Altura Micro Fleece Gloves

Altura's Micro Fleece Gloves feature a very simple design that works very well. There's fantastic grip, a windproof back and soft fabric. I've used these for road riding, cyclo-cross and mountain biking. They've impressed me every time.

Altura seem to have gone back to basics with the Micro Fleece gloves. The cheapest in Altura's glove range, they come in at £16.99 and they Just Work™. There's no fancy frills to be found here. That's not to say that they felt cheap, or poorly constructed. I've put these through some very muddy abuse causing no issues with premature wear.

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Altura bills them as 'microfleece thermal gloves ideal for wearing on those brisk morning rides – or just casually off the bike.'

What Altura don't tell you in this very short statement is the windproof abilities of the glove. When wearing these in 5-15°C temperatures, my hands were perfectly comfortable. Going down towards freezing in some cyclo-cross races, I was ok as long as I was riding hard. Out on the road, I needed proper winter gloves.

The palm is covered in very grippy silicone. This was ideal for both general road riding and muddy cyclo-cross racing. There's no padding which may be an issue for some, but for me, it's ideal as I'm not a fan of padding. This results in a brilliant, natural feel of the bars.

Read more: 17 of the best winter gloves to keep your hands warm and dry

Helping to keep you hands warm is Altura's Thermo technology. This is a slightly fleecy suede material that 'delivers body warming insulation and warmth'. This, it does perfectly. However, if you get it wet, as I found out very unfortunately, there's no stopping the water sitting in the fabric and making your hands very cold. These are gloves for dry, cold days.

The fit of the Micro Fleece gloves is excellent. My medium was snug, with just enough stretch in the material. The cuff extends about an inch up the wrist which is enough to sit under my softshell without exposing any skin.

Washing these was very simple, they were fine at 40°C and also came out of the tumble dryer unaffected. They actually seem very robust. I had more than a few crashes on the cyclo-cross course, but the gloves still look fresh.

One slight issue is the placement of the stitching in the thumb area. It runs right across the area between finger and thumb, creating a slightly irritating ridge when riding in the hoods. I found this most annoying when on the mountain bike or cyclo-cross bike; the rougher terrain highlighted the stitching issue.

Overall though, these are really excellent gloves, providing more warmth than I thought they would. The fabric is soft, but stood up to quite a bit of abuse. The grip works well, even when covered in mud. The stitching placement was a little annoying, but it was only an issue on rougher terrain. At £16.99, you can't really go wrong.

Verdict

Soft, windproof gloves that do the basics very well; brilliant for the modest price