Endura Luminite Gloves

Endura makes a wide range of clothes and accessories including these rather good Luminite gloves. They're warm and comfy without being bulky, and waterproof too, so ideal for commuting, touring or any kind of cycling in cold and wet weather.

At first meeting, these Endura Luminite gloves appear neat and stylish. Later use shows they live up to their good looks, providing protection on test rides in air temperatures down to 4 degrees C. At the same time, these gloves are lightweight and relatively thin – so there's no clumsiness when braking or changing gear. They're also very comfortable, with gel pads on the palm and a cosy fleece inner lining.

A major plus-point is the fleece liner is fixed to the outer glove, so it doesn't turn itself inside-out when you take it off with damp hands. (More on damp hands later.)

As well as the pads, there are also honeycomb-patterned anti-slip silicone pads across the top of the palm and on the two larger fingers, plus a handy patch of softer material along the index finger for wiping your eyewear or nose.

As befitting the Luminite name, there's a reflective strip across the back of each palm and some dots on the thumbs to reflect back car headlights when you're riding at night. On the front of three fingers (not the index), seams across the knuckles open up to reveal a small patch reflective liner. It's not much but it's better than nothing, and will reflect back on-coming car headlights if you're riding on the tops (or use flat handlebars).

We're testing the black version of these gloves. They're also available with day-glo green backs as well as the same reflective features for night-riding.

The gloves are claimed to waterproof, so they were lab-tested in my usual scientific manner, by sticking my hands (wearing the gloves) under the bathroom shower for 10 minutes, to simulate cycling in the rain. Yes, life's a riot. I regularly pumped my hands as if breaking to move the seams and expose any weakness. Throughout this rigorous test, my fingers and back of my hand stayed dry, but some water got in through the stitching on the palm after 8 minutes.

To simulate a real deluge, the next test involved immersing my hands inside the gloves into a bowl of water for 10 minutes, pumping as before to mimic braking action. After 10 minutes my fingers and back of hand were still dry. My palm was damp, but not soaking.

The shower and bowl of water test give a useful picture, but may be regarded as extreme. So next I tested the gloves in real world conditions: a four-hour training ride on a cold, wet and miserable December day. The air temperature was about 3 or 4 degrees, made a tad lower by windchill. After an hour or so, the inside of the gloves felt slightly moist (which could have been sweat, or rain ingress, or both), and became steadily more damp over the remaining three hours, but throughout the ride my hands remained warm. Most cyclists will put up with a bit of damp as long as their hands stay warm, so overall this is good performance for a glove of this type.

The gloves have a neoprene cuff, which you can pull tight around your wrists with Velcro tabs, but the size of the cuffs is the only downside of these gloves; they're quite short, so if you have long arms you might get a bare patch of skin between the end of your jersey sleeves and the cuff of the glove (depending on the length of your jersey sleeves of course). In an ideal world I'd like to see the gloves' cuffs a bit longer.

On price, the Endura Luminite gloves have a recommended retail price of £32.99 (they're not to be confused with the Luminite Thermal Glove, which has extra insulation and has a RRP of £39.99). You can find them for a pound or so cheaper in some local bike shops and further discounted at the usual on-line stores. For a glove of this type, it's is a very fair price. You can get gloves that offer more protection against the elements, but you'll pay more for them (SealSkinz go for around £40, the likes of Assos around £100).

The Endura Luminite gloves are a good combination of various elements - slim fit, good warmth, reasonably waterproof, fair price – and on that basis they're recommended for commuting, touring or general cycling in autumn or early spring (and even most winter) conditions.

Verdict

Nicely-fitting gloves for cold and wet conditions. Warm and reasonably waterproof. Fair price too.