist size and elastication all work together to provide a snug but comfortable grip on the hand.
Take the fit into account when buying new gloves. Some glove manufacturers provide different sizes but many don't. It's often one or two sizes fit all when it comes to mountain bike gloves.
Comfort
There are so many materials, padding, reinforcement and shape, a comfortable glove will be different for every rider and every form of riding. As mentioned above, temperature regulation and breathability are very important.
Riders in warm regions need a breathable glove that allows greater airflow over the hands, preventing excessive sweat. On the other hand, riders in colder countries will need more insulation and warmth. There are also a lot of riders like myself that ride in a varying climate who need both warmth and cooling, sometimes on the same day.
Many mountain bike gloves often have small ventilation holes on the palm of the glove. You need to investigate the amount of these holes and the thickness/type of material used for the back of the hand when choosing a new glove.
Wrist Straps
More and more manufacturers are opting to move away from a velcro strap and adopt elastic instead. There's no definitive answer on which is the best.
I think elastic wrist cuffs only work on higher-quality gloves that are built to retain their elasticity much better. Velcro straps also suffer from lower quality craftsmanship.
Velcro is better for riders in colder climates or those riding in messier conditions. Velcro can lose gripping power when caked in mud but it's still much better at keeping out cold air and providing a tighter grip on the wrist.
Take a look through the gloves you're interested in. Try some on if possible. BMX riders in warmer countries will probably prefer elastic cuffs and mountain bikers will often prefer velcro.
Protection
Looking at the protection a glove provides you is important. The added protection will certainly help you when racing through trees and other shrubbery but it will hinder your movement if you need access to more mobility.
Some gloves made for downhill riders will adopt some of the same protection as motocross gloves. Plastic padding added to the knuckles and back of the hand is what you'll normally find on heavily protective gloves, the padding placed around the palm is also effective at protecting the hands but it'll hinder the ability to wick away sweat.
Previous Article
