MTB Gloves With Palm Protection

MTB Gloves With Palm Protection

For some time, I have wondered if there existed a company producing MTB gloves with protection in the palm. As luck would have it the first wipe out of this season had carefully coordinated a pointy rock right at the point where my palm made contact with the ground. Bam! Bruised scaphoid and/or lunate bone. This may only happen a couple of times in your life, but each injury takes away good riding time, keeping off the trail or, at least, ruining your stoke. If you do your homework and read up on scaphoid/lunate injuries, you’ll find that they take a really, really long time to heal due to poor blood connectivity. Chronic injury can then lead to arthritis and other nasty, really gross sounding conditions that will keep you off the bike for good.

This all seems pretty silly, given that you could imagine a glove with a little padding and protection in this area. The motocross and motorcycle guys know all about this. They have ridden with gloves equipped to protect their hands in this way for years. So why not MTB riders ?

Knox has been making motocross and motorcycle protection for decades. They have a line of MTB products that includes gloves with palm (scaphoid) protection. I’m riding with the Oryx model. So, what sacrifices have I made for added protection ? None. Zero. They fit better than any Giro or Fox’s I’ve owned. The closure system is superior. The padding system (SPS) does not interfere with the grip whatsoever. I do not notice it’s there, ever. They are simply great gloves for the sport and they decrease the chances of bruised or broken bones immensely. Some food for thought.

I’m not paid one dime from Knox. I just want to let y’all know about this because prevailing wisdom seems to miss this problem completely. I think LBS should consider carrying it or a similar product. I’ve asked, and the responses have ranged from ‘neat idea’ to ‘that would be miserable on the grips’, to ‘just don’t go down’. Pretty silly sounding. Food for thought.

Nice looking glove… will definitely check those out the next time I’m on the hunt for gloves.

Just curious… what did they run you and where did you get them?

They aren’t sold locally as far as I know. I called around, but no luck. You can buy them from Knox’s website. They come straight from the UK for $95. However, I found a cheaper price from an online retailer in the US, www.superbiketoystore.com, shipped to the door for $75.

First ride with them last night was excellent. They stay put, don’t slide off at all, and the SPS system in the palm (palm protection) did not get in the way whatsoever.

[quote=“CannondaleChris”] They come straight from the UK for $95. However, I found a cheaper price from an online retailer in the US, superbiketoystore.com, shipped to the door for $75.
[/quote]

:shock:

I know the adage ‘what price can you put on protection?’ but it seems like these are a bit north of that… :expressionless:

I recently bought a pair of fox gloves with padding on the palms for less then half of the price of those. I wasn’t sure I would like the padding but they are actually quite comfortable.

They are a bit pricy, for sure, although my Giro’s were about $50 plus tax. You can get gloves with a little more padding in the palm, but the padding doesn’t really prevent the cause of scaphoid breakage. The plastic bits are designed to prevent the palm and glove from grabbing the ground when you go down, which is what causes scaphoid injury. Not saying these make sense for everyone, but it is good to know there are options around. Bruised or broken scaphoid is no fun, short or long term.