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.