Spatz Glovz Race Gloves

Lightweight, thin and long fingered, these Spatz Glovz are great for spring and autumn riding, with a signature finger hole and pull-out wind shell for those chillier moments.

The Glovz are the original and thinner brother of the Spatz Thrmox Winter Gloves Matt tested in January. They share a lot of the same features but are designed for slightly warmer but still a bit fresh riding.

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The standout feature of the Glovz is the shell that folds out of a pocket in the back of the hand to cover the four fingers, pairing them up to buddy the warmth. Spatz says they're a glove you can wear from the start of your ride to the finish, the storable extra layer there to deal with the nippy air of an early start or late finish, and tucked away for when it's a bit warmer.

While others might opt for a windstopper glove fabric that could get too toasty when the day heats up, Spatz opts for temperature adaptability with its stowaway finger cover. Folded up neatly, it's easy to forget that the shell is hidden inside its pocket, and if you can ride a bike hands free it's easy enough to unfurl the cover and wrap it over your fingers, or tuck it back away.

The cover has an elasticated hem so it wraps tight to the fingers and there's no flapping about. Spatz has specced a reflective band across the back of the glove, along the opening of the wind shell pocket, as a handy little safety feature.

The Glovz have sticky E-touch pads on the end of the thumb and index fingers so you can still operate your phone or handlebar-mounted electronic gubbins with gloves on, and the fold-out shields also have a printed pattern on them so you can use your electronic bits and bobs and still keep your hands warm.

The Spatz gloves also have the unique feature of a hole in the index finger, a deliberate one. The index finger in each glove has an additional "peepy index finger hole" (Spatz' technical term) for when you might need extra device or tool dexterity. You don't know the hole is there in normal use as no wind gets through, but it's easy to flip the tip and poke your finger out for anything that might need a little finesse.

The Spatz Glovz have a really long cuff, I mean really long, and it's a boon in that it keeps your wrists warm. It's an area of the body where your blood runs close to the skin so is easy to chill if exposed to a fresh breeze, and it eliminates any gap that might have occurred between your jersey or jacket and other gloves in the past. Wristgap is a particular clothing bugbear of mine, so I'm glad that Spatz has addressed this issue with its Glovz.

If you find that things are too warm, though, it's easy to scruffle the cuff down to expose a bit of skin and cooling air. As the cuff is skintight, it fits best layered under any jerseys and jackets you might have on; unfortunately this means that if you take the gloves off for any reason it can be a pain to get them back on and the extra-long cuff pulled up in the right place without a degree of clothing faff.

The palms are free of any padding but are covered in a pattern of silicone that happily grips the bars, and there are subtle reinforcements on the outside of the palm and inside the thumb to help prevent wear on the thin glove material. Spatz says it's added them as these are the areas which traditionally rub and wear through, and it's working well so far. I'm a fan of pad-free gloves as the lumps can raise pressure points on the palms rather than relieve them; your hands may disagree.

The Spatz Glovz don't have any waterproofing element to them, so bear that in mind if your spring and autumn rides are likely punctuated by precipitation. They're made from a four-way stretch material with a soft fleecy lining which makes them very comfortable against any chill, and I found the fingers and thumb all long enough.

I'm a big fan of the lightweight, thin, minimal, unpadded, full-finger glove for the brisker rides of spring and autumn where you don't need a full fat winter glove and it's too nippy still for fingerless mitts, so the Spatz Glovz fall right into the palm of my hand. People's ability to deal with the cold is variable, but I'd say the Glovz are good for the mid-teens in temperature and down to 10 degrees, lower if you're feeling brave or are one of those people who happily wear shorts when everyone else is in longs and balaclavas.

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The fold-away wind shell really does work too – ride with just the one hand covered and the difference they make is noticeable. It's a feature that's definitely useful if your ride ends are on the cooler side to the middle bit, and you can easily adjust the glove for temperature control. They do, however, take some getting used to, even on the same ride, as going from full four-finger dexterity to doing things with a lobster claw of two pairs of fingers requires a bit of brain rewire; gear changing and braking can feel weird, but the stretch of the shell cover means it's an annoyance at best rather than a hindrance. How much this bothers you will depend on the configuration of how you use your fingers on the bike controls, too.

That extra long cuff is a definite winner for me. I'm not the most thermal of people and a gap exposing my skin to the chill of air and wind does a very good job of keeping my temperature down, so to have that area comprehensively covered is a Good Thing. The pokey hole in the index finger isn't as useful as I thought it might be; it's a great feature for phone use and poking at handlebar hardware and it's a lot easier than taking your gloves off, but its use can be limited depending on whether you're a finger or thumb user on your various devices – turns out I'm all thumbs.

That price is a little bit tasty, though, as gloves designed for riding in similar temperatures can easily be had for half the price – George thought the £39.99 Bontrager Circuits were excellent, for example. However, I do still think these are very good. Material choice and fit, the long cuff, and grippy palms with interactive fingertips would make the Spatz Glovz a great spring/autumn choice regardless, but the added signature features of the pull-over shell and index finger hole turn them into something more adaptable, different, and maybe worthy of the price premium.

Verdict

Very good cool weather gloves with thoughtful details and unique features that set them aside from others, at a cost